[Terry D]

The Brewers had some famously good years in the late 70s and early 80s, thanks of course to a great offense with Yount, Molitor, Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Simmons, and Gorman Thomas, but even in the best of those years the Brewers pitching was never more than fairly good. The organization just did not produce many good pitching prospects, and when the offense collapsed in '84 the pitching couldn't cover. The Brewers did bring up some young arms around then, including Bob Gibson, Chuck Porter, Jaime Cocanower, and Tom Candiotti, but Gibson wasn't much like the real Bob Gibson, Porter got hurt, and Cocanower never mastered his control. Candiotti was dumped on Cleveland, where he took up the knuckler and became a good pitcher. Andy Beene was another of this group. A very tall guy who could throw pretty hard, Beene was not really much of a prospect; his AAA ERA was 4.70, and his control was marginal (145 BB, 163 SO). He made a few appearances for the Brewers in 83 and 84 and was shelled for a 10.45 ERA. A black and white photo (headshot) has been out there for a while, but here is a pretty good color shot. This is from ebay seller sportsfromthepastinc (SFTP).