Wild Card excitement turns into much more for Spike Alexander

Being at American Family Field last Wednesday night to witness the Milwaukee Brewers’ thrilling 5-3 comefrom- behind National League Wild Card Playoff win over the New York Mets was thrilling enough for most of the 40,350 fans in attendance.

For Ryan “Spike” Alexander of Medford it certainly was a night he won’t ever forget.

Every home Brewers game features a 50-50 raffle conducted by the Brewers Community Foundation with proceeds supporting nonprofit organizations that provide quality programming in the areas of health, education, recreation, and basic needs with a particular focus on low-income and disadvantaged youth and their families.

Alexander was among a group of 13 that made the trip to Milwaukee for the Oct. 2 game, including his dad Kurt and brother Cade.

“We always try to do that for a playoff game,” he said. “They are so much fun. Those games are one of the coolest things you can do.”

With a crowd that large, the jackpot was obviously going to be quite sizable. So for Alexander, the $20 it cost to buy 10 tickets was worth taking a shot at.

“When you buy these tickets, you never think you’re going to win,” Alexander said. “One of my buddies figured it out at like about 1/16th of a percent chance.”

Well that chance was all Alexander needed as one of his 10 tickets was the lucky one selected to win the night’s prize of $41,733. The ticket number was shown on the stadium’s centerfield scoreboard in the middle of the sixth inning with the Brewers trailing the Mets 3-2 at the time.

It was the biggest jackpot of the season –– until Game 3 of the series the next night when the prize was $42,503.

“The Brewers are losing 3-2 and the sixth inning rolls around and they put the winning number on the scoreboard and when I saw it I knew right away those were my numbers,” Alexander said. “I said right away, ‘holy crap, that’s me.’” I looked at the tickets to make sure and yah, I just won $40,000 freakin’ dollars. So we were all hugging and screaming, and then at one point I dropped the tickets, so I go diving to the ground for them.”

Alexander missed the next couple innings filling out the necessary paperwork to claim the prize.

“My brother had to do most of it,” he said. “All I could do was my signature because I was still shaking so bad.”