A quick aside: if you had asked me one baseball card to represent my entire collection, without hesitation I would have responded 1987 Topps Dale Sveum, pictured below (no, mine was not autographed; that would have probably made it the most valuable card I ever owned. My collection sucked). There he stood, his gaze as majestic as his ’stache, the incredible Milwaukee Brewers logo of the era gracing his cap. The 80s were great, and Dale Sveum was so very 80s.

So it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you all that Milwaukee’s interim manager’s career is no more. Sveum guided his team to the playoffs after taking over for Ned Yost, who was fired with 16 games left in the 2008 regular season. According to the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINAL, though, it clearly wasn’t enough for Milwaukee brass:

“Basically, my heart was ripped out of my chest,” said Sveum, contacted via telephone at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. “I was shocked.”

Sveum said [Doug] Melvin told him he decided to look for somebody with more managerial experience. Melvin told the Journal Sentinel on Thursday that he had been contacted by “two or three” former big-league managers who expressed interest in the job.

This is just the latest overly reactionary measure undertaken by Melvin, who clearly didn’t think experience was all that important when he threw Sveum into the fire with less than a month before the playoffs and a 1-game wild card lead to protect (which Sveum did). Clearly, the Brewers have somebody better all lined up, otherwise it’s ludicrous to–oh hell, guys, seriously?

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin says there are about five candidates on his list as he searches for a new manager.

He said on a conference call Saturday that the search could take weeks.

What hard work that must be. Meanwhile, Sveum’s just upset that he no longer gets to wear a Brewers uniform, and he’s now just plain out of a job. Chin up, Dale–the Brewers uniform is nothing without that rocking logo from 20 years ago, anyway.