Why is Wes Helms so hated in Milwaukee?

[adambr2]

Since Florida is in town, and I saw this come up on a JSOnline blog yesterday.

 

Seems like Helms gets nothing but hate every time he comes back to Milwaukee. I just don't get the hate for Wes Helms.

 

He didn't dog it out on the field. By all accounts of any coaches that worked with him, he tried hard. He didn't ever badmouth the fans or Milwaukee, said he liked Milwaukee and wanted to stay. So by all accounts, he was a good guy, and heck, he even played a big part in beating the Mets the last game of the season last year to help us make the playoffs.

 

He was just a guy who didn't really live up to the expectations that we put on him and had some injury issues. Yeah, he was overpaid, but it's not like his $3M salary was franchise crippling.

 

There are a million guys like that. Most move on to other teams relatively unnoticed. But not Helms. So I know there are people here who hate him. Just please explain to me what the reason is.

[pretendastronaut]

http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=18720

[afeter]

there is no doubt in my mind that his giant head and the stupid look on his face made him a target of brewer fan aggression.

[Teatoe993]

He also had BBQ sauce on his chin.

[giffted1]

there is no doubt in my mind that his giant head and the stupid look on his face made him a target of brewer fan aggression.

I definitely think there's something to this. A chubby, baby face made Helms look lazy. Just as Manny Parra's baby face leads some to believe he's mentally weak.

[Fatter than Joey]

He ate all of the doughnuts

[phxMILWfan]

I think it's funny that people's opinion of him vary by such extremes. I will agree that I always thought he looked fat and lazy. I didn't think he was a very good player. It seemed like you could always count on him to strike out or make an error at a big time in the game. I do however believe that he was not lazy. I remember reading about Ned having to lock him out of the batting cages because he was in there TOO much.

[JimH5]

He was Ned's boy, and Ned was a thoroughly unlikeable thin-skinned, humorless know-it-all.

[BoKnowsBall]

My cousin and I nicknamed him the human rally buster because he seemed to have a penchant for striking out/GIDP in crucial situations

[AJAY]

As soon as Wes Helms signed a multi-year deal extension with the Brewers, he showed up to spring training overweight and out of shape. He had a disastrous season and ended up getting injured too. He made a ton of errors and was a flop at the plate. Many people blamed his lack of conditioning.

 

The sad part is that Helms still acts clueless and wonders why he gets booed here. Instead he should apologize for not keeping himself in shape and letting the team down despite the fact that they invested money in him and were counting on him to be a productive thirdbaseman.

[BCZF]

Two words - Expo game in PR, slippery ramp - BOOM... Ok that's like 8 words.. That little incident summed up Wes' time here better than anything else..

[phxMILWfan]

As soon as Wes Helms signed a multi-year deal extension with the Brewers, he showed up to spring training overweight and out of shape. He had a disastrous season and ended up getting injured too. He made a ton of errors and was a flop at the plate. Many people blamed his lack of conditioning.

 

The sad part is that Helms still acts clueless and wonders why he gets booed here. Instead he should apologize for not keeping himself in shape and letting the team down despite the fact that they invested money in him and were counting on him to be a productive thirdbaseman.

 

After getting a look at Wes tonight, he looks nothing like his old portly self. I used to think he just looked heavy, now I definitely think he got lazy and fat making himself ineffective.

 

Also, I wonder how many people had nicknames for him. A few friends and I always referred to him as Darn useless.

[Schlitz001]

I think Wes wishes he was still with Milwaukee.

[brains and braun]

I don't think the average fan boos him for such complex reasons as how he showed up after the contract. They boo practically every former Brewer, which I find pretty stupid. They even booed Molitor.

[Tailgat0r76]

After getting a look at Wes tonight, he looks nothing like his old portly self. I used to think he just looked heavy, now I definitely think he got lazy and fat making himself ineffective.

 

Also, I wonder how many people had nicknames for him. A few friends and I always referred to him as Darn useless.

It was always Wes "What the" Helms for my buddies and I.

[Menotti80]

I was a Wes Helms fan. But I was also more of a casual fan back then. But even today, I still want him to do well

[brew522]

I called Wes "Error". He was such a butcher for awhile. I remember one particular bad stretch in '04 where the guy couldn't do anything right, but he kept getting starts. That's one of the reasons why he was so hated back in the day, along with being Ned's BFF. That said, I was appalled when he got booed on Opening Day '05 and on subsequent returns to Milwaukee.

[Bring Back the Stein]

I've booed him lustily the past few days, for reasons described above. He's also a jerk on a personal level.