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EDITOR'S NOTE: "Today In Brewer History" debuted as a series on April 1, 2011, so today we're embarking on our third tour around the calendar. Thanks for reading and continuing to read. - KL
On this day in 1991 the Brewers made a great scrapheap pickup, signing veteran second baseman Willie Randolph. Randolph was 36 and a veteran of 16 major league seasons, but still had something left in the tank.
The 1991 season was actually one of Randolph's best, as he hit .327/.424/.374 over 124 games, driving in 54 runs despite not hitting a single home run. His high OBP was partially fueled by the fact that he drew 75 walks. He's 51st on baseball's all time list with 1243 walks drawn for his career.
Following the season Randolph left Milwaukee and moved on to the Mets, where he played his final 90 games before calling it a career. All told he was a career .276/.373/.351 hitter with 2210 hits, six All Star appearances and a Silver Slugger Award. Years later, he returned to Milwaukee to serve as bench coach in 2009 and 2010.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- 2000-03 Brewer Curt Leskanic, who turns 45.
- 1982-84 Brewer and Hall of Famer Don Sutton, who turns 68. We covered his birthday in this space two years ago.
On the same day as the Randolph signing in 1991 the Brewers released outfielder Mike "Tiny" Felder, one of the greatest basestealers in franchise history. We covered that event in this space last year.