MILWAUKEE — Owen Miller and Brian Anderson are Brewers teammates and now both Lakeshore Chinooks Hall of Famers.
"I think when I played, a guy named Luke Raley was inducted into the Hall of Fame and he had played a couple years before me," Owen Miller says. "I was just playing against him a couple weeks ago with Tampa Bay so it goes to show you that there's been some pretty good ballplayers that have come through here and played for the Chinooks. It's cool to be part of that special group."
Everywhere Miller goes in the majors, the collegiate summer baseball Northwoods League comes up.
"There's a ton of guys that are in the big leagues that they have said to me they're like, 'oh, you're from Wisconsin?' They're like, 'oh, I was in Madison when I played for the Mallards or I was in La Crosse playing for the Loggers,'" Miller says. "So, guys definitely know the Northwoods League well and a lot of really good baseball players have come through it."
It's where a teenage boy from Fredonia attending Ozaukee High School began to dream.
"I remember back, 5, 6, 7, 8 years ago, even coming to games when I was in high school and seeing a lot of good players," Miller says. "Pete Alonso. Paul DeJong. I remember watching those guys specifically at this field so, I think that probably helped me when I was 15, 16 years old, and kind of looking up to them and thinking like, 'oh hey, I would really want to play in this league some day.'"
And it's also where Miller learned to play for the Brewers in front of family and friends.
"I remember when I was 19 years old and I was playing for the Chinooks, and it was kind of like sometimes I probably get a little bit overwhelmed with looking at the stands and seeing so many friends and family," Miller says. "It was kind of good to kind of check myself and understand at that age like hey, you gotta focus on the game and you gotta focus at the task at hand. So that definitely set me up for success."
Miller currently hitting .285 with 4 homers, 24 runs batted in, and 11 steals for his hometown Brewers.
