Milwaukee Brewers (1985)

1985 Regular Season:
Brewers vs. Detroit Tigers

      The Milwaukee Brewers were in their 15th season of existence, and 14th in Milwaukee (the first season was in Seattle). Just three years removed from their first American League pennant, the Brewers were coming off a rough 1984 season, which saw them drop to 67-94 record, which buried them in the American League East cellar. The team replaced manager Rene Lachemann with a familiar face: George Bamberger, who managed the team from 1978-80, when he stepped down due to health issues. Harry Dalton returned as General Manager.
     1985 was not much better than last year, as Milwaukee finished 71-90, sixth place in the East and 28 games back of Toronto. The Brewers drew 1,360,265 to County Stadium, 10th in the American League. 
     The offense was decent that season, as the team batted .263, which was 7th in the American League. Paul Molitor (featured on the cover) led the team with a .297 batting average, 10 home runs and 48 RBI. Cecil Cooper led the team with a mere 15 home runs, though he hit .293 and drove in 99 runs. Robin Yount was right behind him with 15 runs and a .277 average. As a group, the Brewers hit a league-worst 101 homers. The "Harvey's Wallbangers" team of 1982 was a distant memory.
     As for pitching, the staff had a 4.39 ERA, ninth overall in the American League. Teddy Higuera led the team with a 15-8 record and 190 strikeouts in 212 1/3 innings pitched. In fact, he was the only pitcher in the rotation that had a winning record. The next-most wins came from Ray Burris, who went 9-13.  Danny Darwin led the team with a 3.80 ERA in 29 starts, but had an ugly 8-18 record. The team's closer, future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, finished his final season with a 1-6 record and 5.04 ERA, saving 17 games in 55 1/3 innings. 28-year old Bob Gibson saved 11 games and had a 3.90 ERA in 92 1/3 innings.
     Like the 1985 Braves program, I found this program at the Marlette Flea Market (same table, I think). It's 84 pages long, mostly in black-and-white with color ads. It's from a three-game series against the defending World Champion Detroit Tigers, played on August 12-14. Milwaukee took the first game, but Detroit took the next two and the series. 

     Since Milwaukee's a brewing town, there are plenty of beer ads. Miller Lite has an ad featuring Alexus Arguello and Billy Martin in one of those famous "Less Filling! Tastes Great!", Pabst Blue Ribbon is on page 45, Bud Light's on page 50, Budweiser on 77, and Old Style Pilsner is on the back cover. Local non-beer ads include Sentry Insurance, WILM Janitorial Service, Fanning Cadillac and Ned's Pizza. 

Reference:

"1985 Milwaukee Brewers Statistics", from Baseball-Reference.com