MILWAUKEE — Ryan Braun sat at his corner locker in the Brewers clubhouse on Tuesday afternoon, quiet, yet observant. Milwaukee's star left fielder has been particularly low-key lately. He doesn't do interviews before games anymore, spending most of his time in the team's cafeteria, adjacent to locker room. And it's on a rare occasion that the media gets him to comment after games. Often out of sight, Braun's spot out in the open on this Tuesday is peculiar.
But for a star like Ryan Braun, a baseball luminary who made offsesason headlines first for a failed drug test and then for the unprecedented overturning of his 50-game suspension by an arbitration panel, it's impossible to ever truly be invisible.
Braun's face and jersey are plastered throughout Miller Park. Pictures of him by himself. Pictures of him and other players. Advertisements for local companies. On this particular day, his jersey is worn by a little boy, no older than 3, in his first game at the park. An old couple, wearing matching No. 8 jerseys, stands in line for concessions. A young couple does the same behind them. Fans hold up signs simply with his name written in marker and nothing else. It's impossible not to observe his influence here. He is everywhere.
And perhaps this season, more than ever, that's true. Braun has been booed in the majority of ballparks he's played at, identified by some outside of Wisconsin as a cheater who got away with it. But in Milwaukee, a city that watched its other superstar, Prince Fielder, leave for big money in Detroit, Braun remains an icon, a hero of sorts.
Scott Kannass came from West Bend, Wis., to see the Brewers on Tuesday night, proudly wearing his No. 8 jersey. He is a fervent defender of the Brewers left fielder. He and his friend, Sam Stilb, even took the chance to thank Braun's father for how much Braun had done for Milwaukee when they saw him at batting practice during last season's playoff run.
To Kannass and Stilb, the suggestion Braun was guilty just doesn't register. No one they know ever thought he was guilty, they said.
They, like many other fans in this city, are dutifully loyal to Braun. By choosing to stick with the Brewers and signing a contract through 2020 to be the face of their small-market franchise, Braun has earned that trust, Kannass suggests.
"For a person that would take a contract in a town like Milwaukee, knowing how good he was, he gave us a deal," Kannass said. "It's just a blessing for Milwaukee. Players just don't do that. Prince Fielder left and took the big money. Ryan Braun wouldn't. He wants to stay here to be with us."
That last part — he wants to stay here to be with us — gives a sense of how much Milwaukee really needs and connects to its star outfielder. When Fielder left town this offseason, Braun ascended as the sole superstar figure in Milwaukee sports. The winter controversy has only made his fans more defensive and more loyal.
Peter Schuldt has lived in Milwaukee for all 16 years of his life. On Tuesday, he stood in the right field bleachers, hoping to catch a batting practice home run from Braun, the player whose name graced the back of his jersey. Schuldt is young, but as a Brewers fan—and more important, as someone who idolizes Braun — he understands the loyalty fans here give their superstar.
"Their hearts are tied to him here," Schuldt said.
Still, with all the change that has taken place with Braun's image and reputation and the team around him, teammates and coaches insist that he has remained the same this season.
A brief slump to start the year awoke critics who assumed he would struggle without Fielder or that he would have too much weighing on his mind from the controversy that marred his offseason. But in the month of May, Braun has reached base in all but one game. He's now batting .323 with a .621 slugging percentage and 1.015 OPS this season — all impressive numbers, all higher than they were at this point last year in a season that yielded an NL MVP award. They're numbers that his defenders point to as evidence of his innocence.
The concerns for him needing protection in the Brewers lineup also appear to be moot at this point in the season. He actually has nine fewer walks in as many games this year, and that's not the product of changing his approach, hitting coach Johnny Narron said. That's just Ryan Braun.
"Ryan Braun is one of the best hitters I've ever been around and could possibly be the best I've ever been around," said Narron, who came to Milwaukee after working with Josh Hamilton and the Rangers. "I don't think he takes that into account. That sort of thing doesn't play into what Ryan Braun is thinking."
It's hard to tell what plays into Braun's thinking these days. In the interviews he does give, Braun talks mostly about doing whatever he can do for the team. He doesn't often talk about himself, and any mention of the controversy is met with little to no comment.
And that's why a blue-collar city like Milwaukee can accept and defend Braun with the fervent loyalty it does. That's why fans like Schuldt, Stilb, and Kannass will back him even as Braun's team has struggled around him. In his quiet stoicism, he has rubbed off on Milwaukee, Stilb says, and Milwaukee's personality has rubbed off on him as well.
As Braun stepped up to the plate for batting practice on Tuesday, his swing remained just as swift and fundamental as it always had been, blasting ball after ball deep into the outfield. He is still the superstar Milwaukee drafted and brought up through its own farm system. He is still in last season's MVP form.
But for the fans in Milwaukee, their relationship with him has changed — albeit slightly. They have defended him to everyone they know outside of the city, outside of Wisconsin. And through that defense, they are innately tied to him more than ever before. Their hope lies squarely on his shoulders.
"There's always people that are going to judge him," Stilb said. "People, unfortunately, are going to call him a cheater. But from what we've seen in Milwaukee, from what this city has seen, we'll always be behind him."
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