news

The Milwaukee Brewers prefer to spend time with their family on their few days off

VaselineJuly 1, 2024

0 3 minutes read

The Milwaukee Brewers prefer to spend time with their family on their few days off

Million dollar contracts. Extravagant parties with celebrities. Hundreds of hours in the spotlight of television. Adoring fans.

Sometimes the life of a professional athlete doesn’t seem to fit that of the average person. As rapper Kendrick Lamar would put it, they are “Not Like Us.”

However, professional athletes have more in common with us than some might expect.

“Me and my wife like to watch a lot of TV shows,” Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and first baseman Jake Bauers said. “We used to love going to the movies, but obviously we have an eight-month-old daughter now, so that’s kind of out of the picture.”

There are many people in the Brewers clubhouse who focus primarily on their families, but the tough schedule of Major League Baseball means they have to focus their attention elsewhere.

Milwaukee is about halfway through its 162-game season. On Thursday it led the league with 44 away games, as opposed to just 37 home games.

In addition to being heavily traveled, the Brewers have little free time. For Milwaukee, 27 of the 30 days in June are game days. Their most recent day off, June 27, was one of only two rest days before the All-Star break on July 15.

Some athletes, surrounded by wealth and youth, might spend their free time on themselves. Bauers doesn’t have that luxury.

“For me, my wife and daughter are of great importance,” he said. “So I’m trying to spend more time with my daughter and help my wife a little bit so that she can do what she needs to do without having to worry about taking care of the baby.

“I just try to be around, be present and take a day off from thinking about baseball and the season.”

The same responsibilities apply to reliever Enoli Paredes, whom the Brewers called up on May 24 from their Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds.

“(I enjoy) spending time with family,” he said. “I’m new in town from the (Houston) Astros, so the day I’m off I’m trying to get to know Milwaukee and see what the city has to offer.

“I was at the lake with the family the other day. That’s where I try to be, where I can enjoy the family and not have to think about baseball.”

Although he’s new to Milwaukee, Paredes likely won’t be at Summerfest.

“This is my mom’s first time in the United States and she wants to go to Chicago,” he said. “I’m taking the time to explore Chicago and have some fun there.”

Between meetings, warm-ups, games, showers and interviews, the players spend an enormous amount of time at the baseball field.

Paredes knows how to handle the day-to-day demands of MLB.

“We sometimes finish games late at night,” he said, “so you have to have a plan for what you want to do the next day.

“You learn how your schedule works. For example, if you have to go to the hairdresser or have breakfast with the family, you sometimes have to make sacrifices.”

Planning ahead can only do so much. Players often don’t have the chance to perform daily, mundane tasks.

Bauers credits his wife Lauren for making his life easier.

“Luckily for me, my wife, she’s kind of a rock star,” he said. “She pretty much takes care of everything for me, whether it’s my laundry, whether there’s things that need to be taken care of with our financial guys, things with the house, gardening, whatever. She takes care of all that.

“Without her it would be a lot harder and a lot more stressful for me. We have a good rhythm.”

The emphasis on family extends to the coaching staff. The Journal Sentinel’s Curt Hogg caught a glimpse of Brewers manager Pat Murphy playing catch with his sons hours after a 3-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on June 15.

Two hours after the last throw, skipper and son play catch during Father’s Day weekend pic.twitter.com/nKYqX0uMd1

— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) June 16, 2024

The Brewers returned to Milwaukee after a lackluster trip on the West Coast, where they lost four of seven games, including three directly against the San Diego Padres.

The return home appears to have rejuvenated the team as they defeated the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers.

Bauers, who hit a grand slam against the Rangers in the last episode of the series, gets a bonus when he is together with his family again: he can watch his favorite series, House of the Dragon.

He is not allowed to watch without his wife.

“I know if I watched it without her, she wouldn’t be happy,” he said.

Hopefully he watched a few episodes in the last few days.

VaselineJuly 1, 2024

0 3 minutes read