Sekien Hamasaki:
Hamasaki joined the WPK when the Detroit Falcons signed him to a contract as an international free agent out of Japan in the Autumn of 1973. He joined countryman Sadahige Kawasaki in the Denver Brewers rotation when the Falcons traded him a few days prior to the trade deadline in the 1974 season to Denver for first baseman Greg Tietz (a great leader who had a very brief and modest big league career) and outfielder Frank Rojas (currently waiting for someone to employ him again at age 36 and having played more than 5 seasons in the WPK as a 4th outfielder or emergency callup).
Although Hamasaki would never reach the heights that Kawasaki, who is on his farewell tour and very possibly Hall of Fame bound, did, Sekien was a solid starter for a number of years and went 90-33 with a 3.21 ERA in a Brewers uniform. His career was in decline when he was traded to Baltimore mid-season 1981 but he hung on to pitch a few seasons for the Lords, followed by brief stints with Washington, Jacksonville, and finally El Paso last season. His career record of 119-65 gives him the 5th best winning percentage in WPK history.
He retires as a 2-time All-Star and with 3 championship rings (all from his time in Denver.) He is well shy of being a Hall of Fame candidate but he certainly acquitted himself well in his years in the WPK. With his high intelligence there is certainly the possibility of a post-playing career as a pitching coach or in some other management role.
Devin Schwisow:
Devin Schwisow, on the other hand, certainly won't be doing any coaching in his post-playing years. He was universally considered a deficit in the clubhouse, with a poor work ethic, no leadership qualities, a lack of loyalty and adaptability, and an excess of greed. What he did have though, for a short period of time at least, was a power bat. In fact, up until just a few weeks ago, Schwisow was the holder of the single season home run record in the WPK. Granted, like the guy who smashed his record, Hyeong-uk Chun, Schwisow had the advantage of playing his home games in the best (by far) hitting park in the league in Phoenix, which inflates all offensive stats, but especially homers. Schwisow led the league in home runs twice and hit 321 over the course of his 11 plus year WPK career. But he saw a steep (and. let's face it, predictable) decline in production after age 30 and with no defensive skills to begin with and being one of the slowest and poorest runners in the game, without a premium bat there was no way to sustain a big league career.
Perhaps somewhat to his credit, he did stick around in the minor leagues for several seasons after his last WPK game, trying to get back to the bigs, but finally he has called it quits on that quixotic pursuit.
Kyle Bidwell:
Kyle Bidwell was the 1st overall pick in the 1965 draft out of A&M Consolidated High School in College Station, Texas. He was picked by the Portland Wild Things and would end up pitching for them through his age 30 season in 1977. He struggled with control and led the league in walks allowed with 104 in 1972, a season in which he also led the league in losses with 18. Granted, the Portland team was pretty awful during those years and lost 96 game that year and the next, having lost 100 in 1971.
Bidwell's luck certainly got better when he joined the Los Angeles Spinners in 1978 and he had records of 16-11, 17-9, and 21-8 in his three seasons with that club. But after joining Brooklyn in 1981 he was relegated to the bullpen the rest of his career (with one season in St. Louis sandwiched by two with the Aces).
Bidwell was trying to get back to the big leagues when he suffered a serious bout of shoulder inflammation that put him on the shelf for nearly 10 months starting in July of 1984 and then while trying to come back from that injury he was felled with torn flexor tendon in the elbow of his pitching arm in early June of 1985. He still came back to pitch in 14 relief appearances in single A this season but it was clear, to everyone else before it was to him, that the playing career was at an end. Finally, he has realized this too.
Given the expectations of being the 1st overall pick in the draft, Bidwell's career could be seen as a failure. But more realistically, his 149-146 career record is more about the teams he played for, his career ERA of 3.71 is respectable, he put up 35.4 career WAR, and he pitched for over 13 big league seasons. It's more than most players could hope for. And it was even capped off with winning a championship ring as a member of the 1983 Brooklyn Aces, even if he did only appear in 4 games for them that season.
Some (other) former Brewers who recently retired:
Jordan Stephens: Stephens, who pitched (and sometimes played third base) for the Brewers from mid-season 1971 through 1975, had a long and modestly successful big league career over the course of 15 years. He led the league in saves in 1977 as a member of the Jacksonville Wolf Pack. He was a 2-time All-Star. And he was part of one championship club: the 1974 Denver Brewers. He was a likable and coachable guy who had a long career.
Ben Malzone: Malzone was the Brewers 38th round pick in the inaugural draft for the WPK and was one of the last remaining (might be the last?, will have to research) players from that draft. He pitched for Denver from 1965 until mid-season 1968 and then pitched for 8 more teams over the course of his 17 plus year big league career. He was never anything special as a pitcher, but give him credit for longevity.
Jacob Kieft: Kieft was technically never actually a Brewer, but he was in the Brewers organization for a time and he's mentioned here largely because he was part of a deal in 1974 that brought Frank Rojas to the Brewers from Oklahoma City. As mentioned above, Rojas, who did play in 7 games for Denver in 1974, was then later traded to Detroit in the deal that brought Sekien Hamasaki to the Brewers. Kieft would go on to play in parts of several seasons with Oklahoma City, the most prominent being 1979 when he was their starting first baseman, hit 20 homers, and put up his career best 1.8 WAR.