[the 'stache]

One man that was both a fantastic pure hitter and manager was Wisconsin native Harvey Kuenn. Harvey didn't have much power, but oh boy, did he have a great eye at the plate. In his prime, between 1953 and 1960, he was a .313 hitter (4,766 at bats). He slowed down a bit after that, but still ended up a career .303 hitter. Most impressive, to me, is that Kuenn only struck out 404 times in 7,617 plate appearances.

He started as a coach for the Brewers in the mid 1970s, and started having health issues at nearly the same time (diabetes). He had his right leg amputated below the knee in 1980. He took over for Buck Rodgers as manager in 1982 (the Brewers were 23-24 at the time). The team ended up going 95-67, or 72-43 with Kuenn (a .626 winning percentage). We made it to the World Series, but lost in seven to the Cardinals. He was fired the next season after an 87-75 record. Overall, he won 160 and lost 118 as our skipper. If he'd been younger, and in better health, I think he would have caught on with another team. He got the very best out of our players, that's for sure.