NewsTWIB takes inside look at Crew clubhouse
Team's amusing antics featured in Saturday's show
By Cash Kruth / MLB.com
06/25/09 3:37 PM ET
MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers have a reputation throughout the Major Leagues of having a fun clubhouse, and fans can get a firsthand account of the atmosphere on Saturday's edition of "This Week in Baseball."Milwaukee will be the featured team on this week's show, which airs at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday.
Matt Anderton, lead producer of TWIB, said the reputation of the Brewers' fun and loose clubhouse makes the club an easy choice to profile, and should also make for some must-see TV.
"They're a team that always helps when we go to them, and we get great cooperation from," Anderton said. "The Brewers are always great for us. They're always funny, and it makes for a great TV show. We definitely like to promote them as much as we can."
TWIB, which debuted in 1977, is split up into four different segments.
The opening of Saturday's show will focus on the team itself, a group of guys Anderton said possess a lot of different and unique stories.
"They're just an interesting team, because there's this core of young talent that's come up together and also a group of veterans," he said. "The clubhouse is light, and it's just a fun team. Then they added [Trevor Hoffman], who's always been known as a good character clubhouse guy."
Brewers manager Ken Macha, along with Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Bill Hall, Mike Cameron and Hoffman were among the players interviewed by TWIB. Although Anderton said the characters in the clubhouse make for interesting TV, the show also was drawn to the Brewers for their play on the field.
With a 38-33 record entering Thursday, the Brewers are in second place in the National League Central, but have been at the top of the division for much of the season. The Brewers' success isn't surprising, considering their NL Wild Card berth in 2008. But with the loss of last year's top two starters (CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets) to free agency, Anderton said that creates another interesting dynamic to cover.
The second part of the show will focus on Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker, who is in the midst of his 39th season calling Brewers games.
"This is a fun team, and he's definitely a fun broadcaster to listen to," Anderton said of Uecker. "We got good access with him on the field when he's hanging around the team. I think it's a nice compliment to the show."
In its third block, the show has a feature called "Fresh Faces," a segment which features younger players in the league. In the case of the Brewers, Anderton said there were plenty of options to choose from, but TWIB went with Braun.
The 25-year-old left-fielder isn't new to baseball fans -- he was the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year, voted an All-Star starter in 2008 and is currently second among NL outfielders in the 2009 voting -- but the charismatic Braun is a guy Anderton thinks the baseball public should still know more about.
"We decided to focus on Braun, because he's having such a good year," Anderton said of Braun, who entered Friday hitting .319 with 15 homers and 50 RBIs. "We had a great interview with him during the shoot."
Another highlight in the show that isn't Brewers-related includes a look back at the 1983 All-Star Game, when Fred Lynn hit the only grand slam in All-Star Game history.
Cash Kruth is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
