1985 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1985 Milwaukee Brewers season was the 16th season for the Brewers in Milwaukee, and the 17th overall.

1985 Milwaukee Brewers
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Milwaukee County Stadium
City	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Record	71–90 (.441)
Divisional place	6th
Owners	Bud Selig
General managers	Harry Dalton
Managers	George Bamberger
Television	WVTV (Steve Shannon, Mike Hegan)
Radio	WTMJ (AM) (Bob Uecker, Pat Hughes)
← 1984 Seasons 1986 →

The Brewers' finished sixth in the American League East with a record of 71 wins and 90 losses and missed the postseason for the 3rd consecutive season.

Offseason

• December 7, 1984: Don Sutton was traded by the Brewers to the Oakland Athletics for Ray Burris, Eric Barry (minors), and a player to be named later. The Athletics completed the deal by sending Ed Myers (minors) to the Brewers on March 25, 1985.^[1]
• January 3, 1985: Steve Carter was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1985 amateur draft (January), but did not sign.^[2]
• January 8, 1985: Jim Kern was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[3]
• January 18, 1985: Jim Sundberg was traded by the Brewers to the Kansas City Royals as part of a 4-team trade. Danny Darwin and a player to be named later were traded by the Texas Rangers to the Brewers, and Tim Leary was traded by the New York Mets to the Brewers. Don Slaught was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Rangers. Frank Wills was traded by the Royals to the Mets. The Rangers completed the trade by sending Bill Nance (minors) to the Brewers on January 30.^[4]
• April 3, 1985: Yutaka Enatsu was cut after a spring training tryout with the team at age 36.^[5]

Regular season

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Toronto Blue Jays	99	62	.615	—	54‍–‍26	45‍–‍36
New York Yankees	97	64	.602	2	58‍–‍22	39‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers	84	77	.522	15	44‍–‍37	40‍–‍40
Baltimore Orioles	83	78	.516	16	45‍–‍36	38‍–‍42
Boston Red Sox	81	81	.500	18½	43‍–‍37	38‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers	71	90	.441	28	40‍–‍40	31‍–‍50
Cleveland Indians	60	102	.370	39½	38‍–‍43	22‍–‍59

Record vs. opponents

1985 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	5–8	7–5	8–4	8–5	6–7	6–6	9–4	6–6	1–12	7–5	6–6	10–2	4–8
Boston	8–5	—	5–7	4–8–1	8–5	6–7	5–7	5–8	7–5	5–8	8–4	6–6	5–7	9–4
California	5–7	7–5	—	8–5	8–4	8–4	4–9	9–3	9–4	3–9	6–7	9–4	9–4	5–7
Chicago	4–8	8–4–1	5–8	—	10–2	6–6	5–8	5–7	6–7	6–6	8–5	9–4	10–3	3–9
Cleveland	5–8	5–8	4–8	2–10	—	5–8	2–10	7–6	4–8	6–7	3–9	6–6	7–5	4–9
Detroit	7–6	7–6	4–8	6–6	8–5	—	5–7	9–4	3–9	9–3	8–4	5–7	7–5	6–7
Kansas City	6–6	7–5	9–4	8–5	10–2	7–5	—	8–4	7–6	5–7	8–5	3–10	6–7	7–5
Milwaukee	4–9	8–5	3–9	7–5	6–7	4–9	4–8	—	9–3	7–6	3–9	4–8	8–3	4–9
Minnesota	6–6	5–7	4–9	7–6	8–4	9–3	6–7	3–9	—	3–9	8–5	6–7	8–5	4–8
New York	12–1	8–5	9–3	6–6	7–6	3–9	7–5	6–7	9–3	—	7–5	9–3	8–4	6–7
Oakland	5–7	4–8	7–6	5–8	9–3	4–8	5–8	9–3	5–8	5–7	—	8–5	6–7	5–7
Seattle	6–6	6–6	4–9	4–9	6–6	7–5	10–3	8–4	7–6	3–9	5–8	—	6–7	2–10
Texas	2–10	7–5	4–9	3–10	5–7	5–7	7–6	3–8	5–8	4–8	7–6	7–6	—	3–9
Toronto	8–4	4–9	7–5	9–3	9–4	7–6	5–7	9–4	8–4	7–6	7–5	10–2	9–3	—

Notable transactions

• June 17, 1985: Jim Kern was released by the Brewers.^[3]

Draft picks

• June 3, 1985: B. J. Surhoff was drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft.^[6]
• June 3, 1985: Steve Carter was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1985 amateur draft (June Secondary), but did not sign.^[2]

Roster

1985 Milwaukee Brewers
Roster
Pitchers 48 Ray Burris 47 Jaime Cocanower 18 Danny Darwin 34 Rollie Fingers 40 Bob Gibson 30 Moose Haas 49 Teddy Higuera 42 Jim Kern 27 Pete Ladd 39 Tim Leary 37 Brad Lesley 10 Bob McClure 43 Chuck Porter 41 Ray Searage 50 Pete Vuckovich 20 Rick Waits 46 Bill Wegman		Catchers 42 Dave Huppert 22 Charlie Moore 21 Bill Schroeder Infielders 15 Cecil Cooper 17 Jim Gantner 26 Brian Giles  4 Paul Molitor 36 Carlos Ponce  1 Ernest Riles 11 Ed Romero		Outfielders 29 Mark Brouhard 25 Bobby Clark 16 Mike Felder  7 Paul Householder 14 Dion James  5 Doug Loman 28 Rick Manning 24 Ben Oglivie  2 Randy Ready  9 Billy Jo Robidoux 19 Robin Yount Other batters 23 Ted Simmons		Manager 31 George Bamberger Coaches 45 Andy Etchebarren 12 Larry Haney 33 Frank Howard 35 Tony Muser 38 Herm Starrette

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Charlie Moore	105	349	81	.232	0	31
1B	Cecil Cooper	154	631	185	.293	16	99
2B	Jim Gantner	143	523	133	.254	5	44
SS	Ernie Riles	116	448	128	.286	5	45
3B	Paul Molitor	140	576	171	.297	10	48
LF	Robin Yount	122	466	129	.277	15	68
CF	Rick Manning	79	216	47	.218	2	18
RF	Paul Householder	95	299	77	.258	11	34
DH	Ted Simmons	143	528	144	.273	12	76

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Ben Oglivie	101	341	99	.290	10	61
Ed Romero	88	251	63	.251	0	21
Bill Schroeder	53	194	47	.242	8	25
Randy Ready	48	181	48	.265	1	21
Mark Brouhard	37	108	28	.259	1	13
Bobby Clark	29	93	21	.226	0	8
Doug Loman	24	66	14	.212	0	7
Carlos Ponce	21	62	10	.161	1	5
Brian Giles	34	58	10	.172	1	1
Mike Felder	15	56	11	.196	0	0
Billy Jo Robidoux	18	51	9	.176	3	8
Dion James	18	49	11	.224	0	3
Dave Huppert	15	21	1	.048	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Danny Darwin	39	217.2	8	18	3.80	125
Teddy Higuera	32	212.1	15	8	3.90	127
Ray Burris	29	170.1	9	13	4.81	81
Moose Haas	27	161.2	8	8	3.84	78
Pete Vuckovich	22	112.2	6	10	5.51	55
Tim Leary	5	33.1	1	4	4.05	29
Bill Wegman	3	17.2	2	0	3.57	6

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jaime Cocanower	24	116.1	6	8	4.33	44
Chuck Porter	6	13.2	0	0	1.98	8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Rollie Fingers	47	1	6	17	5.04	24
Bob Gibson	41	6	7	11	3.90	53
Bob McClure	38	4	1	3	4.31	57
Ray Searage	33	1	4	1	5.92	36
Pete Ladd	29	0	0	2	4.53	22
Rick Waits	24	3	2	1	6.51	24
Jim Kern	5	0	1	0	6.55	3
Brad Lesley	5	1	0	0	9.95	5

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

The Brewers' farm system consisted of five minor league affiliates in 1985.^[7] The Vancouver Canadians won the Pacific Coast League championship.^[8]

Level	Team	League	Manager
Triple-A	Vancouver Canadians	Pacific Coast League	Tom Trebelhorn
Double-A	El Paso Diablos	Texas League	Terry Bevington
Class A	Stockton Ports	California League	Tom Gamboa
Class A	Beloit Brewers	Midwest League	Dave Machemer
Rookie	Helena Gold Sox	Pioneer League	Mike Easom

Notes

1. Don Sutton at Baseball-Reference
2. "Steve Carter Stats".
3. Jim Kern at Baseball-Reference
4. Danny Darwin at Baseball-Reference
5. "Yanks to open season minor Henderson". Ocala Star-Banner. Ocala, Florida. April 4, 1985. p. 6B.
6. B.J. Surhoff at Baseball-Reference
7. "1985 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
8. "Pacific Coast League Champions". Pacific Coast League. Minor League Baseball. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2020.

References

• 1985 Milwaukee Brewers team at Baseball-Reference
• 1985 Milwaukee Brewers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com