Today In Brewer History: Happy anniversary, Ben Sheets

On this day in 1999 the Brewers drafted Ben Sheets with the 10th overall pick in MLB's Rule 4 draft. The Louisiana-Monroe starting pitcher was 21 at the time, and less than two years later he was a Brewer for the first time.

Sheets pitched eight seasons as a Brewer from 2001-08 and is probably best remembered for two things: Dominance and injuries. He's the all-time franchise leader with 1206 strikeouts, but he also made 30 starts just one time in his last four seasons as a Brewer.

All told, Sheets was a four-time All Star and probably deserved more consideration than he received for the NL Cy Young in 2004, when he posted a 2.70 ERA over 237 innings and led all of baseball with 8.3 strikeouts per walk. Unfortunately, Sheets' first foray into free agency following the 2008 injury coincided with an injury that cost him the 2009 season, and he pitched in just 29 more games over his last three seasons before calling it a career in 2012.

Today is also the 31st anniversary of the Brewers firing manager Buck Rodgers in 1982 and replacing him with Harvey Kuenn. We covered that event in this space last year.