Christian Yelich Named Brewers' First Ever Captain

The Brewers have played 58 seasons without naming a captain. That ended Saturday. Pat Murphy gave Christian Yelich the title in a team meeting before the game against the Cardinals. Yelich is 34, he is in his 9th season in Milwaukee, and at this point nobody was going to argue. The C was a formality. It's official now anyway.

It also puts him in a small club. Captains have mostly disappeared from baseball, since most teams think the clubhouse sorts out its own leaders without a letter on anybody's chest. Only 2 other active big leaguers have the title right now.

Adam McCalvy

@AdamMcCalvy

Christian Yelich becomes one of three active captains in MLB, with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Royals’ Salvador Perez.

That's Aaron Judge in the Bronx, Salvador Perez in Kansas City, and now Yeli. It's not a bad group to join. All 3 are the face of their franchise, and all 3 have been with their team long enough that their teammates hear their voice before the manager's. Murphy's case for Yelich was about that more than any stat line: he said Yelich has 'organically' led people 'in his own genuine, authentic way' and that 'everybody knows he's our captain.'

The best part of the story is how Yelich took the news. He didn't just say thanks. He had 1 condition, and it tells you exactly how he thinks about the job.

Adam McCalvy

@AdamMcCalvy

According to Pat Murphy, Christian Yelich had one request when he learned the Brewers wanted to name him captain. He wanted the blessing of Robin Yount, "because in Yeli's mind, Robin is the first captain." "Robin agreed wholeheartedly," Murphy said.

That's a great move. Robin Yount is the Brewers. He played all 20 years of his Hall of Fame career in Milwaukee, and he led the 1982 team that is still the only Brewers club to make a World Series. He never officially wore the C, but ask anyone in Wisconsin who the franchise's captain was and they'll give you the same answer. Yelich knew that too, and he wasn't going to take the title without checking with the guy who really had it first. Yount signed off 'wholeheartedly,' per Murphy.

Now for the part that matters. The Brewers made this call in the last week of the regular season with October coming, so they obviously wanted the whole room behind 1 guy before the stakes go up. Milwaukee still hasn't gotten back to the World Series since Yount's team did it. If Yelich is going to share a title with Yount, the thing Brewers fans actually want is for him to lead the team as deep into the postseason as Yount's did.