What happened to the Brewers' home run cheesehead?

This story was excerpted from Adam McCalvy’s Brewers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers’ home run cheesehead has been returned to the cooler -- at least for now.

Fans’ pleas for cheese have been heard since last week in Washington, where Tyrone Taylor homered in the Brewers’ series-finale loss to the Nationals, and unlike every other Milwaukee home run hitter for months, he went the length of the dugout without being anointed by the foam cheesehead that had become this team’s trademark celebration.

Why the change?

Willy Adames claimed ignorance.

“You’ve got to go ask the right people,” he said.

And who is that?

“Make your own determination,” he said, smiling.

It sounded like a question for Christian Yelich, who eventually confirmed that the Brewers’ season-long tradition had been paused. He declined to say exactly why -- what’s decided in the clubhouse, stays in the clubhouse, after all -- but it just so happened that change occurred during a rough series in Atlanta, where the Brewers scored seven, five and six runs -- only to get swept by the powerful Braves.

The best traditions are spontaneous and genuine, which means that eventually, they run their course. Last year’s “ballplayer bell,” for example, made way for the Infinity Gauntlet, which quietly was retired, too. Beast Mode, the Rally Rabbit, Gus The Wonder Dog, they all came and went over the years.

So did the cheesehead, the first time around.

According to Cheese Culture Magazine (I’m serious), the foam cheesehead hats were created in 1987 and took off in popularity after Brewers outfielder Rick Manning was photographed wearing one in the dugout. Manning took to “awarding” a cheesehead to any batter who struck out three times in a game -- a hat trick, get it? -- and forcing the recipient to wear it around the clubhouse for a day. That’s one way to encourage putting the ball in play.

Now, perhaps another cheese spree has come to an end.

“It could be the end of an era, we don’t know,” Yelich said wistfully.

“I think it’s kind of nice rolling without it,” said rookie Sal Frelick, who homered in Monday’s rout of the Rockies. “I think you see a lot of the teams now, a lot of the ones that have something [to celebrate home runs] might not be in first place in their division. So, we were having fun with it, but it took a little brief exit from the dugout. I don’t know if it’s coming back or not.”

So, don’t totally despair.

There could be some holes in this no-cheese policy, it seems.

“I wouldn’t say it’s gone,” Yelich said. “It’s just questionable to return.”