People know that I'm a big Brewers fan. I don't know how they come to that conclusion, but someone always outs me. Then everyone comes at me like the fucking cops and starts asking me rapid fire questions. It's like an interrogation. The only thing that is missing is the burned out bad cop and the bright lights shining in my face. One of the most common questions that I get is "who is your favorite player on the Brewers?" The safe choice is to go with Prince Fielder or Ryan Braun. But those are everyone's favorite players. And I'm anything but safe. From 2003-2009 my favorite player was Bill Hall. Even when everyone else had moved on, my favorite player was Hall. I stuck with him to what ended up being a very bitter end, as he was designated for assignment and traded to Seattle. My current favorite player on the team is Rickie Weeks, who held a close second to Hall since he first came up to the majors in 2005. But what does any of this have to do with Craig Counsell? A lot actually. Craig Counsell is my brother James' favorite player. Craig Counsell backed up Bill Hall at 3rd base and Rickie Weeks at 2nd base when they were either ineffective or injured. And Craig Counsell deserves every bit of credit that he gets for doing those things. But Counsell doesn't stop there. Counsell has cemented his place in Brewers history whether or not people actually admit it. That's because he plays the game right and contributes both on and off the field. He's the player that every team in the Major Leagues should have on their roster, but I don't think that people here in Milwaukee realize just how important that he is to our team. But thanks to a career year in 2009 at the still young age of 39, people in Milwaukee are starting to come around.
Let me start out by clarifying that people do love Craig Counsell here. Although he was born in Indiana, he grew up in the Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay. He went to High School there, and his father worked for the Milwaukee Brewers. He first played with the his "hometown" team in 2004 when he came here in a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although he had a pretty good year, he became a free agent and resigned with the Dbacks. After 2 seasons in Arizona he was back with the Brewers in 2007 and served primarily as a back-up and pinch hitter. Although he did all of the little things like bunting, playing excellent defense, moving runners over when grounding out, taking walks and being versatile in the field, I feel like he never got the proper respect he deserved. Then 2009 came along and every single fan who passed through the turnstiles saw a side of Counsell that they never saw before - an all around great ballplayer who they could all get behind.
In 2009 the Brewers infield was seemingly set up where all 4 players would each play at least 140 games. And then Rickie Weeks suffered a season ending wrist injury and Counsell started playing every day at 2nd base. And then Bill Hall struggled so mightily against right handed pitchers that Counsell was starting at 3rd base against right handed pitchers. And then JJ Hardy never got out of his season opening slump, so Counsell was also playing shortstop. Until the emergence of Casey McGehee as the everyday 3rd baseman, Counsell was playing his way into the lineup everyday at either 2nd base, 3rd base or shortstop. It was like he was playing musical chairs out there, but every time the music stopped and he had to take a new position he brought his excellent defense with him. In previous years you could ignore his low batting average (in the .220 range) and lack of power (2 HRs, 20 RBIs) because of his on base percentage (.350 range), defense and versatility. But then in 2009 something changed, and although the previously mentioned infield situation got him into the starting lineup every day, his bat for the first time kept him in it.
There's this saying that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. While that saying can be true in a lot of cases, it is bullshit if the old dog is willing to listen. People remember Craig Counsell for various reasons, but one that always sticks out is his unusual batting stance, as seen in the picture on the left. How he is able to hit like that I'll never know, because I have tried it both in baseball games and in batting cages and it doesn't work for me. It's kind of like trying to drive a golf ball like Happy Gilmore. But hey, if it works then I say go with it. But although Counsell had been hitting like this for his entire Major League career (and probably in High School and College too), Brewers hitting Coach Dale Sveum wanted him to drop his hands 
down and go with a more traditional approach (as seen in the picture on the right). And it worked. It worked so well that Counsell had a career year at the plate with a .285 avg, 4 HRs, 39 RBIs, 61 runs scored and a .357 OBP. While that might not seem very impressive to someone who isn't familiar with his career stats, it is. The other thing about him is that he was clutch in situations where the Brewers totally needed it. He often got on base late in the game in what ended up being the game winning rally. He'd get a pinch-hit single to extend the inning so that Braun or Fielder could come to the plate and drive in runs. And on defense he's make a diving stop or turn a tough doubleplay to end the other team's potential rally. He was so clutch that Tim Allen + Sparky (hosts of the Brewers postgame show on Sportsradio1250 in Milwaukee) started calling him C3, which stood for Craig "Clutch" Counsell. That turned out to be one of the non sexual things that I would yell out at Brewers games.Counsell is no stranger to being clutch in situations, as seen in his memorable moments in the World Series Championships of the Florida Marlins in 1997 and in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In Game 7 of the 1997 World Series he scored the winning run in the 11th inning for Florida's first Championship. They would applaud Counsell in Florida if more than 5,000 people showed up to the games. I mentioned yesterday that Counsell still gets a nice ovation down in Arizona even if he is wearing the "enemy's" uniform. He was the MVP of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves and had a couple of pivotal at bats in the World Series that Arizona ended up winning against the favored New York Yankees. And in 2009 Counsell was the positional player MVP in most people's opinions for reasons previously mentioned in this article. And although he will be turning 40 years old this year, he is showing no signs of slowing down. After the kind of season he had, Counsell had plenty of suitors knocking on his door, but the Brewers wisely paid him enough to retain his services, because he will once again be clutch in 2010.
Craig Counsell is my brother James' favorite player, but not for any of the reasons previously mentioned in this article. In order to understand why, I need to take you on a little trip down memory lane. James and I have been going to Brewers games since we were in the Coca-Cola Kids Fan Club back at good ol' County Stadium. Even though we were cute kids and we brought our gloves to every game, we never once caught a foul ball, homerun or got a ball from the ball girl/boy. Not once. And even when we scurried for a foul ball and were knocked over by a bunch of adults, they didn't even give us the ball. All they gave us was scrapped knees and a lack of faith in the good nature of grownups. As the years went by and we started going to 20+ games a year, we thought that our chances would increase. But they didn't.
In the summer of 2007, James would one-up me and get an actual game used ball, which was a foul grounder off of the bat of Craig Counsell. The ball girl tossed it up to him, since he was sitting on the 1st base side on the field level. James gave me a good amount of shit that he got a ball before I did. I mean c'mon! No fair! The ball has scuff marks and grass stains. How can I compete with that!?! Then I started following the Brewers on the road, and in 2007 Marcus Hanel (the bullpen catcher) tossed me a ball when I was in Cincinnati. I instantly texted James and gave him shit that I got a ball too, but he reminder me that his was cooler. Keep in mind at this time I was 26 and he was 28. Even so, my big brother always finds of way to one-up me. Since he was so excited to get his first ball, and because it came off the bat of Counsell, I started kidding him that Craig Counsell was his favorite player. And then Craig Counsell came into his store. James worked at a Home Depot in the lawn and garden department close to Mequon (another Milwaukee suburb where Counsell currently lives) and Counsell would often stop in to buy stuff. Counsell still lives here in town (even in the offseason I'm told) and James would see him at the store but he wouldn't bother him unless he came to James with questions. James was living in Fox Point (which borders Mequon) at the time, and if Counsell had any impact on the game, I'd send him a text message with the line, "your friend and neighbor Craig Counsell did _______" or some variation of it. But every time I mentioned Craig Counsell to him I always stick in the your friend and neighbor line. And then (like I mentioned in the Prince Fielder "25 in 25" article) I got Counsell's autograph on a baseball and gave it to James, which forever cemented me as the eternal one-upper. There's a lot of things that James beats me at (ok, so he beats me at just about everything including beer pong) but I got him this time. Unless he gets Counsell to show up at my birthday party, I don't know how he could top what I gave him. But rest assured that James has this in the back of his mind and will one day regain his position on top of the one-upper list.
Even though I love Craig Counsell for all of the reasons mentioned in this article (and many more) I don't want to see him play in 130 games again. I'm all for him getting a few starts a week, but once it approaches 3/4 of the games in a season, that means that one of our regular infielders is injured or unproductive. And as much as Counsell brings to the team, we would still rather see him as a spot starter and pinch hitter off of the bench. Even though he should (hopefully) play less this year, there's no reason why he can't put up these numbers in 2010:
.280 avg, .351 OBP, 2 HRs, 33 RBIs, 110 games played, veteran leadership and still James' favorite player.
I don't have any lengthy sentimental stories to tell about Jody Gerut, one of the Brewers back-up outfielders. Because he is not one of my favorite players. The only thing that I can say about him is that he is a guy and his name is Jody. That's a girls name. Hopefully between now and tomorrow I can figure out something to put in his "25 in 25" article. Will I come up with some material about Gerut? Is Jody more than just a girl's name? Will Woody and Bullseye land to safety? Can they reach Jessie and Stinky Pete in time? Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion: "Woody's Finest Hour." Wait, what does Jody Gerut have to do with Toy Story 2? I'm not sure, but that my friends, is a topic that will be covered tomorrow. Brewers! Brewers! Keep Turnin' Up the Heat!
- pookon -
www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com
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