Today In Brewer History: Happy Birthday, Dave Stewart

On this day in 1957 Dave Stewart was born in Oakland, California. He was 18 when the Dodgers selected him in the 16th round of the 1975 draft, but didn't really get his first chance to pitch regularly in the majors until 1981.

Stewart had bounced back and forth between the bullpen and rotation and struggled a bit as a member of three teams when he joined his hometown A's in 1986 and had one of the greatest stretches of success you'll ever see. From 1987-90 Stewart won 84 games for Oakland, posting a 3.20 ERA and averaging 265 innings per season. He finished in the top four in the AL Cy Young voting in each of those seasons.

All told Stewart pitched in 523 major league games, posting a 3.95 ERA over 2629.2 innings. He was a member of five World Series teams, winning with the 1981 Dodgers, 1989 A's and 1993 Blue Jays while coming up short with the 1988 and 1990 A's.

When his playing career was over Stewart went into coaching and spent one season with the Brewers, working as their pitching coach in 2002. Stewart resigned in July, though, while the team was on their way to a dismal 56-106 season.

Thanks to the B-Ref Play Index for reminding me that Stewart turns 56 today. Today is also 1963-65 Milwaukee Brave Bob Sadowski's 75th birthday. We covered that event in this space last year.