Braun to be honored with induction into Brewers' Walk of Fame
Adam McCalvy
@AdamMcCalvyMILWAUKEE -- Ryan Braun, the Brewers' all-time home run leader, who helped carry the franchise back to the postseason for the first time in a generation, will become the 23rd player inducted into the Walk of Fame -- the club’s highest honor short of number retirement.
The Brewers will honor Braun during the 2024 season by engraving a home plate-shaped slab of granite with his No. 8 and signature and installing it outside American Family Field. The date is to be determined.
“I am very humbled and honored to be recognized among the Brewers greats,” said Braun in a statement from the team. “I want to thank my teammates, coaches, ownership and support staff for their many contributions over the course of my career.
“None of this would be possible without the love and encouragement of my family, friends and fans. I am forever grateful. Milwaukee will always be a second home to me and my family.”
Braun is already on the Brewers’ Wall of Honor, which is open to players, coaches and executives who met a certain set of criteria during their tenure with the team. The Walk of Fame represents the next level, requiring the vote of at least 65 percent of Wisconsin media members and Brewers executives who cast ballots each December.
Braun received 80 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot and was the only person to gain induction.
Although Braun's 2013 PED suspension may have kept him off the remainder of those ballots, his statistics are nearly unparalleled in Brewers history. He was the fifth overall pick in the star-studded 2005 Draft and spent all 14 of his Major League seasons in Milwaukee, retiring in 2021 as the team’s all-time leader with 352 home runs while ranking in the top three with Hall of Famer Robin Yount in hits, walks, doubles, RBIs and runs scored, and behind only fellow Walk of Fame inductee Prince Fielder with an .891 lifetime OPS. Braun was the 2007 National League Rookie of the Year, the 2011 NL MVP Award winner, a six-time All-Star and a five-time Silver Slugger Award winner.
He arrived just in time to help a group of other home-grown stars lift the Brewers back to relevance. In 2007, Braun’s first season in the Majors, the team finished better than .500 for the first time in 15 years. In 2008, Braun’s first full season, the Brewers made the postseason for the first time in 26 years, clinching the NL Wild Card on the final day of the regular season thanks to CC Sabathia’s complete-game masterpiece and Braun’s tie-breaking two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning in front of a packed house at Miller Park.
That was the first of his memorable home runs in clinchers. In 2011 against the Marlins, Braun again hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning at home to clinch a postseason berth and the Brewers’ first division title in 29 years. And in 2019, his first-inning grand slam in Cincinnati represented the opening blow in a rout that clinched another Wild Card berth.
“Ryan was not just at the heart of teams that featured an explosive offense, he also was one of the most clutch players in big moments during his years with the Brewers,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said in a statement. “Further, Ryan has been deeply engaged with numerous community causes through Brewers Community Foundation, and he maintains that commitment today.”
Braun made one final NL All-Star team in 2015 and picked up a pair of 10th-place votes in NL MVP Award balloting in 2016, when he logged his sixth season of 30-plus home runs. Through his final season with the Brewers in 2020, he contributed more than $1 million over the years to the club's community endeavors, according to principal owner Mark Attanasio. And during the 2019-20 offseason, Braun helped the club navigate talks toward a club-record-setting contract extension for Christian Yelich.