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This is a thread about the best season in Milwaukee @Brewers history getting boosted by the @GratefulDead, playing like the '27 Yankees and Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds on days there was a show — and like a .500 club when there wasn't. These are Jerry's Wallbangers.
The '82 Brewers came within a game of winning the World Series, but the team was 23-24 when manager Buck Rodgers was fired and West Allis, Wisconsin's own Harvey Kuenn took over. They shot to 51-35 under Kuenn by the time the Dead opened the '82 summer tour. #JerrysWallbangers
From July 17, 1982, till season's end, the Brewers hit and pitched like one of the greatest teams in baseball history when the Grateful Dead played a show — going 22-9 (.710 winning %) on show days. For comparison:
• '27 Yankees, .714%
• '98 Yankees, .704%
• '75 Reds, .667%
• '27 Yankees, .714%
• '98 Yankees, .704%
• '75 Reds, .667%
But once that '82 Dead summer tour kicked off on July 17, the Brewers had a little less oomph in their bats when the band took a day off. The Brew Crew went 28-29 from July 17 through the World Series on days the Grateful Dead didn't play a show. #JerrysWallbangers
Here's how it looked in the box score once the Grateful Dead summer tour started:
• '82 Brewers on 31 show days: 6.16 runs scored per game, 3.97 runs per allowed
• On 57 non-show days: 4.82 runs per game, 4.46 allowed per game
• '82 Brewers on 31 show days: 6.16 runs scored per game, 3.97 runs per allowed
• On 57 non-show days: 4.82 runs per game, 4.46 allowed per game
No summer or fall '82 Dead shows were within spitting distance of the Brewers on the same day. The Dead in Iowa on Aug. 10 while the Brewers battered Texas 11-3 in Milwaukee was as close as they got. But is proximity important for the Brewers to harness this kind of energy?
This is all inspired by amazing coincidences between the Brewers and the Dead on Oct. 10, 1982, and I'll get to that eventually. But looking through @baseball_ref and seeing the inspired Brewers blow-by-blow of @TweetsFrom1982 made me finally decide to thread it.
For now, a look at the start of it on July 17, 1982. While the Brewers beat the White Sox 5-2 at County Stadium ... https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL198207170.shtml
... The Dead played their first ever show at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in California. They encored It's All Over Now Baby Blue, which will feature prominently later in '82 on the greatest day in Brewers history. The bright-sounding AUD from Jim Ho: https://archive.org/details/gd1982-07-17.fob.nak300.ho.bowen-foster.102172.flac
9/11/82 — The #JerrysWallbangers Brewers lose 14-2 in Yankee Stadium while the Dead play West Palm Beach, Florida. The Yankees were up 8-0 after two innings and it got worse from there. Doc Medich only gives the Crew one inning. ... https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA198209110.shtml
... This was the only bad-luck stretch for the #JerrysWallbangers Brewers since summer tour opened, losing on three straight show days (9/9, 9/11, 9/12). At no other point did they lose on consecutive show days.
A 9/11/82 West Palm Beach matrix for you:
https://archive.org/details/gd1982-09-11.122988.mtx.rdenirojb87.flac16/gd1982-09-11d1t01.flac
A 9/11/82 West Palm Beach matrix for you:
https://archive.org/details/gd1982-09-11.122988.mtx.rdenirojb87.flac16/gd1982-09-11d1t01.flac
9/11/82 — Brewers and Yankees started at 8 p.m. ET, same as the Dead in Florida. Show report from West Palm Beach. This guy had a much better time than Doc Medich and Jerry Augustine did on the mound. #JerrysWallbangers https://thestubcollection.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/grateful-dead-9111982/
Good time between games of the real Brewers doubleheader to check in on this day in #JerrysWallbangers history. The '82 Brewers returned to winning ways on a Dead show day, beating the Tigers 6-3 in Detroit while the Dead played their only ever show in Charlottesville, Virginia.
After the debacle series for the #JerrysWallbangers in New York while the dead ran through Florida and Louisiana, 9/14/82 marks the first of the last 10 Brewers games in '82 that coincided with a Dead show. The Crew went 9-1 on those days.
Here's the Dead on 9/14/82. First set AUD and the second set a SBD. A really nice Peggy-O in the first set. The #JerrysWallbangers Brewers never lost when the Dead played it. https://archive.org/details/gd82-09-14.beyer-sbd.miller.20906.sbeok.shnf/gd82-09-14d1t05.shn
