Second baseman Tanner Yurek was one of the original Denver Brewers and one of the team's more important players in the early years. The extremely well-liked hard-working Minnesota native played for the Brewers for most of 8 seasons and is perhaps still best known for his WPK best 4-home run game on May 4th of the 1965, the inaugural season for the WPK. During his early years with the team Yurek provided good pop from the second base position along with excellent speed. And while he was never known for high batting averages, he possessed (and indeed still does) a wonderful eye at the plate and therefore maintained generally quite decent on base numbers.
After being traded by the Brewers to the Charlotte Sting in late June of 1972 (along with Jamison Bash in a deal that brought both Erik Sloan and Nick Ward to the Denver organization), his career was never really the same. Admittedly, at that point he was in his 30's, and his contact skills continued to decline while his already mostly mediocre defensive skills couldn't make up for increasing offensive deficiencies. But as a player beloved by fans and teammates alike, Yurek continued to get chances and played an important role for the expansion Chicago Fire in their first season in the league and now is providing veteran presence on the other expansion club, the Houston Cavaliers, in what will be his final season.
While Tanner Yurek will conclude his career as a marginal player and although his career is far from Hall of Fame caliber, he will be remembered fondly and it would not be a surprise to anyone if he has a second career in the WPK as a coach or manager.