$7,505?! Check out the MiLB theme night auction that's worth every penny

Benjamin Hill travels the nation collecting stories about what makes Minor League Baseball unique. This excerpt from the Baseball Traveler newsletter, presented by Circle K, is a mere taste of the smorgasbord of delights he offers every week. Read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to his newsletter here.

James Forsyth, owner of Cannonballs Sports Bar in North Fond du Lac, Wisc., describes his establishment as a "small town bar where people come together." A place where "you know what you’re going to get Monday through Sunday. You're going to get sports. You're going to get good conversation."

You'll also get to see a phenomenal piece of Minor League Baseball memorabilia. Abner Uribe's Wisconsin Brats jersey, images of which became a viral sensation, has found its forever home at Cannonball’s after Forsyth placed the winning bid -- $7,505! -- in a highly competitive online charity auction.

Uribe, a crucial component of the Brewers' bullpen, wore the outlandish plaid jersey while pitching a scoreless third inning during his rehab appearance with the Appleton-based Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Aug. 28. The High-A Midwest League club played as the Brats as part of their annual multi-night Bratoberfest celebration of German heritage. This year’s iteration also included an appearance by competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut and a bobblehead featuring the Flying Bratman getting shot out of a Bratzooka.

"[The Uribe jersey is] game-worn, game-authentic … it's so unique to Wisconsin," said Forsyth. "Having Uribe on a rehab assignment, wearing something that means something to me, with the Brats. My grandmother worked for Usinger's [Famous Sausage] for 30 years and she recently passed. … It's all for charity, so that's the big thing behind it all."

The Brats uniforms, which also include lederhosen-style pants and faux suspenders, served as a stark reminder of the relationship between Major and Minor League Baseball: So close and yet so far away. Timber Rattlers broadcaster Chris Mehring posted a picture of Uribe in this absurdist ensemble, and it quickly went viral.

"My phone was just going absolutely crazy with notifications," said Mehring. "Then a bigger account picked it up, then I'm getting texts from family members who are watching the Brewers game, they go, 'Hey, the Brewers put this on their broadcast.' … And then Saturday rolls around and the Brewers were a FOX Network game. They picked it up and put it out there."

And on and on it went, with Uribe and the Brats gaining coverage everywhere from SportsCenter to The New York Times. This wasn't the first time that a rehabbing Brewer wore a ridiculous Timber Rattlers theme jersey, with notable examples including Ryan Braun's Star Wars Night appearance in 2017 and Manny Pina donning the Brats uniform in 2019 (an occurrence later immortalized in bobblehead form).

Uribe wasn't even the first rehabbing member of the Brewers to appear in Aug. 28's game, as he was preceded on the mound by fellow reliever JoJo Romero. The icing on the cake, or the sauerkraut on the brat, was that the Timber Rattlers catcher that day, Yannic Walther, is a native of Heidelberg, Germany. He was, presumably, right at home in lederhosen.

"Thanks for the mentions, thanks for all the views," said Mehring, summing up his response to the attention. "'By the way, the [jersey] auction is live. … Here it is. Go bid on the Abner Uribe jersey or any of the jerseys.' And it just went crazy."

The Bratoberfest jersey auction raised a team-record $15,800, with the money benefiting the team's non-profit organization, Timber Rattlers Giveback. Nearly half of that unprecedented haul came via Forsyth's bid for Uribe's jersey, which was hand-delivered to Cannonballs by an appreciative crew of Timber Rattlers front office members.

Cannonballs opened in October of last year, its name a reference to a nickname Forsyth acquired as a high school football player. ("My Al Bundy moment," he said.) He operates the establishment along with his wife, Amelia, and his parents. The Uribe jersey will soon be proudly displayed alongside those of other Wisconsin notables such as Packers fullback John Kuhn, Jacob Misiorowski (a Timber Rattlers alum) and Matt Logan (the first North Fond du Lac basketball player to dunk in a game).

"We take a lot of pride in our food. Our hand-breaded, never-frozen chicken. Homemade fries. So we have a small menu, but we want to make it really good," said Forsyth. "Kind of like with the jerseys. We don't have a lot of space, so we want to have things up that are meaningful."

Forsyth doesn't expect that people will come from out of town to see his new acquisition, but stranger things have happened. Fond du Lac is located between the Appleton-based Timber Rattlers and the Milwaukee Brewers and is itself the home of a summer-collegiate team, the Dock Spiders (owned by the Timber Rattlers).

Why not make Cannonballs Sports Bar part of a Wisconsin baseball road trip?

"Anyone that is a fan of baseball, we welcome them with open arms," said Forsyth. "We're just grateful to have his jersey here for people to come in and start a conversation. You know, that's what it's all about: Get people talking."

Next on the agenda is to add brats to the food menu, which may occur when the Brewers are in the playoffs. Longer term, Forsyth hopes to acquire yet another ridiculous Timber Rattlers theme jersey.

"Udder Tuggers -- we need to get that one," said Forsyth, referencing the team’s long-running salute to Wisconsin's dairy industry. "That's such a unique name. Got to have it at the bar."