Brian Allen Givens (born November 6, 1965) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for 15 years and played for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Givens was known most for being a replacement player who crossed picket lines during spring training in 1995 while the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was still going on. He also was notable for having endured six arm surgeries—including Tommy John surgery before making his major-league debut. Early life and education Givens graduated from Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado. Minor-league career A left-handed pitcher, Givens was drafted by the New York Mets in 1984 in the 10th round of the now-defunct January amateur draft. He began his minor-league career immediately after high school, starting out at the Rookie league level with the Kingsport Mets in the Appalachian League in 1984. Givens went 4–1 for Kingsport, making 14 appearances, striking out 51, walking 52, and posting a 6.50 earned-run average. In 1985, Givens split the season between two teams: the Short season Single-A league Little Falls Mets in the New York–Penn League and the full season A league Columbia Mets in the South Atlantic League. Givens did well, going 3–4 with a 2.93 earned-run average in 11 appearances with Little Falls, and going 1–2 with a 2.95 earned-run average in three appearances with Columbia. The following year, Givens pitched for the Mets for the entire season, posting an 8–7 record with a 3.77 earned-run average in 27 games. In 1987, Givens actually briefly rose to the Triple-A International League level, pitching for one game with the Tidewater Tides (and posting a 0–1 mark with a 24.55 earned-run average from that one game; his outing lasted just three and two-thirds innings) but spending almost the entire season at the "High-A" level with the Lynchburg Hillcats. In his time with Lynchburg, Givens went 6–8 with a 4.65 earned-run average in 21 games. In 1988, Givens spent the entire season with the Jackson Mets in the Class AA Texas League, going 6–14 with a 3.78 earned-run average in 26 games. During the season, however, Givens' elbow popped, requiring a surgery to move his ulnar nerve and taking five miles an hour off his fastball. The following year, Givens pitched largely for the Jackson Mets again, going 3–5 with a 3.39 earned-run average in 13 games. He also pitched for one game in 1989