baseball In early 1995, the Brewers asked Givens to be a replacement player. Although he did not originally say yes, he wound up doing so to help pay for a mortgage debt. "I needed money and couldn't get it anywhere else", he told the Sporting News in 1995. "That was it, basically." After the 234-day players strike ended in before the 1995 baseball season ever officially began, Givens was sent to the Brewers' Class AAA New Orleans Zephyrs ballclub, where he worked with pitching coach and former major-league relief pitcher Bill Campbell, who taught Givens a slider and helped him to improve his changeup. Major-league debut and career After pitching well with New Orleans, where he posted a 7–4 record and a 2.55 earned-run average in 16 games, Givens was promoted to the Brewers. As had been the case with his teammate Ron Rightnowar, there was some bitterness toward Givens by the major-leaguers because of his role as a replacement player. "I've spent 11½ years in the minor leagues, I have a mortgage and two kids to feed", he told the Sporting News in 1995. "I had to pay my bills, and I couldn't see quitting not after what I've been through." However, Givens also said given the chance to do it again, he would not have been a replacement player. "Now that I'm here and I see how everything works, I regret what I did", Givens said in July 1995. "I was really undecided and didn't want to do it, then I said I would. One thing about this team, there's a bunch of really good guys here. Maybe they're not all going to be our best friends off the field, but when we're on the field they're going to support us like we support them." In a different interview, Givens went one step further, dismissing the talent level of some of his fellow replacement players. "At the time, it's what I had to do", he told the Seattle Times in July 1995. "I told everyone on the team that. Of course, I regretted the decision. But I had to take care of my family. Those games were a joke. The talent level was horrible. To put myself in the same shoes with guys off the street made me sick. It wasn't really baseball." At age 29, Givens made his big-league debut on June 24, 1995, pitching well in