Stearns serves up food, baseball
Brewers continue to assist during pandemic
The Milwaukee Brewers have been front and center with regard to helping those touched by the coronavirus pandemic, and their outreach continued Thursday at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee.
Team president David Stearns was on hand along with Milwaukee Fire Fighters Local 215 as 1,000 meals from Wahlburgers were distributed in a show of support to front-line workers.
The gesture was a partnership between the Brewers, Wahlburgers, Hy-Vee Inc. and Crescent Capital, a leading alternative asset management firm which Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio co-founded in 1991 and serves as managing partner of today.
"There are a litany of reasons why it's important to be here today," Stearns said. "We're supporting all of our people on the front lines who are doing everything they can to help keep us safe and allow us to live as normally as possible.
"This is such a unique circumstance for everyone in our country and certainly our community and no more so than the people who are working in this building. So to be able to add any support that we can, we're very happy to be here today."
Department by department, health-care workers made their way to the staging area to pick up their meals, with Stearns and members of the Milwaukee Fire Department clapping in appreciation of their efProfessional
forts since the pandemic first hit.
Additional deliveries will also be made in the two-day effort to Aurora West Allis Medical Center, Aurora Sinai Medical Center and Aurora St. Luke's South Shore.
"It's energizing," said Dori Tooke, Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center vice president of operations. "It gives us a sense of solidarity and recognizes the work that we're doing."
Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun helped lead a similar effort last month to feed front-line workers at Aurora facilities as well as Froedtert Hospital & Medical College of Wisconsin, Ascension Wisconsin and Children's Wisconsin.
The duo, along with several other teammates as well as Bob Uecker, also contributed to a fund established by the Brewers that will distribute approximately $1.4 million to game-day workers at Miller Park whose jobs have been affected by the pandemic.
With reports that Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association have been meeting in recent days to discuss potentially beginning a secondary spring training next month and a partial season in July, Stearns was asked for his thoughts on what might be next.
"The truth is, we don't know what scenario is coming," he said. "I don't think anyone does. There's a lot to be determined – not only in terms of what normal life looks like for all of us going forward, but for baseball. There isn't any clarity at this point.
"There are ideas, there's been speculation. There's discussions and negotiations that are ongoing. So we have to be prepared for anything."
What would the biggest challenge be?
"First and foremost is the health and safety of everyone involved. That is the primary focus of all the discussions that are ongoing," Stearns said. "We have to make sure that whether it's players, staff, coaches, media – anyone who is around the game stays safe. And we have to be prepared to do that."
Various details surrounding baseball's return have leaked out, including a roughly 82-game season, playing games mostly in home ballparks without fans and teams playing in divisions based on geography. That would leave the Brewers in a 10-team division that would include the National League and American League Central.
Another interesting possibility is the designated hitter being utilized for all games.
The feeling in baseball in recent years has been that the DH was an inevitability in the NL once the owners and players hammer out the next collective bargaining agreement, and this could provide a sneak peek.
The Brewers would seemingly be in a great position with Ryan Braun a prime candidate to fill that role, leaving the outfield to Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Avisaíl García and first base to Justin Smoak.
"If there is a designated hitter available to us, we'll be able to accommodate that," Stearns said. "We always prioritize depth and having an extra hitter every single game, that's certainly not a bad thing for us."