Brewers Vault: Garner gets first win on Surhoff's walk-off slam

March 10th, 2022

MLB.com is digging back into its massive video vault to uncover classic plays that you have loved, forgotten about or, perhaps, are discovering for the very first time. Watch these moments and many, many more on the MLB Vault YouTube page.

April 8, 1992: Surhoff hits walk-off slam early in Garner era
Phil Garner's first managerial victory was cause for a dogpile at home plate thanks to B.J. Surhoff, who beat the Twins and right-hander Rick Aguilera with a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning at County Stadium in the second game of that year’s regular season. It was a case of the Brewers taking what the Twins gave them. Minnesota committed five errors in the game, including shortstop Greg Gagne’s drop in the ninth that allowed the Brewers to score five unearned runs to win the game. It marked the fifth time in franchise history that the Brewers won on a walk-off slam, but the sixth instance was barely a month away -- Franklin Stubbs beat the Rangers with a slam in the bottom of the 10th inning just 37 days later.

June 20, 2006: Helling twirls immaculate inning to open game
Rick Helling has been busy lately in his role as an executive with the Major League Baseball Players Association, a job he’s held since 2009. In 2006, he was rounding out his 12-year Major League career with the Brewers, including a memorable start against the Tigers in which Helling struck out the side on nine pitches for an immaculate first inning. Through 2021, only five Brewers pitchers have accomplished that feat. Helling went through some tough hitters -- Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and future Hall of Famer (and Helling’s former catcher in Texas) Iván Rodríguez. The rest of the night didn’t go as well, however. The Tigers scored two runs in the second inning, six in the third and two more in the fourth against Helling and his relief replacement, Carlos Villanueva, who works today as a coach in the Brewers’ Minor League chain.

July 16, 1996: Jaha's memorable homer in lopsided win
A tip of the cap to former slugger John Jaha, who split time between DH and first base while hitting many a tape measure home run in a Brewers uniform. Jaha was Milwaukee’s first baseman on July 16, 1996, when he came within a few rows of clearing the center-field bleachers at County Stadium -- an almost impossible feat -- with a two-run homer that gave the Brewers a 17-2 lead en route to a 17-2 win over the Tigers. It was the sort of power Jaha could produce when he was healthy, and he was healthy for most of the ’96 season. He finished with 34 home runs and 118 RBIs while hitting an even .300 -- with a .941 OPS that, at the time, ranked fourth-highest in franchise history for a qualifying hitter. Alas, foot, shoulder and other injuries limited him in ’97 and ’98 before Jaha was released and signed a Minor League deal with the A’s, for whom he had a comeback season and an All-Star Game appearance in ’99.

Oct. 10, 1982: Marshall at the wall
Outfielder Marshall Edwards, known to teammates as “The Flea” because he stood 5-foot-9, appeared in only 69 regular-season games for the Brewers in 1982 and got just a single plate appearance in that entire postseason. But in the decisive Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, he was in the right place at the right time. Edwards was a defensive replacement in center field for a limping Gorman Thomas in the seventh inning, just before the Brewers rallied to take a one-run lead. With one out in the top of the eighth, Angels slugger Don Baylor hit a deep drive to left-center that looked like it might tie the game, but Edwards raced over and made a leaping catch against the wall that further electrified the County Stadium crowd.

“I knew if I didn’t catch that ball, they would escort me out of town,” Edwards told Tom Haudricourt for the book "Where Have You Gone ’82 Brewers?" “I said, ‘Lord, you’ve got to help me.’”

Edwards made the play, and an inning later, the Brewers were celebrating their first trip to the World Series. (Highlight requested by Andrew H. and Larry S.)

Sept. 23, 1998: "Oh, no"
It was one of the Brewers’ most memorable victories of the 1990s and an infamous moment for the Cubs, who needed every win they could get in 1998 on their way to securing the National League Wild Card by winning the tiebreaker game over the Giants. Chicago had a 7-0 lead as fans sang "Roll Out the Barrel" during the seventh-inning stretch at County Stadium before the Brewers began to chip away. The lead was down to 7-5 with one out in the ninth inning when Mark Loretta singled off Cubs closer Rod Beck and Jeff Cirillo followed with a double to send the potential winning run to the plate. Beck intentionally walked Jeromy Burnitz to put the potential winning run on base, and moments later it looked like the right move. Marquis Grissom flied out in foul ground, and Geoff Jenkins followed with a routine fly ball to left fielder Brant Brown, a former third-round pick who was actually in the middle of his best season.

That should have ended the game, but Brown simply botched the play. As Ron Santo groaned on Cubs radio -- his “Oh, no” is as memorable as the play itself -- the Brewers raced around the bases for a stunning 8-7 win. (Highlight requested by Drew in Chicago and Matt in Milwaukee.)

Sept. 9, 1988: Homer 1 of 509 for Sheff
Before Gary Sheffield was a candidate for the Hall of Fame -- he appeared on 40.6 percent of ballots in the most recent vote, with two years of eligibility remaining -- he was a Brewers prospect with a big bat and a sometimes troublesome temper. But the discord that led Sheffield to be traded to San Diego in 1992 was still years away when he authored his first big league highlight, against left-hander Mark Langston and the Mariners at County Stadium. Sheffield brought the crowd to its feet in the sixth inning with a home run for his first Major League hit, and the Brewers’ first hit of the night in what became a 2-1 win in 11 innings. The homer snapped an 0-for-11 start to Sheffield’s career.

“I didn’t know he had that much power,” Langston told reporters.

Sheffield did indeed, though he didn’t unlock it until he left Milwaukee. Traded to the Padres because the Brewers preferred Bill Spiers at shortstop, Sheffield hit .330 with 33 homers and 100 RBIs for San Diego in 1992 and went on to hit 509 homers in a 22-year career.

Sept. 6, 2009: Prince walks it off, knocks over Crew
Providing the exclamation point to a phenomenal ballgame that featured a Brewers triple play, Prince Fielder beat the Giants with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning and produced arguably the most enduring image of his Milwaukee tenure. He untucked his jersey on his way around the bases, jumped on home plate and spread his arms wide. The teammates who’d surrounded him, including veteran Craig Counsell, fell to the ground like bowling pins.

The Giants, who were in contention at the time, made clear publicly and privately to general manager Doug Melvin that they didn’t enjoy the display. The following spring, Giants lefty Barry Zito plunked Fielder in the back with a first pitch and Fielder casually picked up the baseball, flipped it back to Zito on the mound and took his base.

A photograph of the moment, captured by the AP’s Morry Gash, hung in the Brewers’ bat room for years.

“That came from a funny conversation we had on the bus or whatever,” Counsell said. “It was, ‘Everyone does the same thing celebrating after a baseball game. Why don’t we do something different?’ We were just talking smack, having fun, coming up with crazy ideas. Everyone does the same thing, just jumping up and down together. It was boring. It was old. The same celebrating had been happening since the SportsCenter era started. So it was, ‘Let’s do something different.’”

The group waited months for the right moment. Fittingly, it was Fielder who provided it. (Highlight requested by Tm E. from DeForest, Wis.)

April 5, 2002: What a Rusch!
The Brewers didn’t put together too many highlight reels during their nightmare of a 2002 season, but the home slate started with a bang thanks to left-hander Glendon Rusch, who’d been acquired Jan. 21, 2002, in a three-team trade with the Rockies and Mets that sent Jeromy Burnitz to New York. Making his Brewers debut in front of a sellout crowd at Miller Park against the D-backs, Rusch pitched a complete-game three-hitter and smashed a two-run home run in the fifth inning (off future Brewers righty Rick Helling). It gave Milwaukee a 3-0 lead on the way to a 6-2 win and represented the first of Rusch’s three career home runs. The good times didn’t last, unfortunately. The Brewers lost their next seven games in a row and dismissed manager Davey Lopes after a 3-12 start.

(Highlight requested by John B. from Grafton, Wis.)

Sept. 29, 1982: Yost tames the Monster
Ned Yost, a seldom-used backup catcher who later managed the Brewers, delivered one of the biggest -- and most unlikely -- home runs in franchise history to give the 1982 Crew a crucial victory in its bid to win the American League East. Yost's three-run homer to left field in the ninth inning in Boston was good for a 6-3 win over the Red Sox that put Milwaukee four games up on the Orioles with five days to play. Ted Simmons started that game at catcher for the Brewers, but he was replaced by a pinch-runner after singling in the eighth inning with the teams tied, 3-3. Yost took over behind the plate for the bottom of the eighth inning and found himself striding to the plate in the ninth. It was Yost's first at-bat in 18 days. "Paul Molitor was there to greet me at the plate,” Yost said. “It was a big win for us. Pretty cool."

(Highlight requested by Joe O. from Barneveld, Wis.; Bill M. from Watertown, Wis.; and Andrew H.)

July 1, 2003: Sexson triples off flag pole
Richie Sexson
pointed to center field and put his hands on his hips after the most disheartening triple of his baseball life. It was at Houston's Minute Maid Park, and Sexson had just hit a moonshot that should have been a two-run home run. But it struck the flag pole -- in play -- atop Tal's Hill, and Astros center fielder Craig Biggio sent the baseball back toward the infield quickly enough to keep Sexson at third base, where he remained stranded in what became a one-run Brewers loss. For the rest of that season, a white mark was left a third of the way up the flagpole where Sexson’s long fly ball had struck. That unique feature of Houston’s ballpark, named for former club president Tal Smith, remained until it was leveled in 2016.

(Highlight requested by Jordan from Green Bay; Adam from Madison; Chris from Cedarburg, Wis.; and Ryan from Richfield, Wis.)