A viral piece of Minor League Baseball history now hangs at Cannonballs Sports Bar in North Fond du Lac, Wisc., and it cost owner James Forsyth a pretty penny to make it happen.
Forsyth won the online charity auction for Abner Uribe’s Wisconsin Brats jersey with a bid of $7,505, securing the outlandish game-worn look that turned heads far beyond Appleton. The jersey, worn by the Brewers reliever during a scoreless third inning in his rehab appearance with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Aug. 28, became an instant sensation once photos hit the internet.
For Forsyth, the appeal went well beyond the novelty. He called the jersey “game-worn, game-authentic … it's so unique to Wisconsin,” and said the combination of Uribe, the Brats theme and the charity angle made it an easy decision.
“Having Uribe on a rehab assignment, wearing something that means something to me, with the Brats. My grandmother worked for Usinger's [Famous Sausage] for 30 years and she recently passed.
… It's all for charity, so that's the big thing behind it all.”
The Brats set, which features lederhosen-style pants and faux suspenders, was part of the Timber Rattlers’ annual Bratoberfest celebration of German heritage. That same event also included competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut and a bobblehead with the Flying Bratman getting shot out of a Bratzooka.
Once Uribe was photographed in the jersey, the image took off fast. Timber Rattlers broadcaster Chris Mehring posted it, and the reaction snowballed from there.
“My phone was just going absolutely crazy with notifications,” said Mehring. “Then a bigger account picked it up, then I'm getting texts from family members who are watching the Brewers game, they go, 'Hey, the Brewers put this on their broadcast.'
… And then Saturday rolls around and the Brewers were a FOX Network game. They picked it up and put it out there.”
The attention kept building until the image and the story reached outlets from SportsCenter to The New York Times. It was also hardly the first time a rehabbing Brewer had shown up in one of the Timber Rattlers’ offbeat theme jerseys. Ryan Braun wore a Star Wars Night look in 2017, and Manny Pina wore the Brats uniform in 2019, later getting his own bobblehead.
Uribe wasn’t even the first Brewers reliever to work that Aug. 28 game. JoJo Romero had already pitched before him, and catcher Yannic Walther, who is from Heidelberg, Germany, was behind the plate that day.
Mehring said the online reaction helped push the auction even further. “Thanks for the mentions, thanks for all the views,” he said.
“‘By the way, the [jersey] auction is live. … Here it is.
Go bid on the Abner Uribe jersey or any of the jerseys.’ And it just went crazy.”
In the end, the Bratoberfest jersey auction brought in a team-record $15,800 for the Timber Rattlers’ non-profit organization, Timber Rattlers Giveback. Nearly half of that total came from Forsyth’s winning bid, and the jersey was hand-delivered to Cannonballs by Timber Rattlers front office staff.
Forsyth opened Cannonballs in October of last year, naming the bar after a nickname he picked up as a high school football player. “My Al Bundy moment,” he said. He runs the place with his wife, Amelia, and his parents, and the Uribe jersey will join a display that already includes items tied to Wisconsin names such as Packers fullback John Kuhn, Jacob Misiorowski and Matt Logan.
He said the bar keeps things simple, just like the memorabilia on the wall. “We take a lot of pride in our food.
Our hand-breaded, never-frozen chicken. Homemade fries.
So we have a small menu, but we want to make it really good,” Forsyth said. “Kind of like with the jerseys.
We don't have a lot of space, so we want to have things up that are meaningful.”
Forsyth doesn’t expect crowds to make the trip just for the jersey, but he’s open to the idea of the bar becoming part of a baseball stop in Wisconsin. Fond du Lac sits between the Timber Rattlers in Appleton and the Brewers in Milwaukee, and the Dock Spiders also call the area home.
“Anyone that is a fan of baseball, we welcome them with open arms,” said Forsyth. “We're just grateful to have his jersey here for people to come in and start a conversation. You know, that's what it's all about: Get people talking.”
He’s already thinking about what might come next, including brats on the menu when the Brewers reach the playoffs. And down the road, he has another wish list item in mind.
“Udder Tuggers -- we need to get that one,” said Forsyth, pointing to the Timber Rattlers’ dairy-themed alternate identity. “That's such a unique name. Got to have it at the bar.”
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