The bell began to toll here Wednesday night in anticipation of the Yankees’ wild-card triumph–and also, perhaps, for the Milwaukee Brewers.
But there was no indication if it was ringing because the Wisconsin State Assembly was about to approve a new stadium for the Brewers. Instead, it might be a funereal farewell. Without a new ballpark, the Milwaukee franchise is likely to be relocated.
“The people here don’t realize if we don’t get a new stadium, we won’t be around,” said B.J. Surhoff, a team elder completing his seventh season with the Brewers. “If we lose baseball, we won’t have it again. We’d be a two-time loser, and this is a two-strike, not a three-strike, game.”
The Milwaukee franchise was moved once before, to Atlanta before the 1966 season. A replacement team didn’t arrive here until four years later, when the expansion Seattle Pilots went bankrupt after one season. The franchise was forfeited to Milwaukee and has been here ever since.
“It looks like it’s 50-50,” said outfielder Darryl Hamilton. “Some people are saying if we go, we go–it’s no big deal. But a lot of things would be going with the club. Jobs would be lost. There would be less income for the city and for charities. The club does a lot of charity work.”
Phil Garner, the Milwaukee manager, insisted club President Bud Selig has offered the city and state an equitable deal.
“Of all the baseball deals involving construction of a new stadium, Mr. Selig has offered the community the best deal. What’s unfortunate is that a lot of people don’t understand the value of this club to the city and the state.”
And thus, many of the Milwaukee players were concerned about their future as they dressed and left their clubhouse in Wednesday’s twilight. Said coach Tim Foli, stopping at the door: “I hate to see us have to move. We’ll just have to sit and wait.”
The Yankees aren’t waiting and appeared en route to winning the American League’s wild-card berth with their 6-3 victory over the Brewers. It was the Yankees’ 23rd win in their last 30 games. With only three games to play, they have a 1 1/2-game lead over California in the wild-card race.
Veteran right-hander David Cone, whom the Yankees acquired on July 28, was principally responsible for the victory. Working with only three days’ rest for the first time in four or five years, Cone gave up only one run and six hits in a courageous eight-inning performance.
He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning, immediately after a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand had been trimmed. “It was no big problem,” Cone said. “The same thing happened in my last start.”
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Buck Showalter, the Yankee manager, could have replaced Cone after seven innings, by which time the Bombers had opened a five-run lead.
“The bottom line is get into the playoffs,” Showalter said in his defense. “I asked him if he wanted to work the eighth, and he said, `Fine, give me one more.’ “
Cone had the Brewers beating the ball into the ground. Of the 24 outs made while he was on the mound, 13 were on ground balls, five on strikeouts and two on foul flies. All six hits off him were singles.
The victory lifted Cone’s record with the Yankees to 9-2. Asked where he thought the Yankees would be without him, he downplayed his achievements and said, “This is a very good club. They’ve scored a lot of runs for me.”
Cone insisted he felt strong throughout the game and said, if necessary, he will be ready to pitch again Sunday in Toronto in the final game of the regular season. If the Yankees clinch a playoff position Friday or Saturday, he won’t start again until next Tuesday in New York, probably against Seattle in the first round of the playoffs.
The Yankees led all the way. After Don Mattingly doubled in a run in the third, they increased their lead to 4-0 in the sixth on three unearned runs, all of which scored when left-fielder David Hulse misplayed a routine bases-loaded flyball.