Sedar retires after 30 years with Brewers

MILWAUKEE -- Ed Sedar, the energetic former first baseman and outfielder who has managed or coached in the Brewers' organization for the last 30 seasons and helped break some of the team’s brightest stars into professional baseball, is retiring, the club announced Monday.

Sedar, 60, was on Milwaukee’s Major League coaching staff for 14 years under four Brewers managers. He was first-base coach from 2007-10, then spent 10 seasons (2011-20) as third-base coach from before he moved into an advisory role for the '21 season.

“It was a really hard decision,” Sedar said. “This last season just kind of gave me the feel of being away from it but still being involved with everything, just to see if I could really retire. I thank the Brewers for allowing me to ease out of it. Hard decision, but 30 years is a long time. Every once in a while, I could feel it in my body with the throwing and all that every day. We’ll see if it’s a good choice.”

Sedar’s aggressive style at third base -- implemented at the direction of managers Ron Roenicke and Craig Counsell -- occasionally rankled some fans, but he was a favorite of many others, particularly those Wisconsin transplants who were regulars around the visiting dugouts during Sedar’s tenure on the Major League staff. Even after shifting to an advisory role this year, Sedar remained a fixture at American Family Field, throwing batting practice before Brewers home games.

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Sedar grew up in Waukegan, Ill., and played eight Minor League seasons in the White Sox system. He joined the Brewers in 1992 in a coaching capacity as Minor League outfield and baserunning coordinator in a camp that featured Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Jim Gantner, who were beginning their final season as teammates. Sedar kept that title until 2006 while holding down other duties along the way, including managerial stints in the rookie Pioneer League in Ogden, Utah (1998-2001), and Helena, Mont. (2003, ’05-’06), where he was the first pro manager for future big leaguers like Ben Sheets, Corey Hart and Ryan Braun.

High on the list of Sedar’s career highlights was waving Carlos Gomez home for the winning run in Game 5 of the 2011 National League Division Series in Milwaukee. And the day in 2014, when Sedar was among the first to meet a stray dog at the team’s Spring Training complex and sneak him a bit of breakfast. Hank the ballpark pup became a hit.

Some low points in his career, though, were the multiple surgeries that are so common for Major League coaches who throw batting practice. There was a knee replacement and rotator cuff surgery. Sedar recalled tearing his rotator cuff while managing Hart and J.J. Hardy in Ogden, and turning the screen around so he could get through the season throwing sidearm.

Asked what he will remember most, Sedar said, “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Even so far as being in the development phase in ‘92, Phil Garner bringing me over to do outfield stuff with Robin and some of the big-time people there. The process of being behind the development of the Prince [Fielders], the Rickie Weeks, Brauny, Corey Hart -- it was kind of cool to come up while they were still there.”

“Eddie is a great coach, mentor and friend to many within our organization,” Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “During a coaching career that spanned three decades, Eddie cemented his status as one of the most popular coaches in baseball and made his mark on some of the best teams in franchise history.”

Sedar will be remembered most for his loud voice and regular bouts of laughter.

“Baseball, if you think of it, a lot of negative things happen in the sport to the players, the coaches,” he said. “If three times out of 10 you’re successful, you’re an All-Star in this profession. Just trying to not let people know you’re down and hopefully, it’s contagious to the players -- ‘Hey, Eddie’s all right out here, let’s keep it going.’ I always looked at it as part of my job. A couple of the managers had it as part of my job. It was just something that I felt I needed to do. ‘Hey, we’re on a baseball field today. Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of negatives, but let’s go out and do our business.’”

Sedar and his wife Marsha reside in Florida, but he said he plans to remain connected with the Brewers during the summer months.