Local fans get chance to wave beloved Brewer flag

Jerry Kobs has been an avid Milwaukee Braves/Brewers fan since the late 1950s when he and his older brother tuned in to radio broadcasts of games on their farm near Spencer. So when an opportunity to take part in Brewer game festivities came up recently, he wasn’t about to let a little thing like cancer treatments get in his way.

Jerry and his wife, Sharon, had the honor of waving the giant Brewer team flag during the Brewers’ Aug. 9 home game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Each home game, after the top of the first inning, a fan is selected to do the flag honors from the level just below Bernie Brewer’s slide in the left field stands. Their names were announced over the public address system as they waved the huge flag while Bernie came down his slide and the crowd cheered along.

Season seat holders now for three years, the Kobs were selected because they’ve been such faithful Brewer supporters through the years. Each season they buy a package of 20 home game tickets, and that puts them on the list for such incentives as tours of the non-public areas of American Family Field, autographed player photos, going on the field on opening day to help hold the humongous American flag, and yes, the first-inning flag wave.

Jerry chose that incentive when he filled out his annual list of choices, and was notified earlier this year that he had been selected.

“I think it’s all based on tenure,” he said. “The longer you’re there, the sooner, like (legendary radio announced Bob) Ueker, you get the front row.”

The Kobs chose the Aug. 9 game for a particular reason. On that day, they happened to be hosting a Tampa Bay Rays team official for a genuine Milwaukee tailgate party. They had met the man earlier and became friends, and he wanted to see what Wisconsin fans do before a ball game. Jerry and Sharon were happy to oblige.

Jerry pretty much bleeds Brewer blue and yellow, as demonstrated by the quilt on his bed, the carpet in his room, the full-size Ryan Braun Fathead on his wall, and the team memorabilia scattered through the couple’s home in Spencer.

That dates back, he said, to those summer nights in the late 1950s when he and his brother, Merlin, listened to the Braves game radio call from Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh. His fandom continued through the Braves World Series championship season in 1957 and after the team left the city in 1965. In 1970, a new team called the Brewers started playing in Milwaukee, and Kobs was a supporter.

So much so, in fact, that he and Sharon named their son after one of the Brewer greats. It was during the playoffs in 1981, Jerry said, that he and some friends were at the park. Sharon was expecting, and one

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO of his buddies asked what the newborn’s name would be.

“He said, ‘What are you gonna name that kid?’” Jerry said. “I said, ‘Tell you what. The next guy that gets a base hit, we’re gonna name him after him.’” Robin Yount, meet Robin Kobs. The Kobs had another family moment with their team recently. In the same year as the Brewers celebrated their 50th season in Milwaukee, Jerry and Sharon celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Jerry has undergone both chemotherapy and radiation recently as he fights off a recurrence of cancer. He has to walk with crutches and gets around in a wheelchair, but there was no way that was going to get in his way when the flag opportunity came along.

On Aug. 9, he and Sharon reported to where they were told in the stadium, and an attendant took them up two flights on an elevator. Jerry then had to get up two flights of stairs on crutches, but he did it.

After the Rays batted in the first inning, Jerry and Sharon were given their cue to start waving the heavy flag. As Bernie Brewer made his descent down his giant slide, the PA announcer called their names and a message on the huge centerfield scoreboard read, “Love you super Brewers fan, Jerry.” He figures his family had something to do with that.

Jerry said waving the flag was a huge honor, as was throwing out a Brewer game first pitch in the 1980s when he was the Wisconsin Jaycees president. There was no way, he said, his health issues were going to stop him.

“It’s just one of those things that you just about never get the opportunity to do,” he said. “As big of a Brewer fan as I am, I wasn’t about to say ‘no’.”

He couldn’t say no, either, when Tampa Bay Rays Community Development Director David Egles asked him a while ago to show him what a tailgate party is. Egles happens to be engaged to Jerry’s great-niece, and the two met and became acquainted. Earlier this season, Egles said he had a question for Jerry.

“He said, ‘You know Jerry, there’e one thing that puzzles me. You people keep talking about a tailgate party. We (in Tampa Bay) have no idea what a tailgate party is.’” So the Kobs planned one for Aug. 9 when the Rays were in town for a 2-game series. Before the Aug. 9 game, in the stadium parking area, they joined hundreds of other Brewer fans in pre-game festivities. From his wheelchair, Jerry grilled bratwurst and burgers and he and Sharon showed their guests about the Wisconsin tradition. Turns out, Sharon said, the pre-game meal is somewhat unique to Wisconsin.

“In Florida, they use their tailgates to hold things in,” she said. “They had no idea you could use it for other things.”

The events of Aug. 9 were just another in a long string of great memories for Jerry and Sharon and their beloved Brewers. They look forward to their 20 games each summer, and are trying to work it so they can see every other Major League team play in Milwaukee. As season seat holders, Jerry said, they are treated like royalty.

“The Milwaukee Brewers are one of the best ball clubs around,” he said. “They treat Sharon and I wonderfully. I don’t know what else we could expect from them. We just enjoy meeting the people down there. It’s been a good friendship between us and the Brewers. We just truly enjoy it down there.”

A message for Jerry Kobs was displayed on the massive scoreboard at American Family Field while he and his wife, Sharon, waved the Milwaukee Brewer team flag at an Aug. 9 game.