MILWAUKEE – The Brewers are still chasing a championship but they’ve had their magical moments over the years, from an icon’s final home run trot to a bouncer to shortstop for a trip to the World Series. You’ll find those and more on my countdown of the top 10 moments in franchise history.
A couple of caveats before we get to it: This is my personal list, and it’s completely subjective. It was compiled without any input from the Brewers. And it focuses on in-game moments and their significance to the franchise and baseball history, so you won’t find, say, Bob Uecker’s unforgettable acceptance speech in Cooperstown.
10. Hank Aaron’s 755th home run
In the moment, it was just another July home run for aging slugger Hank Aaron, who began his Hall of Fame career in Milwaukee with the Braves and then returned to play his final two seasons with the Brewers. But with the benefit of hindsight, it was history. Aaron hit his 755th and final home run on July 20, 1976, at County Stadium, a solo shot off California reliever Dick Drago. The baseball hooked just inside the left-field foul pole and landed in section 28 of the lower grandstand.
Months passed before anyone realized it was the Home Run King's final shot. But in the years that followed, it became one of the most iconic numbers in baseball history. Even today, baseball fans know the meaning of the number 755.
9. Woodruff connects off Kershaw
As singular moments go, they don’t get much better than young Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff connecting off Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, already a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and one of the best pitchers in baseball, for a home run in Game 1 of the 2018 NLCS that shocked everybody in the ballpark – including Woodruff. He became the first Milwaukee pitcher to homer in a postseason game since the 1958 World Series, when Lew Burdette did so for the Milwaukee Braves against the Yankees.
8. Yount saves a no-hitter
The first no-hitter in Brewers history was memorable in myriad ways, from the youth of the pitcher – Juan Nieves was just 22 on April 15, 1987 – and because he was the first Puerto Rico-born pitcher to throw one. The weather wasn’t pretty on a dreary night in Baltimore and neither was Nieves’ command, as he issued five walks. But the defense was immaculate, most notably Robin Yount’s diving catch in right-center field for the final out of what stood as the only no-hitter in Brewers history until Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader combined for one in Cleveland on Sept. 11, 2021.
7. Rob Deer’s Easter Sunday homer
The Brewers set an American League record and tied the Major League record by going 13-0 to begin the 1987 season. Nieves’ no-no was win No. 9, and yet it’s victory No. 12 of 13 that stands out as one of the most memorable games in franchise history. It was a warm Easter Sunday at County Stadium, and the Brewers turned a 4-1 deficit going into the ninth inning of what became an electrifying, 6-4 win over the Rangers. Deer sent the crowd into a frenzy with a tying, three-run homer and Dale Sveum delivered a winning, two-run shot – the only walk-off homer of Sveum’s career.
The Brewers came from behind again to beat the White Sox in Chicago the following night before finally tasting defeat. It stood as the longest winning streak in franchise history until 2025.
6. Taking down the Cubs in the NLDS
William Contreras and Andrew Vaughn each hit go-ahead solo home runs and five Brewers pitchers -- including All-Star closer Trevor Megill as the starter and a huge dose of rookies Jacob Misiorowski and Chad Patrick in the middle innings -- allowed only six baserunners in a 3-1 win over the Cubs in winner-take-all Game 5 of the 2025 NLDS at American Family Field.
It was a huge victory on so many levels, from the longtime rivalry between these Interstate 94 rivals to the personal feelings about manager Craig Counsell leaving the Brewers for the Cubs two years before. But for the Brewers, it was a chance to finally shed the weight of so many postseason disappointments. They’d lost six consecutive postseason series dating back to 2018, including five consecutive October one-and-dones from a heartbreaking loss to the Nationals in the 2019 NL Wild Card Game through an even more devastating loss to the Mets in the 2024 NL Wild Card Series.
“This was more than the usual Division Series,” said Christian Yelich. “We knew it meant a little bit extra.”
5. First taste of postseason play
Fortified by a blockbuster trade with the Cardinals at the Winter Meetings that landed a future Hall of Fame closer in Rollie Fingers, a future Hall of Fame catcher in Ted Simmons and a bulldog starter in Pete Vuckovich, the 1981 Brewers were off to a 31-25 start when the players went on strike over a disagreement with owners about the rules of free agency. Baseball shut down on June 12 and didn’t resume until Aug. 10, and it was decided that the first-half and second-half champions would meet for the first Division Series in Major League Baseball history.
In the East, the second-half “championship” came down to the 29-21 Brewers facing the 28-21 Tigers in a season-ending three-game series at County Stadium. The Brewers won the first two games, and when Fingers sealed a 2-1 victory on Oct. 3, 1981, they celebrated a postseason berth for the first time.
4. Tony Plush punches NLCS ticket
After dropping the 2008 NLDS to the Phillies, the Brewers had gone 29 years without winning a postseason series going into a decisive NLDS Game 5 against the D-backs in 2011. Milwaukee’s near-perfect closer John Axford was still smarting from a rare blown save when the Brewers picked him up in the 10th inning, getting a single and a stolen base from Carlos Gómez to set up Nyjer Morgan’s winning base hit. His bouncer up the middle sent the Brewers, after a generation of frustration, on to the NLCS against the Cardinals.
"I didn't realize the magnitude at the time," Morgan said. "I was young. It didn't really hit me until everything was over. Now I can look it up and see it, and it still gives me chills."
3. CC carries Crew into October
The Brewers lost to the Cardinals in a seven-game World Series in 1982, then went 26 years before their next taste of the postseason. With left-hander CC Sabathia leading the way after a brilliant midseason trade in 2008, the Brewers went 20-7 in August but saw the offense go ice cold at the start of September, leading to manager Ned Yost’s shocking ouster with only 12 games to go. They won just enough under interim skipper Dale Sveum to make the regular-season finale against the Cubs matter.
It turned into an unforgettable afternoon at Miller Park. Ryan Braun hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the eighth inning, Sabathia thrust his arms in the air after finishing his seventh complete game in 17 Brewers starts and everyone waited around to watch on the big board as the Mets lost to the Marlins, giving Milwaukee the NL Wild Card and a ticket to the postseason.
2. “He’s done it. 3,000 for Robin”
Sept. 9, 1992 is the date that Brewers founder Bud Selig’s fellow owners voted him interim Commissioner of MLB in St. Louis, in the wake of Fay Vincent's resignation two days earlier. But he couldn’t wait to get back to Milwaukee, where the Brewers were hosting Cleveland in the final game of a homestand, giving a scuffling Yount one last chance to join the exclusive 3,000-hit club in front of the home fans.
He delivered in the bottom of the seventh inning against Cleveland closer Jose Mesa, a single to right field that prompted a break in the game so the Brewers could celebrate. Longtime teammates Paul Molitor and Jim Gantner were the first to embrace Yount at first base before the rest of the team converged. He would play another season before calling it a career after 20 Major League seasons, all in Milwaukee, but this was the moment that clinched Yount’s place in Cooperstown.
“It was the only time he showed emotion like he had accomplished something,” said then-Brewers reliever Dan Plesac. “It was like, ‘Wow, he sleeps and breathes like everybody else.’”
1. The Brewers win the pennant
Besides the day he got the call that Milwaukee had landed the Brewers, Selig calls Oct. 10, 1982, the best day of his baseball life. Winner-take-all Game 5 of the American League Championship Series (the LCS round was a best-of-five in those days) hinged on Cecil Cooper’s seventh-inning, go-ahead, two-run single, which required a little help with Cooper, à la Carlton Fisk, waving his arms and willing the baseball to the grass in front of Angels left fielder Brian Downing. Cooper, 1-for-19 in the series to that point, went from goat to hero in one moment when Gantner scored the go-ahead run behind Charlie Moore, who embraced at the plate while County Stadium erupted.
Pete Ladd, filling in for injured closer Rollie Fingers, recorded the final six outs, the last of which was a Rod Carew bouncer to Yount at shortstop.
“When I threw that ball, I’m telling you, the world stopped,” said Yount. “I didn’t think the ball was going to get there. It’s the weirdest feeling.”
To this day, Cooper is not sure what happened to the baseball. His hat was lost forever, too. They were lost in a sea of humanity as fans rushed the field and players fought their way through the crowd to the clubhouse. The Brewers were on their way to the World Series.
JUST MISSED THE LIST
• Game 163 at Wrigley Field settles 2018 NL Central title
• Don Sutton beats Jim Palmer in 1982 finale to decide AL East
• Paul Molitor sets WS record with five hits in 1982 World Series Game 1 blowout
• Molitor’s 39-game hitting streak in 1987
• Andruw Monasterio’s homer makes it 14 wins in a row in 2025
• Ben Sheets’ 18-strikeout game against the Braves on May 16, 2004
• Ryan Braun’s walk-off slam as Brewers close on 2008 Wild Card
• Trevor Hoffman becomes the first pitcher to 600 saves
• Richie Sexson’s homer wins inaugural home opener at MIller
• Christian Yelich’s second cycle against the Reds in the span of three weeks in 2018
• Prince Fielder’s “bowling ball” celebration in 2009
• Corbin Burnes/Josh Hader combined no-hitter in 2021