Dairyland Express
Fansided

Milwaukee’s Best, Part 4: The 50 Best To Play For Braves, Brewers: 20-11

By Phil Watson

facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 11
Next

Jim Gantner, as shown on a 1990 Upper Deck baseball card.

16. Jim Gantner, 2B-3B

Brewers 1976-92

In many ways, Jim Gantner—or “Gumby”—embodies Wisconsin baseball. Raised in Eden, a star at Campbellsport High School and at UW-Oshkosh, Gantner was a 12th-round pick by the Brewers in the 1974 amateur draft and spent his entire career in the organization.

Gantner made his big-league debut in September 1976 and after several seasons as a utility infielder, he became a regular in 1980 at third and second base before settling in at second in 1981, Late in his career, he resumed the second-to-third shuffle before retiring after the 1992 season.

Gumby was never a star, but he did hit .295/.335/.369 in the 1982 campaign and hit a career-best 11 homers in 1983. He was fifth in the American League in triples in 1983 and was in the top 10 in sacrifice hits four different seasons.

He was also 8-for-24 with four doubles, a triple and four RBI for the Brewers in the 1982 World Series.

After his playing days were over, Gantner was first-base coach for Milwaukee in 1996-97.

Here are Gantner’s statistics from his 17 seasons with the Brewers:

Year Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1976 23 26 79 69 6 17 1 0 0 7 1 0 6 11 .246 .316 .261 .577 72
1977 24 14 49 47 4 14 1 0 1 2 2 1 2 5 .298 .327 .383 .710 93
1978 25 43 105 97 14 21 1 0 1 8 2 0 5 10 .216 .269 .258 .527 50
1979 26 70 234 208 29 59 10 3 2 22 3 5 16 17 .284 .336 .389 .726 96
1980 27 132 457 415 47 117 21 3 4 40 11 10 30 29 .282 .330 .376 .706 96
1981 28 107 397 352 35 94 14 1 2 33 3 6 29 29 .267 .325 .330 .654 94
1982 29 132 485 447 48 132 17 2 4 43 6 3 26 36 .295 .335 .369 .704 99
1983 30 161 662 603 85 170 23 8 11 74 5 6 38 46 .282 .329 .401 .730 107
1984 31 153 658 613 61 173 27 1 3 56 6 5 30 51 .282 .314 .344 .658 86
1985 32 143 573 523 63 133 15 4 5 44 11 8 33 42 .254 .300 .327 .627 73
1986 33 139 543 497 58 136 25 1 7 38 13 7 26 50 .274 .313 .370 .684 84
1987 34 81 296 265 37 72 14 0 4 30 6 2 19 22 .272 .331 .370 .701 84
1988 35 155 596 539 67 149 28 2 0 47 20 8 34 50 .276 .322 .336 .658 84
1989 36 116 455 409 51 112 18 3 0 34 20 6 21 33 .274 .321 .333 .654 86
1990 37 88 358 323 36 85 8 5 0 25 18 3 29 19 .263 .328 .319 .647 83
1991 38 140 567 526 63 149 27 4 2 47 4 6 27 34 .283 .320 .361 .681 90
1992 39 101 273 256 22 63 12 1 1 18 6 2 12 17 .246 .278 .313 .590 67
TOTALS 1801 6787 6189 726 1696 262 38 47 568 137 78 383 501 .274 .319 .351 .671 88

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/20/2015.

Next: 15. Slugging OF For Turn-Of-Century Crew

Home/Milwaukee Brewers