Brewers' all-time retired numbers
The Brewers' list of retired numbers includes their founder, an all-time great who returned to finish his career where it began and three members of the 1982 American League pennant winners. All are Hall of Famers, and their uniform numbers will never be donned again.
Here is a rundown of the men who have received the Brewers' highest honor:
Bud Selig, founder: No. 1
Number retired: Prior to the 2015 season
Selig was in the final weeks of his 22-year tenure as Commissioner of Major League Baseball in 2014 when the Brewers surprised him with a plan to retire No. 1 in honor of their founder. Selig spent five years trying to bring baseball back to Milwaukee after the Braves departed in 1965, finally succeeding on March 31, 1970, when a bankruptcy judge in Seattle pushed through the sale of the Pilots to Selig's group. The Milwaukee Brewers were born, and Selig led them until 1992, when he became acting MLB Commissioner. His tenure was marked by labor peace, a technological revolution, competitive balance and an expanded postseason system, but Selig has always said his proudest accomplishment was making Milwaukee big league again. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Paul Molitor, INF/DH: No. 4
Number retired: July 11, 1999
An injury to Robin Yount opened a spot in the lineup for Molitor in 1978, and the man dubbed "The Ignitor" by then-manager George Bamberger seized it, beginning a 15-year run with Milwaukee. Molitor collected the first 2,281 of his 3,319 career hits in a Milwaukee uniform, including a banner season in '82, when he led the AL with 136 runs scored while collecting 201 hits and batting .302 atop the lineup for the Brewers' first pennant-winning team. In '87, Molitor hit safely in 39 consecutive games for the seventh-longest streak in Major League history. His departure via free agency following the '92 season was a difficult lesson in the changing economics of baseball, but Molitor and the Brewers had mended fences by '99, his first year of retirement. In 2004, he became the second player inducted into the Hall of Fame wearing a Brewers cap.
Robin Yount, SS/CF: No. 19
Number retired: May 29, 1994
Selected third overall by the Brewers in the 1973 Draft and in the Majors a year later at 18, "The Kid" played his entire 20-year Major League career with Milwaukee and retired as the franchise leader in games played, singles, doubles, triples, home runs and RBIs. Yount won the AL Most Valuable Player Award at two positions -- in '82 as a shortstop and in '89 as a center fielder after a right shoulder injury prompted a move to the outfield. At the time, he was only the second player to win the honor at multiple positions. On Sept. 9, 1992, the same day Selig took over as acting Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Yount became the 17th player in baseball history to record 3,000 career hits when he singled off Indians right-hander Jose Mesa at County Stadium. Yount became the first player to enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a Brewer on July 25, 1999.
Rollie Fingers, RHP: No. 34
Number retired: Aug. 9, 1992
The man who made the handlebar mustache famous spent the final four seasons of his Hall of Fame career in a Brewers uniform and was one of baseball's first relief aces. Acquired in a December 1980 blockbuster trade with the Cardinals that also netted starter Pete Vuckovich and catcher Ted Simmons, Fingers won both the AL Cy Young Award and AL Most Valuable Player Award in strike-shortened '81, the first pitcher to win both of his league's top honors since Oakland's Vida Blue in 1971. He was an All-Star again for the '82 AL champion Brewers, and on Aug. 21 of that season, became the first pitcher to log 300 saves. But Fingers was pitching in pain and missed the postseason with an arm injury, sparking a debate that continues to this day about whether the Brewers would have topped the Cardinals in the World Series with a healthy Fingers.
Hank Aaron, OF/DH: No. 44
Number retired: At the conclusion of the 1976 season
"Hammerin' Hank" made his mark with the Milwaukee Braves from 1954-65, winning the National League MVP Award in '57 for Milwaukee's first World Series champion before the franchise left for Atlanta, where Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record. The Brewers acquired him in a November 1974 trade, and Aaron hit 22 of his 755 home runs in '75 and '76 before retiring. He knocked 40 or more homers in eight seasons, drove in 100 or more runs 11 times and finished with a .305 lifetime batting average, with all-time records for RBIs (2,297) and total bases (6,856). He was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982 with 97.8 percent of the vote.
Note: On April 15, 1997, the Brewers joined every team in MLB in retiring No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.