Zito got to see how the players interacted with each other and everyone else. He said the group was irreverent and had fun, but the players also displayed grace and dignity. Anything you wanted to know about baseball, they’d take the time to teach you.
“In the midst of what an outsider may think is a roadhouse brawl or a frat-house party was a team,” Zito said, repeating the last three words for emphasis. “Was a team.”
Zito got to see how the Brewers handled pressure. In 1982, they took the St. Louis Cardinals to Game 7 of the World Series, the Fall Classic.
“In a similar fashion to our group, not a lot of tension or stress during the high-stress moments,” Zito said. “Everybody was pretty cool.”
Zito got to learn attention to detail and the pro sports standard. Keep everything clean, tidy and shiny. Keep everything stocked, from the Gatorade on down. Make everything as first class as you can. Oh, the players are playing through rain? Their uniforms are caked in mud? Then fire up the laundry machines during the game and crank out fresh uniforms.
“You think they’re little things, and they’re not,” Zito said.
Do whatever it takes. Plan for every eventuality, and when things don’t go according to plan, adapt.
“OK, maybe two NHL all-stars go out of your lineup the first week of the season,” said Zito, referring to lower-body injuries to forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk this season. “One hundred percent that experience with Milwaukee, it helped not only me. It helped everybody.”
The Brewers invited Zito to throw out the first pitch at American Family Field on Aug. 7, 2023, after the Panthers made the Stanley Cup Final. They had come close to a title much like the Brewers had in 1982.
Then Zito returned with the Cup on Aug. 14, 2024, a champion.
When the Panthers had their dads trip this season, Zito grabbed Dan Petry, the father of defenseman Jeff Petry. Zito worked the visitors clubhouse when Dan pitched for the Detroit Tigers early in his 13-year MLB career.
“They went back and forth for a while with the names that were around then,” Jeff said with a smile. “When he brought it up to me for the first time, it was kind of a surprise.”
Don’t be surprised, though, if everything is clean, tidy and shiny when the Panthers borrow the Marlins clubhouse.
