The press room that Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy speaks in at American Family Field looks pretty similar during this National League Championship Series to what it did during last year’s NLCS.
But Carter and Cooper Thomas, 12-year-old twin brothers, threw Murphy a curveball before Game 1 on Sunday, Oct. 11.
Advertisement
“What’s the decision on not playing Christian Yelich even though he’s been really hot?”
Murphy stared with his mouth agape. Strike!
“Wow, you really are in the business,” Murphy said. “You’re like all the rest [of the press].”
After the Brewers won that game, the twins had more to drill Murphy on in the postgame availability.
“Did you say anything to Miz …”
The question couldn’t be completed without Murphy grinning, turning to his own children, “See these young guys?”
“Did you say anything to Miz after a rough second inning to help him keep going strong? Because he came back out there and did great.”
Advertisement
Murphy’s response?
“We had to stick a paddle, I don’t know if your parents do that, but we have a paddle in the back room there and we just .. .paddle him. I think I struck him seven or eight times. After that, he seemed to get the message.”
The exchange earned a laugh from the press room.
Twelve-year-old twins Carter and Cooper, known on Instagram as The Twinstripe Reporters, live in New Jersey and are homeschooled. In the three years that they’ve been reporting and creating videos, they’ve accumulated nearly 30,000 followers.
Their videos focus on the NFL and MLB. When it comes to Major League Baseball, they’ve been to an All-Star Game, a Hall of Fame induction and the Little League Classic.
Advertisement
The NLCS in Milwaukee is the first postseason baseball the pair have covered and they have plans to cover the World Series.
“People encouraged us to post online and here we are.”
They interview athletes, including Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (“the future Cy Young this year,” Carter said) and Christian Yelich, Fox analyst Derek Jeter, players, managers and more.
Robyn Thomas, the twins’ photographer, audio technician, video editor, social media manager and mother (not in any particular order), not only manages the trips, but also encourages her boys in their very early careers.
Advertisement
On the field shortly before Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday, Oct. 12, Thomas pointed out Brewers players to the twins as they walked from batting practice to the dugout.
Once the boys secure an interview, their mom films it and later edits it and posts to social media.
“You know, I’m a normal mom,” she said. “I just like filming them.”
“I think this is probably the coolest ballpark I’ve been to. And I’ve been to a lot of them,” Carter said.
“[Milwaukee is] really nice city. We haven’t been here too long to look at everything, but it looks really nice,” Cooper said. “Really nice area.”
Advertisement
“The fans here are electric,” Carter said. “It’s just a cool atmosphere here in Milwaukee.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meet the 12-year-olds asking Pat Murphy the hard questions at NLCS
