The Man Who Keeps Baseball Relevant in Milwaukee

The paradox of a life in sports activities is that the objective can not actually be the objective. If it had been — if the one factor that really mattered was profitable a championship — then most individuals can be depressing. Almost everybody loses ultimately.

Craig Counsell has devoted a lot of his life to the Milwaukee Brewers. As a boy, he helped out at previous County Stadium, sorting Robin Yount’s fan mail and working the speed-pitch sales space. In his late 30s and early 40s, he performed greater than 700 video games as a Brewers infielder. On Tuesday, at 52, he’ll change into the franchise chief in video games managed, with 1,181.

Yet Counsell’s two World Series rings nearly appear to mock such loyalty. He was the beginning second baseman for 2 champions, the 1997 Florida Marlins and the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, and holds a singular distinction in baseball historical past: Counsell is the one participant to return to bat within the backside of the ninth inning of a Game 7 with the profitable run on base — twice. Both occasions, he prolonged a rally and his groups went on to win.

While the Brewers — born in 1970 (like Counsell) after one season because the Seattle Pilots — have by no means gained a title, the Marlins did it of their fifth seasons and the Diamondbacks of their fourth. How is that honest?

“Considering the Brewers, considering the drought the Cubs had at one point, it’s incredible, right?” Counsell mentioned by cellphone final week, earlier than a sport with the Mets in Milwaukee. “But I don’t look at it like that. I do look at it, like, ‘Man, this would be the best place to do it.’ I do share that and feel that. But I also realize that it’s super, super hard.”

Counsell has realized that lesson within the a long time since these charmed early years. He is the dean of National League managers — none of his N.L. friends had been with their present groups when Counsell was employed early within the 2015 season — and has led the Brewers to 4 playoff appearances and a 622-557 document, together with this 12 months’s 7-2 begin. He has not steered the Brewers to an N.L. pennant, however has achieved one thing much more significant.

“The No. 1 goal is to really have baseball be relevant here in Wisconsin and Milwaukee,” Counsell mentioned. “Keeping that alive is really what you have to shoot for every day, and the World Series is kind of like a result of all that.”

He added: “I think that’s really important, that we’re putting something on that’s fun to watch. And we do give ourselves a chance — we’ve made some runs, and one of these times it’s going to result in the whole thing. Our job is to just keep doing that. That creates fans, and that creates people passing the sport on generationally.”

Counsell is a second-generation Brewers worker and a second-generation graduate of the University of Notre Dame. His father, John, captained the Notre Dame baseball crew in 1964 and later spent a decade because the Brewers’ director of neighborhood relations.

That stretch included the Brewers’ solely World Series look, their 1982 loss to the Cardinals in seven video games. It was a wrenching defeat, and whereas Craig shared within the agony from the stands in St. Louis, he would quickly get a vivid instance of the enjoyment Milwaukee took from the journey.

“He came home and he saw the parade — and he could not believe the way the city had reacted to losing the World Series,” John Counsell mentioned. “We had a bigger parade than St. Louis had, supposedly. And I think that affected him. He always remembered that.”

Craig was at all times a eager observer, mentioned John, who considers it his son’s greatest trait as a supervisor. When Craig was 12, John requested him which gamers had been his favorites. Craig named the Brewers’ greatest stars, Yount and Paul Molitor, however not only for their expertise. He had seen how they acted when John picked them up for appearances.

“They’re the same at home as they are at the ballpark,” John mentioned Craig instructed him. “And I said, ‘Holy cow, I’ve got to tell your mom you said that.’ He was figuring this whole thing out about what players were like and what it was like to be a major league player.”

John’s enjoying profession had peaked at Class A, however Craig would spend 16 years within the majors, propelled by 4 standout seasons below Coach Pat Murphy at Notre Dame. Counsell was Murphy’s first recruit, within the fall of 1987, and practically three a long time later Counsell recruited Murphy as his bench coach with the Brewers.

Murphy has the basic traits of a soccer coach — intense taskmaster and charismatic back-slapper — whereas Counsell is a self-effacing good man with a pointy, dry wit. It is an unlikely pairing, however one Counsell eagerly sought in 2015, after his first season as supervisor.

“When Couns hired Murph, they’re so different stylistically that we were all kind of like, ‘Couns did what?’” mentioned Mike Rooney, who performed with Counsell at Notre Dame, coached with Murphy at Arizona State and now calls faculty video games for ESPN.

He added: “Not because we don’t think highly of Murph, because we do, but because they’re just so different. And I remember Couns said something like, ‘Why wouldn’t I hire him? He views the world so differently than I do, and that’s exactly what I need.’”

Because of their deep roots, Counsell mentioned, he can disagree with Murphy with out taking it personally. It helps each to have a confidant with a distinct fashion of communication.

“He’s taught me more about coaching and leadership than you could ever believe,” Murphy mentioned. “He doesn’t sweat any of the small stuff. He knows how to make decisions clearly and concisely, he can stay on point, he doesn’t get too emotional. He’s been a great example for me as a person who loves this profession and feels like it takes years to become good at it. Couns makes it look easy.”

In 2018, when he led the Brewers to the N.L. Championship Series, Counsell had a skinny rotation and a deep bullpen; in a single N.L.C.S. sport, he pulled his starter after one batter. Now, he wins by counting on his ace right-handed starters — Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta — for so long as potential.

“It’s who we have, it’s what they’re good at, and you take advantage of it,” Counsell mentioned.

Last 12 months’s crew led the N.L. Central on Aug. 5 however completed second with an 86-76 document, one sport behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the ultimate wild-card spot. Eliminated three years in a row within the playoffs by the eventual champions — the Washington Nationals in 2019, the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020 and the Atlanta Braves in 2021 — the Brewers watched the Phillies romp to the pennant.

“There’s a little bit of a common theme there: If you want to go to the World Series, you play the Brewers,” Woodruff mentioned. “But it feels like if we just keep on trucking along, our time is going to come. Last year stung — it was a punch in the gut, in a way — and coming into this year, Couns really set the tone for us.”

Counsell emphasised connectivity, Woodruff mentioned, enjoying on your teammates as a lot as yourselves — normal stuff, maybe, however a message the clubhouse could have wanted. With Burnes and Woodruff eligible without cost company after the 2024 season, this can be the Brewers’ greatest likelihood for that elusive title.

This can also be Counsell’s final season below contract, and there’s worth to having an open future. Counsell and his spouse, Michelle, have 4 kids, together with two aspiring baseball gamers: one on the University of Minnesota and one other with a fall dedication to the University of Michigan. The pull of dwelling could possibly be sturdy.

Whatever occurs, although, Counsell won’t go far. He nonetheless lives within the Milwaukee County village of Whitefish Bay, the place he grew up. And he’ll at all times have a deep understanding of the which means of success, ceaselessly the son of the neighborhood relations director.

“We’re an entertainment venue for everybody, and to be a place that creates community pride is important,” Counsell mentioned. “I think we’re doing that, and I know that means there’s another generation of baseball fans being created. And that’s a great thing for our area.”