When hurler John Axford was in Milwaukee from 2009 to 2013, he was beloved both on and off the field.
And even as he wandered the darkness of MLB, playing for the Cardinals, Indians, Pirates, Rockies, A's, Blue Jays and Dodgers, he remained connected to Brew City, thanks in part due to his connection to MKE Film.
Well, now he's back!
President of Baseball Operations David Stearns announced that t Brewers acquired the right-handed reliever from Toronto in exchange for cash considerations.
Axford will join the team tonight and a move to make room on the roster will be come later.
Bench coach Pat Murphy has surrendered his number 59, which goes back to Axford, and will wear number 00.
The 38-year-old Axford went 21-19 with a 3.35 ERA and 106 saves in 268 appearances in his first five MLB seasons with the Brewers.
He holds the franchise recorsd in saves for a single season (46 in 2011) and consecutive saves without a blown save (43 in 2011). He's second in franchise history to Dan Plesac (133) in career saves.
Axford has been out of baseball since 2018 and was a studio analyst for the Jays' TV broadcasts this year.
He pitched for Team Canada in the Olympic qualifier and on June 24 Toronto signed him to a Minor League contract and sent him to AAA Buffalo, where he went 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA and 2 saves in 9 relief appearances.
Axford is 38-34 with a 3.87 ERA and 144 saves in 543 games (1 start) in 10 Major League seasons.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
