#162 Brewers Rookie Stars

Jerry Bell, Darrell Porter, Bob Reynolds Trio of mixed results the most notable was Darryl Porter....all played up to the 1975 season....Bob Reynolds...a bit of a rambler...having been an Expo expansion pick and taking the field in one game during the inaugural year....then traveling to St Louis (traded for Mike Torres, a great deal for the Spo’s) in 1970....next season continues nomadic existence splitting time between Milwaukee, Cardinals, and both their respective AAA clubs....Reynolds never plays again in Brewtown and is traded to Baltimore just before the dawn of the 1972 year....Mostly in minors but set a place for himself in Oriole Bullpen 1973....put together two solid efforts....ERAs of 1.95 and 2.73 in successive years...roughed up in 1975....continued his rolling stone way by toiling for three teams with a composite 5.19 ERA...stayed in minor league baseball off and on through 1979 season....Jerry Bell was exclusive property of Brewers....drew favorable notices with a 5-1 W-L record after being called up by the Brew Crew in 1972...took a spot in the starting rotation 1973 going 9-9....1974 started nice with a win and 2.57 ERA in 5 games....last appearance on the mound in May signifies arm trouble.....Darrell Porter...was youngest player in AL 1971..... makes his mark in 1973....a .254 mark with 16 home runs finishing 3^rd in ROY....turned out that subsequent Brewer campaigns fell somewhat  short of this standard...jettisoned after hitting .208 in 1976....acquired by KC representing a return to his home state....rejuvenated...in 4 years, 3 named to 3 all star games and garnered some MVP consideration...had career best season 1979 putting up 20 HR, 112 RBI and .291 numbers...a sizeable decline in 1980 with a stint in rehab and Porter took to free agency....much notoriety but his Cardinal numbers were not that different from his Brewer days...what was significant was MVP awards in NLCS and WS circa 1982....his WS .286 was solid but Milwaukee’s Robin Yount’s .412 may been more deserving....winner goes the spoils....Made him a celeb of sort and disclosed years of substance abuse in a 1984 book....playing time dwindled after 1984....released by the Cards prior to 1985....signed by Texas for part time work some catching some DH-ing....put a decent OPS of .890 in 1986...returned to free agency and signed again by Rangers...finish in 1987....despite his public disclosure of substance abuse was found dead in 2002, cocaine in blood stream....tragic and the mysterious scenario is not full known to this day.