Before “Ballplayer Bell” could make his debut on Wednesday night, Willy Adames broke it.
The newest accessory at the end of the Milwaukee Brewers’ dugout, a gold bell installed by first base coach Quentin Berry, is meant to commemorate hand-to-hand baseball plays over the course of a game, but Adames isn’t. the kind that just lets something fun sit idle. So he played it vigorously during batting practice…and broke the clapper cleanly.
“You know I had to come check it out,” Adames said before Thursday’s game. “I tried it and broke it, but it’s a good thing because now we fix it the right way so it doesn’t happen during gameplay (because of airflow). It was a great idea.”
The bell worked during Milwaukee’s 18-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds later that night. Plays like Kolten Wong’s 12-pitch leadoff homer, Rowdy Tellez’s grand slam and Trevor Gott’s sixth-inning breakout deserved a ring.
Berry said the bell was meant to commemorate “a instinctive play”.
“It can be the pitch, it can be whatever it is,” he said. “Certain instances that could be missed, if someone makes a really smart play, a high IQ play, we call it.”
Berry said he had had the idea of implementing a bell for a while, but had been unsuccessful in finding one.
“I went to a bunch of different stores,” he said. “I’ve been looking for a bell for the last two weeks. There has to be a mom and pop shop somewhere (that has one). We went to one of the train shops here looking for a bell, and the owner had one left bell, but would not separate from it.
So he went online and found what he was looking for, with the words “Happy Hour” scrawled on the side. An accessory destined for a bar? Like Milwaukee as it gets.
“He had to tell us that it’s not for everything,” Adames confessed with a smile. “Now we know it’s for something special, and the boys put on a show last night to use it.”
that included Tellez’s eight RBIswho thus broke a franchise record that Adames shared with 10 others, including Christian Yelich. Adames had just recorded seven RBIs in a two-homer performance against Pittsburgh on April 26.
“He didn’t want me to enjoy it,” Adames joked. “I got mad at him though, because he should have hit a grand slam in his last at-bat. That’s what I was telling him at first base. I’ve never seen a guy have 10 RBIs in a game. He would have Ha It’s been amazing for him in his career to have that record… but I’m still happy with eight RBIs.”
After a slow offensive start to the season, the Brewers suddenly have the second-best run differential in the NL at plus-36, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“April is a tough month, especially after spring training we had, I felt like it took us a little longer to find the right time and be ready,” Adames said. “April is always rough…especially when it’s really cold wherever you go.”
That’s about to change, with summer temperatures forecast for the team’s three-city trip to Atlanta, Cincinnati and Miami, starting Friday. Adames was delighted to learn that the bell might also be traveling.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Adams said.
“The last two years, I always struggled the first two months,” he said. “This year has not been that a lot, and we’re winning, which makes it even better.
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