# 1989 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1989 Milwaukee Brewers season was the 20th season for the Brewers in Milwaukee, and their 21st overall. The Brewers finished fourth in the American League East with a record of 81 wins and 81 losses. The Brewers led MLB with 165 stolen bases.

## Offseason

* October 26, 1988: Steve Stanicek was released by the Brewers.
* December 20, 1988: Jim Gantner was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.
* March 30, 1989: Terry Francona was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.
* March 30, 1989: Dave Engel was signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers.

## Regular season

* During the season, Robin Yount had a 19-game hitting streak. Yount finished the season leading the Brewers in RBIs for the third straight season.

### Notable transactions

* June 5, 1989: Jason Giambi was drafted by the Brewers in the 43rd round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
* August 2, 1989: Dave Engel was released by the Milwaukee Brewers.
* August 23, 1989: The Milwaukee Brewers traded a player to be named later to the Atlanta Braves for Ed Romero. The Brewers completed the deal by sending Jay Aldrich to the Braves on September 1.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 89 | 73 | .549 | — | 46‍–‍35 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 87 | 75 | .537 | 2 | 47‍–‍34 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Boston Red Sox | 83 | 79 | .512 | 6 | 46‍–‍35 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 81 | 81 | .500 | 8 | 45‍–‍36 | 36‍–‍45 |
| New York Yankees | 74 | 87 | .460 | 14½ | 41‍–‍40 | 33‍–‍47 |
| Cleveland Indians | 73 | 89 | .451 | 16 | 41‍–‍40 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Detroit Tigers | 59 | 103 | .364 | 30 | 38‍–‍43 | 21‍–‍60 |

### Record vs. opponents

1989 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 7–6 |
| Boston | 7–6 | — | 4–8 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 11–2 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–8 |
| California | 6–6 | 8–4 | — | 8–5 | 5–7 | 11–1 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 11–2 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 7–6 | 6–7 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | 5–7 | 5–8 | — | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 10–2 | 5–8 | 5–6 | 5–8 | 7–6 | 3–10 | 1–11 |
| Cleveland | 6–7 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | — | 5–8 | 8–4 | 3–10 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 2–10 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 5–8 |
| Detroit | 3–10 | 2–11 | 1–11 | 8–4 | 8–5 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 2–11 |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 8–4 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Milwaukee | 6–7 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–3 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 |
| Minnesota | 8–4 | 6–6 | 2–11 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 3–9 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 9–3 |
| New York | 5–8 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 4–9 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 6–6 | — | 3–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 7–6 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 9–3 | — | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Seattle | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–9 | — | 6–7 | 5–7 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 10–3 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 7–6 | — | 5–7 |
| Toronto | 6–7 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 11–1 | 8–5 | 11–2 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 7–5 | — |

### First SkyDome Game

The Brewers played in the first baseball game at the SkyDome. The game was played on June 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Brewers won by a score of 5-3. Don August was the winning pitcher as he won his 5th game of the season, while Toronto's Jimmy Key lost his 4th game of the season. The attendance at SkyDome was 48,378.

#### Linescore

June 5, SkyDome, Toronto, Canada
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Milwaukee | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Toronto | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Don August (5-6) L: Jimmy Key (6-4) SV: Dan Plesac (13) |||||||||||||
| Home Runs: Braggs (10), McGriff (13), Bell (8) Attendance: 48,378 Time: 2:43 |||||||||||||

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | B. J. Surhoff | 126 | 436 | 108 | .248 | 5 | 55 |
| 1B | Greg Brock | 107 | 373 | 99 | .265 | 12 | 52 |
| 2B | Jim Gantner | 116 | 409 | 112 | .274 | 0 | 34 |
| 3B | Paul Molitor | 155 | 615 | 194 | .315 | 11 | 56 |
| SS | Bill Spiers | 114 | 345 | 88 | .255 | 4 | 33 |
| LF | Glenn Braggs | 144 | 514 | 127 | .247 | 15 | 66 |
| CF | Robin Yount | 160 | 614 | 195 | .318 | 21 | 103 |
| RF | Rob Deer | 130 | 466 | 98 | .210 | 26 | 65 |
| DH | Joey Meyer | 53 | 147 | 33 | .224 | 7 | 29 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Gary Sheffield | 95 | 368 | 91 | .247 | 5 | 32 |
| Mike Felder | 117 | 315 | 76 | .241 | 3 | 23 |
| Terry Francona | 89 | 233 | 54 | .232 | 3 | 23 |
| Gus Polidor | 79 | 175 | 34 | .194 | 0 | 14 |
| Charlie O'Brien | 40 | 118 | 26 | .220 | 2 | 9 |
| Greg Vaughn | 38 | 113 | 30 | .265 | 5 | 23 |
| Dave Engle | 27 | 65 | 14 | .215 | 2 | 8 |
| Ed Romero | 15 | 50 | 10 | .200 | 0 | 3 |
| George Canale | 13 | 26 | 5 | .192 | 1 | 3 |
| Billy Bates | 7 | 14 | 3 | .214 | 0 | 0 |
| Juan Castillo | 3 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 3 |
| LaVel Freeman | 2 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Chris Bosio | 33 | 235.0 | 15 | 10 | 2.95 | 173 |
| Don August | 31 | 142.1 | 12 | 12 | 5.31 | 51 |
| Teddy Higuera | 22 | 135.1 | 9 | 6 | 3.46 | 91 |
| Jaime Navarro | 19 | 109.2 | 7 | 8 | 3.12 | 56 |
| Tom Filer | 13 | 72.1 | 7 | 3 | 3.61 | 20 |
| Bryan Clutterbuck | 14 | 67.1 | 2 | 5 | 4.14 | 29 |
| Bill Wegman | 11 | 51.0 | 2 | 6 | 6.71 | 27 |
| Mike Birkbeck | 9 | 44.2 | 0 | 4 | 5.44 | 31 |
| Jerry Reuss | 7 | 33.2 | 1 | 4 | 5.35 | 13 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Mark Knudson | 40 | 123.2 | 8 | 5 | 3.35 | 47 |
| Bill Krueger | 34 | 93.2 | 3 | 2 | 3.84 | 72 |
| Jeff Peterek | 7 | 31.1 | 0 | 2 | 4.02 | 16 |
| Randy Veres | 3 | 8.1 | 0 | 1 | 4.32 | 8 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Dan Plesac | 52 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 2.35 | 52 |
| Chuck Crim | 76 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 2.83 | 59 |
| Tony Fossas | 51 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.54 | 42 |
| Jay Aldrich | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.81 | 12 |
| Paul Mirabella | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.63 | 6 |
| Ray Krawczyk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 6 |
| Terry Francona | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |

## Awards and honors

* Robin Yount – American League Most Valuable Player
All-Star Game
* Dan Plesac, pitcher, reserve

## Farm system

The Brewers' farm system consisted of seven minor league affiliates in 1989. The Brewers operated a Dominican Summer League team as a co-op with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. The AZL Brewers won the Arizona League championship.
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Triple-A | Denver Zephyrs | American Association | Dave Machemer |
| Double-A | El Paso Diablos | Texas League | Marc Bombard |
| Class A | Stockton Ports | California League | Dave Huppert |
| Class A | Beloit Brewers | Midwest League | Alex Taveras |
| Rookie | Helena Brewers | Pioneer League | Dusty Rhodes |
| Rookie | AZL Brewers | Arizona League | Jeff Nate |
| Rookie | DSL Red Sox/Orioles/Brewers | Dominican Summer League | — |