Today In Brewer history: Happy Birthday, Wayne Comer

On this day in 1944 Harry Wayne Comer was born in Shenandoah, Virginia. He was 18 when the Washington Senators signed him as an amateur free agent in 1962 but had moved on to the Tigers by the time he made his major league debut in 1967. He was a veteran of 52 major league games over two seasons when the Seattle Pilots selected him with the 41st pick in the expansion draft.

As luck would have it, Comer had a career year in the franchise's lone season in Seattle in 1969. He appeared in 147 games (including 90 in center field) and hit .245/.354/.380 while leading the team with 88 runs and finishing second with 15 homers and 82 walks. According to Baseball Reference, his 2.8 wins above replacement (rWAR) were the second highest total on the team.

Comer followed the Pilots to Milwaukee where they became the Brewers, but didn't stay long: He appeared in just 13 games before the new Brewers traded him to the Senators. All told, 590 of Comer's career 808 plate appearances came as a Pilot or Brewer.

Thanks to the B-Ref Play Index for reminding me that Comer turns 69 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to 1998 Brewer Eric Owens. He turns 42.

Today is also the third anniversary of the Brewers claiming Marco Estrada off waivers from the Nationals. We covered that event in this space last year.