Chuck Quirmbach, Wisconsin Public Radio
Outside Miller Park on Monday, as the Milwaukee Brewers began their baseball season with a home game against the Atlanta Braves, quite a few fans could be seen wearing Ryan Braun jerseys.
Braun, the Brewers slugger, is trying to come back from last year's suspension for using performance enhancing drugs.
To be clear, most of the people entering the baseball stadium did not seem to be wearing player jerseys, and some fans wore those with the names of former Brewers stars like Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. But jerseys with emblazoned with Braun’s name and number (No. 8) were easy to spot.
Sue Williams of Milwaukee wore one. “I love him,” she said. “Everybody makes mistakes and everybody needs to be forgiven. That’s my guy.”
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Eileen Miller of Milwaukee also wore a Braun jersey. She says Braun should not have used performance enhancing drugs: “It is a bad choice. It obviously puts a bad stigma in the air for the league and other individuals. But he’s human.”
Rick, from Chilton, says he left his Braun jersey at home, but had a Braun backpack. He says the Brewers need their star outfielder.
“He's their best player,” he said. “People will talk about, ‘Well you gotta just trade him; you’ve got to get rid of him.’ They’re not going to go to a game until they get rid of him. That’s not logical. If it comes out that the Brewers are trying to get rid of him, they’re not going to get anything for him. So you might as well just support him.”
But will Ryan Braun play as well without the performance enhancers? A jersey-wearing man from Hartford named Ryan hopes so.
“The drugs don't make you hit the ball; they maybe make you hit the ball harder,” he said. “He’s still got to see the ball; he’s got to react to it. I don’t think whatever he was doing will change that.”
One fan without Braun gear, said he'll cheer for Braun as long as he's a Brewer, and boo Braun if he's traded. As shown on Fox Sports Wisconsin, Braun got a few boos, but mostly a standing ovation, before his first at-bat.
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