My parents and I went to a Brewers game sometime in the early 2017 season. I don't particularly remember who we played, nor even the outcome of the game. I just remember turning to my parents and saying "I don't recognize any of these guys." Sure, Ryan Braun was there, but nobody else reminded me of the glory years of my childhood. Gone were Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Geoff Jenkins, Bill Hall, and any other figure who loomed in my adolescent mind as giants of the sport (and loom in the history of Major League Baseball as afterthoughts for the most part). Instead we had Manny Pina. Domingo Santana. Jonathan Villar. Travis Shaw.
I didn't know these people, I didn't connect them to the team that I love. But in that moment, there was one throughline. One person who reminded me that this was my team: Craig Counsell. That dude from my early memories with the janky batting stance and a propensity for clutch moments. He was clutch because he was calm. As a player and a manager, his cool headedness was something that endeared him to me all throughout his time in Milwaukee. He steadied the chaos after such managers as Roenicke, Macha, and Sveum. When I reintroduced myself to Brewers baseball in 2017, the name I clung to was Counsell's.
And not a moment too soon, as that team, followed by the following 6, played one combined game of meaningless baseball over Craig's tenure. It has been the best stretch of Brewers baseball that Milwaukee has ever seen and it's been something that I have attached to on an extremely personal level. Not just because it's good, but because it is Wisconsin.
I don't think it's coincidence that my adult Brewers fandom began in earnest in 2017. It's the same year that I moved away to Virginia (and also the same year we got out of the purgatory of the bottom half of the NL Central). Brewers baseball connected me to my home. To my people. When I was 700 miles away, I could still watch the game and text my dad about it afterwards. I knew me and my people were watching the same game, feeling the same emotion, concerned about the same bullpen (or more likely, offense, let's be honest).
But even in those successful years, there hasn't been much consistency of personnel. Sure, Yeli has been around since 2018, but he hasn't always been Yeli. Otherwise, it's Houser, Woody, and Burnes since then (ok, technically Houser had 2 games in 2015, but I digress). The point is, the Brewers connected me to home, and Counsell was the one name that consistently connected me to the Brewers. More than just a calm manager, he was a former Brewer. A former Brewer who grew up in Whitefish Bay and spent time with the American League Champion '82 Brewers as a kid. He was one of us and he was good. We don't get to say that often in Milwaukee. It means more to us when Giannis signs and extension or when Dame comes to the Bucks, because we don't have a lot of people who are the cream of the crop that want to stick around. They get good, and they move on to greener (i.e. more lucrative) pastures. It's what we expect from Corbin Burnes in the next year. It's what we saw Aaron Rodgers do last year. It's why I am forever in awe and gratitude for Giannis and Yeli.
But Counsell was different because he was one of us. He made an entire hype video about growing up in Milwaukee area and knowing us because he was us. The best manager in baseball (I'm willing to die on that hill) was in Milwaukee. He knew what made us tick and what baseball meant to us. He was stability in an unstable time that led to the best years in Brewers history.
So yeah, I have an emotional connection to Craig. When I look at his consistency and level-headedness, it's not a big leap for me to think about my dad. Indeed, he was a direct connection to my dad, as any game I watched was a talking point for my next conversation with him. Craig is a link to my home, to my family, to my love of baseball, to some of my favorite moments in sports history. I look at him and think about Game 163, multiple NL Central banners, MVPs, Cy Youngs, and walk offs. He is the only constant in this unbelievable span of Brewers baseball.
And he signed with the Chicago Cubs.
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