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Crew voice Schroeder 'day to day' with infection

CHICAGO -- Longtime Brewers TV analyst Bill Schroeder has not missed a game due to injury or illness since spending a chunk of his 1990 season with the Angels recovering from elbow surgery -- but that was to set change on Tuesday night.

The catcher-turned-TV man remained hospitalized Tuesday, and he was on a course of antibiotics for an infection that began in his right index finger and had spread into his hand and arm. Schroeder left Monday's game in the fourth inning at the urging of a team physician from the Cubs, and he was to remain in the hospital through Tuesday night.

"I'm officially listed as day to day," Schroeder joked. "I've missed games for weddings, funerals, graduations, and I had a week off a few years ago when I took my wife to Alaska for her birthday. But I've never missed a game to an illness."

Schroeder, 55 and in his 20th season calling games for the team that drafted him in 1979, had surgery last week to remove a troublesome calcium deposit on the knuckle of his right index finger, and he thought nothing of it until he began to develop swelling over the weekend.

On Monday, it was "really bad." Schroeder sought advice from Brewers head athletic trainer Dan Wright, who contacted his counterparts at the Cubs. A doctor briefly examined Schroeder in the press box during the game.

"When he saw where the infection was spreading, he told me to get over to the hospital right away," Schroeder said. "They didn't want it to go any further, so once I got in, they hooked me up to antibiotics, and they want to keep me here another night, too.

"It's nothing too serious. [The swelling] has gone down. I just want to make sure we knock it out of there so in four days I don't have to run to another emergency room with this infection still lingering."

Fox Sports Wisconsin pregame and postgame analyst Davey Nelson joined play-by-play man Brian Anderson in the booth for the remainder of Monday's game.

The Brewers are in Chicago until Thursday, when they travel to Los Angeles to continue a week-long road trip.

Asked whether he would be on the rest of the trip, Schroeder said, "I'd rather not speculate. I'll see what the doctors say about travel and all that, and we'll go from there. I just really appreciate all of texts and messages. It's nice that everyone is concerned. I'm doing fine, and I'll be back soon."

Adam McCalvy is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brew Beat, and follow him on Twitter at @AdamMcCalvy.
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