In '87, Deer, Sveum provided an Easter treat
This is the third in FOXSportsWisconsin.com's five-part series on the 25th anniversary of the Milwaukee Brewers' 13-0 start to the 1987 season.
Sunday: 13-0 still special 25 years later
Monday: Juan Nieves' no-hitter makes it 9-0
Today: The Easter Sunday Game
Wednesday: 13-1. Now what?
Thursday: Free George Webb hamburgers for everyone!
There have been games with bigger stakes on the line in Milwaukee Brewers history than a seemingly inconsequential regular-season matchup in mid-April.
This is a franchise, after all, that has made the playoffs four times and once stood a single victory away from a World Series championship.
But few would argue there is a Brewers game more memorable or important to a city's identity than what took place on April 19, 1987, otherwise known simply as the "Easter Sunday Game."
"The single greatest game in the state of Wisconsin and baseball," then-Brewers closer Dan Plesac said.
The story of the Brewers' miraculous 6-4 ninth-inning comeback against the Texas Rangers that day has taken on an almost mythical status in the 25 years since its completion. Rob Deer is still hailed as a hero for his game-tying three-run home run, and so is Dale Sveum for his game-winning two-run shot minutes later.
Milwaukee, of course, would win its 12th consecutive game thanks to those ninth-inning heroics and would go on to tie a major league record one day later with 13 straight victories to start a season.
For members of that Brewers team, the improbable nature of the Easter Sunday victory was one that came to define them as a young group of ballplayers with a never-say-quit attitude. And none of them has forgotten the impact that game had on a team and a city.
"I remember everything," Deer said. "That'll never escape my mind."
Milwaukee had shown its mettle early in the 1987 season with other stellar late-game performances, including a two-run single from B.J. Surhoff to beat the Rangers in the 12th inning one week earlier. But nothing compared to the manner in which the Brewers came from behind on Easter Sunday, with the Milwaukee County Stadium crowd out in full force on an unseasonably warm April day.
Milwaukee entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing, 4-1, and appeared on the verge of having its sizzling start come to a screeching halt.
"We were a little bit flat," said Tom Trebelhorn, who managed the Brewers in 1987. "We said, ‘Their bullpen is having a little trouble holding us down. Let's try to get some people on, take some strikes to try to get on base. See if we can get something to happen.' "
Rangers manager Bobby Valentine brought in closer Greg Harris to replace Mitch Williams in the ninth inning after Williams recorded one out but put two batters on base.
"We were down and out, and we were done," Brewers catcher Bill Schroeder said. "That game was over."
When Harris threw Deer a breaking ball that hung over the plate, everything changed.
"To this day, he'll say it was a big mistake," Deer said.
Deer, who had hit a solo home run earlier in the game, clobbered the ball to left field for a game-tying three-run home run that sent the fans in Milwaukee County Stadium into bedlam.
"I hit it as hard as I could hit it," Deer said. "As soon as I hit it, it went up, and I knew it was gone. All I can remember is just total mayhem. I remember stuffed rabbits and banners and smoke all over the field. I remember so much stuff that it was just crazy. It was so loud. I ran around the bases and I got to home plate and I was mobbed.
"I went down to touch home plate, and I ran right into Dale's helmet. I was running off the field and my nose was bleeding. People were going crazy. I can't imagine anything being more exciting than that day and that time in my career. I imagine winning a World Series would be quite the excitement. I couldn't have been more excited than I was that day."
Three batters later, the Brewers became an even bigger national story when Sveum belted a two-run homer off Harris that cleared the right-field fence. Sveum, much like Deer only minutes earlier, was greeted at home plate by a sea of giddy teammates — and thousands of adoring fans basking in the glow of an astounding comeback.
The celebration in the clubhouse mirrored the excitement and enthusiasm from fans across Wisconsin.
"You come into this locker room after a game on Easter Sunday, and it was like 25 14-year-old boys jumping around," Plesac said. "It was like little league. It was like, ‘What the hell did we just do? Are you kidding? This is crazy?' "
The victory also sent fans of local George Webb Restaurants into hamburger heaven. When the Brewers won their 12th straight game, the chain announced it would give away free hamburgers and, from April 22-26, handed out 168,194 free burgers — further adding to the lore of one of the most memorable games in Brewers history.
"I still to this day think about that game every Easter Sunday," Plesac said. "Not an Easter has gone by since 1987 that when I get up on Easter Sunday, I don't think of Peter Cottontail or an Easter egg hunt — I think of Dale Sveum and Rob Deer."
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