Brewers’ Surhoff Takes Stoical Approach to Baseball

B.J. Surhoff, Milwaukee Brewer first baseman, had trouble working up the emotion equal to the moment.

He had two three-run home runs Friday in the Brewers’ 9-3 victory over the Angels. He had a career-high six runs batted in. Truly a night to remember.

“I’m just enjoying playing right now,” a somber Surhoff said afterward.

But the home runs?

“I’ve never hit two home runs in a game before, I may not hit another home run again,” Surhoff mumbled.

Come on, certainly the big RBI day was a thrill?

“I’m just enjoying playing right now,” Surhoff said. “The last year hasn’t been all that great for baseball or for me.”

Hard to believe, but it’s actually been better for baseball than for Surhoff.

Here was a guy enjoying the best week of his season, possibly his career. He has four home runs and 12 RBIs in the past four games. He is hitting .422 in the last 11 games to raise his average to .370.

Yet, Surhoff was melancholy, a hangover from spring training.

Surhoff, the first player selected in the 1985 draft, has spent the past year fighting an abdominal injury and the organization’s perception that he was washed up.

He had surgery in August to repair a bilateral abdominal strain, which limited him to 40 games last season. Surhoff, who had never been on the disabled list until last season, had to prove he was fit enough to deserve a spot on the roster.

The Brewers offered only a minor league contract and told him he would come to spring training as a non-roster player. They also allowed him to continue shopping around for a better deal.

A funny way to treat the winner of the team’s 1993 unsung hero award.

“I knew what direction this organization was headed and I wasn’t sure they thought I was part of it,” Surhoff said. “For the first time in my career, for the first time in my life, I didn’t know where I would be.”

Boston was a possibility. So was Oakland. Both were negotiating with Surhoff when the Brewers demanded to know his intentions midway through spring training.

They wanted him to stay, so he did. But wanting him and playing him, Surhoff discovered, were two different things.

He plug holes around the infield and outfield and catcher, but was not an every day player until his hitting made him indispensable by mid-May.

“There was nothing I could do but play my best and wait,” Surhoff said. “Hopefully that would be enough.”

It was more than enough Friday. His first home run, which went approximately 450 feet, broke a 3-3 tie in the in the third. His second gave the Brewers a 9-3 lead in the fifth.