A friend (well, possibly ex-friend now) told me a story on the way to fishing this week. He stretched it 'way out and made it last, and at the time I wondered where the heck he was going with all this:

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Back in the day, you'll remember that the Brewers weren't Milwaukee's ball team - it was the Braves before they moved to Atlanta.

The Braves had a real, real important game coming up near the end of the 1958 season. They'd split two games with a visiting team (and I can't remember just what team that was), and the outcome of the third and last game would mean a lot to their standing in the League, as they still, just barely, had a shot at the Pennant.

The opposing team's best pitcher was a starter named Mel Famey and his manager had saved him for that last game. But - Mel foolishly let a bunch of the Braves players take him out drinking the night before the game. They got him drunk of course, on purpose, and Famey was dumb enough to let 'em do it.

Next day, he pitched anyway - with a terrible hangover and still half drunk. It was a disaster. Famey walked the first EIGHT batters before he was pulled from the game, and at the end of the first inning the score was 6-0 Braves. His team never overcame that lead, the Braves won the game, and this mistake was a career-ender. The unfortunate pitcher was demoted to the minors, and then within a year he was out of professional baseball.

The team has moved and years have passed, but still today in the Braves offices in Atlanta there's an old steel beer can that was saved from that night, displayed in a glass case along with a sign that says:

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(wait for it)

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THIS IS THE BEER THAT MADE MEL FAMEY WALK US.