1986 Milwaukee Brewers season

1986  Milwaukee Brewers
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Milwaukee County Stadium
City	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Owners	Bud Selig
General managers	Harry Dalton
Managers	George Bamberger, Tom Trebelhorn
Television	WVTV (Steve Shannon, Mike Hegan)
Radio	WTMJ (AM) (Bob Uecker, Pat Hughes)
←  1985 Seasons 1987  →

The Milwaukee Brewers' 1986 season involved the Brewers' finishing sixth in the American League East with a record of 77 wins and 84 losses.

Offseason

• November 14, 1985: Rick Waits was released by the Brewers. ^[1]
• November 25, 1985: Pete Ladd was released by the Brewers. ^[2]
• December 11, 1985: Ed Romero was traded by the Brewers to the Boston Red Sox for Mark Clear. ^[3]
• December 18, 1985: Dean Freeland (minors) and Eric Pilkington (minors) were traded by the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for Rob Deer. ^[4]
• December 22, 1985: Danny Darwin was signed as a free agent with the Brewers. ^[5]
• March 5, 1986: Ted Simmons was traded by the Brewers to the Atlanta Braves for Rick Cerone, David Clay (minors), and Flavio Alfaro (minors). ^[6]
• March 26, 1986: Rob DeWolf (minors) was traded by the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for Steve Stanicek. ^[7]
• March 30, 1986: Moose Haas was traded by the Brewers to the Oakland Athletics for Charlie O'Brien, Steve Kiefer, Mike Fulmer (minors), and Pete Kendrick (minors). ^[8]

Regular season

Teddy Higuera would win 20 games in 1986 and would be the last 20 game winner in the 20th century for the Brewers. ^[9]

Season standings

v t e AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	95	66	0.590	—	51–30	44–36
New York Yankees	90	72	0.556	5½	41–39	49–33
Detroit Tigers	87	75	0.537	8½	49–32	38–43
Toronto Blue Jays	86	76	0.531	9½	42–39	44–37
Cleveland Indians	84	78	0.519	11½	45–35	39–43
Milwaukee Brewers	77	84	0.478	18	41–39	36–45
Baltimore Orioles	73	89	0.451	22½	37–42	36–47

Record vs. opponents

1986 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	6–6	9–3	4–9	1–12	6–6	6–7	8–4	5–8	5–7	6–6	5–7	8–5
Boston	9–4	—	5–7	7–5	10–3	7–6	6–6	6–6	10–2	5–8	7–5	8–4	8–4	7–6
California	6–6	7–5	—	7–6	6–6	7–5	8–5	5–7	7–6	7–5	10–3	8–5	8–5	6–6
Chicago	3–9	5–7	6–7	—	5–7	6–6	7–6	5–7	6–7	6–6	7–6	8–5	2–11	6–6
Cleveland	9–4	3–10	6–6	7–5	—	4–9	8–4	8–5	6–6	5–8	10–2	9–3	6–6	3–10–1
Detroit	12–1	6–7	5–7	6–6	9–4	—	5–7	8–5	7–5	6–7	6–6	6–6	7–5	4–9
Kansas City	6–6	6–6	5–8	6–7	4–8	7–5	—	6–6	6–7	4–8	8–5	5–8	8–5	5–7
Milwaukee	7–6	6–6	7–5	7–5	5–8	5–8	6–6	—	4–8	8–5	5–7	6–6	4–8	7–6
Minnesota	4–8	2–10	6–7	7–6	6–6	5–7	7–6	8–4	—	4–8	6–7	6–7	6–7	4–8
New York	8–5	8–5	5–7	6–6	8–5	7–6	8–4	5–8	8–4	—	5–7	8–4	7–5	7–6
Oakland	7–5	5–7	3–10	6–7	2–10	6–6	5–8	7–5	7–6	7–5	—	10–3	3–10	8–4
Seattle	6–6	4–8	5–8	5–8	3–9	6–6	8–5	6–6	7–6	4–8	3–10	—	4–9	6–6
Texas	7–5	4–8	5–8	11–2	6–6	5–7	5–8	8–4	7–6	5–7	10–3	9–4	—	5–7
Toronto	5–8	6–7	6–6	6–6	10–3–1	9–4	7–5	6–7	8–4	6–7	4–8	6–6	7–5	—

Notable transactions

• April 1, 1986: Ray Burris was released by the Brewers. ^[10]
• August 15, 1986: Danny Darwin was traded by the Brewers to the Houston Astros for Don August and Mark Knudson. ^[5]

Draft picks

• June 2, 1986: 1986 Major League Baseball draft
  • Gary Sheffield was drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round (6th pick). Player signed June 26, 1986. ^[11]
  • Tim McIntosh was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd round. ^[12]

Roster

1986 Milwaukee Brewers
Roster
Pitchers 41 Mike Birkbeck 29 Chris Bosio 25 Mark Clear 48 Bryan Clutterbuck 47 Jaime Cocanower 18 Danny Darwin 40 Bob Gibson 49 Teddy Higuera 34 John Henry Johnson 43 Mark Knudson 39 Tim Leary 10 Bob McClure 10,20 Juan Nieves 41 Ray Searage 50 Pete Vuckovich 46 Bill Wegman 37 Dan Plesac		Catchers 11 Rick Cerone 22 Charlie Moore 21 Bill Schroeder Infielders  9 Jim Adduci  3 Juan Castillo 15 Cecil Cooper  2 Edgar Díaz 17 Jim Gantner 30 Steve Kiefer  4 Paul Molitor  1 Ernest Riles 13 Billy Jo Robidoux 27 Dale Sveum 20 Gorman Thomas		Outfielders 26 Glenn Braggs 45 Rob Deer 16 Mike Felder  7 Paul Householder 28 Rick Manning 24 Ben Oglivie  2 Randy Ready 19 Robin Yount		Manager 31 George Bamberger 42 Tom Trebelhorn Coaches  8 Andy Etchebarren 12 Larry Haney 33 Frank Howard 35 Tony Muser 38 Herm Starrette

Player stats

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	Rick Cerone	68	216	56	.259	4	18
1B	Cecil Cooper	134	542	140	.258	12	75
2B	Jim Gantner	139	497	136	.274	7	38
3B	Paul Molitor	105	437	123	.281	9	55
SS	Ernest Riles	145	524	132	.252	9	47
LF	Glenn Braggs	58	215	51	.237	4	18
CF	Robin Yount	140	522	163	.312	9	46
RF	Rob Deer	134	466	108	.232	33	86
DH	Ben Oglivie	103	346	98	.283	5	53

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
Dale Sveum	91	317	78	.246	7	35
Charlie Moore	80	235	61	.260	3	39
Bill Schroeder	64	217	46	.212	7	19
Rick Manning	89	205	52	.254	8	27
Billy Jo Robidoux	56	181	41	.227	1	21
Mike Felder	44	155	37	.239	1	13
Gorman Thomas	44	145	26	.179	6	10
Randy Ready	23	79	15	.190	1	4
Paul Householder	26	78	17	.218	1	16
Juan Castillo	26	54	9	.167	0	5
Edgar Díaz	5	13	3	.231	0	0
Jim Adduci	3	11	1	.091	0	0
Steve Kiefer	2	6	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
Teddy Higuera	34	248.1	20	11	2.79	207
Bill Wegman	35	198.1	5	12	5.13	82
Tim Leary	33	188.1	12	12	4.21	110
Juan Nieves	35	184.2	11	12	4.92	116
Pete Vuckovich	6	32.1	2	4	3.06	12

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
Danny Darwin	27	130.1	6	8	3.52	80
Chris Bosio	10	34.2	0	4	7.01	29
Mike Birkbeck	7	22.0	1	1	4.50	13
Mark Knudson	4	17.2	0	1	7.64	9

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
Mark Clear	59	5	5	16	2.20	85
Dan Plesac	51	10	7	14	2.97	75
Bryan Clutterbuck	20	0	1	0	4.29	38
John Henry Johnson	19	2	1	1	2.66	42
Jaime Cocanower	17	0	1	0	4.43	22
Ray Searage	17	0	1	1	6.95	10
Bob McClure	13	2	1	0	3.86	11
Bob Gibson	11	1	2	0	4.73	11

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1986. ^[13] The El Paso Diablos won the Texas League championship, ^[14] and the Stockton Ports won the California League championship. ^[15]

Level	Team	League	Manager
Triple-A	Vancouver Canadians	Pacific Coast League	Terry Bevington
Double-A	El Paso Diablos	Texas League	Duffy Dyer
Class A	Stockton Ports	California League	Dave Machemer
Class A	Beloit Brewers	Midwest League	Gomer Hodge
Rookie	Helena Gold Sox	Pioneer League	Dave Huppert

References

1. Rick Waits at Baseball-Reference
2. Pete Ladd at Baseball-Reference
3. Ed Romero at Baseball-Reference
4. Rob Deer at Baseball-Reference
5. Danny Darwin at Baseball-Reference
6. Ted Simmons at Baseball-Reference
7. Steve Stanicek at Baseball-Reference
8. Charlie O'Brien at Baseball-Reference
9. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN   978-0-451-22363-0
10. Ray Burris at Baseball-Reference
11. Gary Sheffield at Baseball-Reference
12. Tim McIntosh at Baseball-Reference
13. "1986 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
14. "Texas League Champions". Texas League. Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on December 31, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
15. "California League Champions". California League. Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.

• 1986 Milwaukee Brewers team at Baseball-Reference
• 1986 Milwaukee Brewers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com