MILWAUKEE -- A small gesture from Brewers owner Mark Attanasio led to the moment of a lifetime for a young fan from Oshkosh.
Oshkosh West High School junior Kaitlyn Demler, celebrating her 17th birthday, arrived at Monday’s home opener with a baseball that Christian Yelich had flipped to her last September, and a poster asking him to sign the ball for her birthday. After the Brewers beat the Mets, 10-0, it was Attanasio and his son Mike who made it happen.
“If this does get to them, I just really want to express that I am so thankful,” Demler said. “A complete stranger, no strings attached, just a spur of the moment decision. I can’t believe I was the one who got to experience that. I hope everybody in the world can feel what I felt, what they gave me.”
Birthdays at the ballpark are something of a tradition for Demler and her grandfather Norman, the family’s biggest baseball fan. She first attended in 2019 for the Brewers’ first home game after she turned 13. When she got a ball from Yelich last year while attending a Brewers-Giants doubleheader, she stashed it away with the idea of having it autographed.
Monday was her chance. She didn’t have any luck before the game, so she watched from section 116 -- Demler purchased tickets for her and her grandfather with money from her job at Kwik Trip -- and then returned to the side of the dugout after the game.
“I didn’t want to leave,” she said. “Right when I got down there, Mark, the owner, was right in front of me. He saw my sign and asked to take a picture so he could send it to Christian Yelch. And it kept going from there.”
“One of the nicest things about being part of the community here,” Attanasio said, “is seeing how much people love the team. Especially young people. I can tell when it’s really genuine, or when it’s someone who just wants to get an autograph and put it on eBay.”
He could tell that Demler was sincere.
And Yelich was a willing participant.
“I think the birthday bucket list is what she called it,” Yelich said. “The only thing that was left unchecked was getting to meet me. Obviously, I was more than happy to.”
Yelich’s postgame routine, especially after a day running around in right field, can take some time. Attanasio could tell that the Demlers were getting nervous it wouldn’t happen.
And then, it did happen.
“Christian came out and she burst into tears,” Attanasio said.
“It was like I was not there anymore. I was somewhere else,” Demler said. “I never thought this would happen. I could not prepare and I started sobbing.”
The only way the story got out is that a television camera from Madison’s WKOW happened to capture the interaction. Yelich called it a touching end to a good day.
“It’s a unique feeling,” Yelich said. “I don’t know how to put it into words other than it’s a constant reminder to us of the impact you can have on people’s lives. … A small gesture that lasted 5-10 minutes that Mark and Mike were able to facilitate, but still special. I hope we made the bucket list a good one.”