THE AX MAN! Great news for John Axford yesterday as it was announced he will be inducted into the Brewer Wall of Honor this summer. When I think of Axford, I think of the 2011 season, and specifically the above moment on the night the Brewers clinched their first division championship since 1982.
Honestly, Axford’s 2011 season was ABSURD. He was in the unenviable position of taking over for baseball legend, Trevor Hoffman, when Hoffman fell apart during the 2010 season. He was good the second half of 2010, then he was a freight train in 2011. 46/48 on save opportunities, a 1.95 ERA, and 86 strikeouts in 73.2 innings. He was so good he finished 9th in Cy Young voting and 17th in MVP voting that season.
Now, as is Brewer closer tradition, Axford’s run burned out quickly. He blew 9 saves in 2012 with a 4.67 ERA, and was then demoted in 2013 and ultimately traded to the Cardinals that year. He saw middling success for the rest of his career, (saved 19 games in Cleveland in 2014, 25 saves in Colorado in 2015), but that run from 2010 through the first half of 2012 was special. Not to mention the guy’s look and sense of humor immediately made him a fan favorite. We are a simple people: Curl your mustache, make fun of yourself and throw 98mph gas, and we’re with you.
Here’s another moment I’ll always remember about John Axford: That random game he pitched in for the Brewers in 2021. Axford hadn’t pitched in Major League Baseball since 2018, when he discovered some life left on his arm while trying to pitch for Team Canada in the 2021 Baseball Americas qualifier. The Blue Jays signed him to a minor league deal because his velocity looked like it did in 2011/12, he pitched in rookie ball at 38 years old and eventually was traded to the Brewers for cash considerations (literally $1) on August 2, 2021. The Brewers had been dealing with bullpen injuries and desperately needed an arm for the game that night. The Brewers got a big lead and called on Ax to finish the game in the 9th inning. It had been 8 years since he pitched in Milwaukee, but that familiar intro song hit and out he came. A little salt and pepper in the beard, but still looking like Ax for the most part:
Unfortunately this fairy tale didn’t have a storybook ending: Ax blew out his arm that night after recording one out.
Still though, a pretty cool moment and one that gets largely forgotten as it relates to his career. Happy for Ax!
PS: The history of Brewer closers is why I’m not overly worried about losing Devin Williams. In the words of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, this organization just, ah ah ah, finds a way. Dan Kolb was an All Star and burned out, then came Turnbow as an All Star, then he burned out. Francisco Cordero to Trevor Hoffman, to Axford to K-Rod to Knebel to Jeffress to Hader to Williams. I think Trevor Megill is the next man up (and was arguably an All Star in Williams’ absence in the first half last season), but even if he fumbles it, they’ll develop someone for that role.
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