The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions, and Dr. Pat McBride, author of The Luckiest Boy in the World, was there at the beginning as the team’s first bat boy.

In 1969, as a kid, he won an essay contest to become one of the first bat boys for the Brewers. He went on to work as an assistant trainer, as equipment manager for the Milwaukee Bucks’ 1971 championship team, and for the Packers in Milwaukee.

In this conversation, Dr. Kristin Lyerly sits down with her friend and mentor to talk about what this title means to Milwaukee and Wisconsin: the “standard” built by Hank Aaron and Robin Yount and carried on by Christian Yelich, William Contreras and Jackson Chourio, plus Bob Uecker’s legacy, Bud Selig, Mark Attanasio, the 750,000-person parade, and why politics and sports can’t be separated.
Get the book: The Luckiest Boy in the World by Dr. Pat McBride and his twin brother Dennis McBride follows a struggling Milwaukee teenager from a chaotic home to the Brewers, Bucks, and Packers locker rooms, and eventually to medical school and a career as a nationally recognized physician and dean. If you loved this conversation, you’ll love the full story.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1647754607

In this episode:
00:00 Meet Dr. Pat McBride, the Brewers’ first bat boy
01:04 The unsung heroes of the World Series win: Bud Selig and Mark Attanasio
02:30 The 1969 essay that changed his life
05:04 From Selig to Aaron to Yount to Yelich
06:34 Why 750,000 people showed up for the parade
17:23 Robin Yount, Bob Uecker, and a behind-the-scenes sausage story
22:13 Venezuelan stars, William Contreras, and a changing Milwaukee
25:24 Why baseball has always been political
28:34 The Brewers take over Lambeau Field
33:49 Hank Aaron and the standard he set
35:38 Can the Brewers repeat?
41:21 Health insurance, Jake Bowers, and the stakes on Tuesday
45:35 Love, service, and paying it forward in Wisconsin
48:18 The luckiest boy in the world
The Dr. Kristin Lyerly Show brings you honest, unfiltered conversations at the intersection of medicine, politics, and the fight to build a healthcare system that actually works. New episodes on YouTube, Substack, and wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe so you never miss one.

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Dr. Kristin Lyerly is an OB-GYN based in northeast Wisconsin and a leading voice on healthcare, politics, and the issues shaping our collective future. As the named physician plaintiff in a landmark Wisconsin abortion decision, she brings a perspective to these conversations that goes beyond politics. New episodes drop every week. Subscribe to stay current on reproductive rights, health politics, all things Wisconsin, and everything else that matters.

Producer: Abraham Lyerly
Music: Nic Tierman
Graphics: Nathaniel Gonzalez