In the summer of 2013, I was an unpaid intern here at WTMJ.
One of my biggest responsibilities that summer was to cover Brewers games.
I would spend the day at the ballpark, gathering pre and post-game audio to send back to the station for use.
It was an amazing summer, but the team stunk.
The Brewers finished that season 74 and 88.
The most memorable day of that season was the day that Ryan Braun was suspended for use of performance-enhancing drugs.
On a normal day at the ballpark, I would send between 10 and 15 audio cuts back to the station.
That day, I sent 65, ironically, the same number of games that Braun was suspended.
I remember leaving the ballpark that night thinking to myself, “He’ll never recover from this.”
I was wrong.
Sitting here 8 summers later, on the day after Braun announced his retirement, my memories of Braun are all positive.
The clutch hits, the walk-off homers, the playoff appearances, what he meant and still means to our community…
Those things are enough to overcome the lies and the scandal.
The summer of 2013 will always be a part of his legacy.
That’s a fact. That’s his doing.
But to let that be the entire story would be a disservice to one of the greatest players to ever wear a Milwaukee Brewers uniform.