Christian Yelich made Game 1 of the World Series more than a baseball night for two Milwaukee veterans.
The Brewers captain personally invited Bill Wattleton and Sverre Vinje, both United States World War II veterans, to American Family Field on Friday night, according to the Major League Baseball Players Association. Wattleton is 98, while Vinje is 102, and the two attended the game for free after Yelich extended the invitation himself.
The MLBPA said the pair also met Yelich’s mother, Alecia, along with former Brewers All-Star Chris Capuano. From there, they got to see Milwaukee do something its fans had waited a long time to witness: win a World Series game in person.
Yelich was right in the middle of it on the field, too. He drove in the first run of the World Series with an RBI triple in the bottom of the first inning.
The Brewers’ appearance in their first World Series game in 44 years came with a wild price tag for everyone else. Ticket prices reached all-time records, and the cheapest seats were going for well over $2,000. But for Wattleton and Vinje, the night came through Yelich’s invitation.
The Brewers have had plenty of reason to appreciate Yelich beyond his bat. This season, he is the team’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award and a finalist for MLB’s Philanthropist of the Year.
He’s also putting together one of his better October runs in years. Yelich is batting .286/.355/.393 in the playoffs with four RBIs, and before this year he had not collected a postseason RBI since 2018.
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