Beyond the Game: Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- If you count his days as a player, Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin has been in professional baseball for over four decades. A Hall of Fame inductee in his native Canada, Melvin could retire tomorrow and know that he has had a tremendous impact on the game. However, Melvin has a burning desire to do something special for Brewers nation.

Melvin is one of the most respected general managers in Major League Baseball. As GM of the small market Brewers, he has one of the game's biggest challenges.

Melvin is in it for the game and the team, but also for the fans, who have filled Miller Park. An average of almost three million have gone through the turnstiles over the past five seasons -- an amazing accomplishment given Milwaukee's status as a small market team.

Melvin is entering his 11th season as the Brewers GM. He and his wife Ellen have become fixtures in the community -- making a yearly commitment to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer awareness.

Her husband wasn't the only team builder: Ellen wasn't afraid to roll up her sleeves and help other Brewers wives construct a Habitat for Humanity home for a family last summer.

Melvin is one of only five Canadian natives to ever serve as a Major League Baseball general manager. A multi-sport star in high school, he once scored 55 points in a basketball game.

Melvin leads the Brewers as they begin the season at Miller Park on Monday, April 1st.