During the baseball season, former Brewers catcher and current FOX Sports Wisconsin Brewers analyst Bill Schroeder is a busy guy, broadcasting games from March until October.
Schroeder is a busy guy in the offseason as well. He is coordinator of the annual Brewers Fantasy Camp in Arizona. Schroeder works all year organizing the camp, lining up former players to be coaches and taking care of the many logistical details to make sure the week in the desert runs smoothly for Brewers fans who want to play ball and spend time with some of the most celebrated names in franchise history.
Having just completed his ninth year as the camp coordinator, Schroeder is the subject of this edition of 5 Questions.
1. FSW: How did you get involved in Brewers Fantasy Camp?
SCHROEDER: The first year I did this I was a coach in camp and there were 28 campers and the camp was combined with the San Diego Padres camp. There were 28 Brewer campers and 14 Padre campers and you could see it wasn't going to end well for Brewers campers so I went and submitted a proposal to the club and said I thought I could revive this thing. The next year we had 42. The following year, the 1982 reunion we had 82 campers, we've had as many as 92 but we average between 70 and 80 every year.
2. FSW: What's your favorite part about the camp?
SCHROEDER: I like being around true baseball fans. They just truly love the game of baseball and they really enjoy hanging around the former Brewers. Guys go down there for the reason the camp was set up and that is to have fun, be treated like a big leaguer. Tony Migliaccio (Brewers director of clubhouse operations and equipment manager) and his guys treat them like Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. The thing I like the most is day one on Monday morning when you get to Maryvale and everybody gets in the locker room and sees their name up on a locker, a Brewers jersey with their name on the back. That's a priceless moment for me that keeps me going.
3. FSW: What are the ages and skill levels of the players who take part in the camp?
SCHROEDER: It's all over the map, ages 30 and over, men and women., mostly men, about 95 percent men. We find that once they get to 30 they realize they're not coming down to try out for Doug Melvin. And plus they don't drink as much beer. I guess the average age is about 50 years old. They're all shapes and sizes. There are people who have played, people who have never played. I've never heard anybody say to me ‘I came down here hoping to have a good time and the competition level was just too great.' I've never heard that.
4. FSW: Are the games competitive?
SCHROEDER: The games can be competitive. Guys want to win. We do a draft. The coaches get into a separate room and we do a draft after a day of instruction and an evaluation game, that comes on Monday and the Monday night we have a draft. And coaches take their evaluations pretty seriously, the competition is pretty close but after a couple of days they get to know each other pretty well and they want to win. But not to the point that they're throwing things and screaming and yelling at each other. That's never been an issue. But the guys want to win. They get a little trophy for being camp champs. We give out awards, MVP and most improved and trainers award, the personality award, the Cy Young award, gold glove and things like that. We have a good time. We've got a closing banquet. We have 12 coaches every year we try and mix the coaches but I do have my corps group of guys that I'm hoping I'll never lose and one of those is our buddy (fellow Fox Sports Wisconsin analyst) Jerry Augustine. I would find it difficult to do this camp without him. Eddie Sedar, Dale Sveum and Augie are my corps group that have come every year and they do a great job with the guys. Of course, Dale's not coming this year because you can't have a Cub at camp, a current Cub, that's for sure. Part of the experience is the Happy Hour that we have. The coaches sit down there, tip some beers back and that's when they really get to know these guys and tell some stories but we have a Q and A with coaches every night and the guys really enjoy that.
5. FSW Who were some of the coaches this year and do you have any special plans for next year's camp?
SCHROEDER: We got Greg Vaughn, Fernando Vina, Don Money, Rob Deer, Jeff Cirillo is back again, Gorman Thomas, Jim Gantner, Cecil Cooper, Pete Ladd. You'd be amazed how many calls I get from former players. I got a call from Juan Nieves a couple of weeks ago wanting to come to camp. As a matter of fact, next year, we're putting on a 1987 team streak reunion. All the coaches will be members of the 1987 team. I've already been in contact with Molitor and Yount and I'm hoping they'll be able to come down. I stay connected with a lot of my teammates, old teammates and Brewers past and present so it gives me a great opportunity to stay in touch with some of my old buddies. I just love doing it. I can't imagine not doing it. I love every minute of it. I'm the coordinator making sure everything comes together but once I get down there, I have as much fun as anybody.
