Craig Counsell

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Craig Counsell
Milwaukee Brewers — No. 4
Second baseman
Bats: Left Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
September 17, 1995 for the Colorado Rockies
Selected MLB statistics
(through 2006)
AVG     .260
OBP     .344
HR     31
Teams

    Craig John Counsell (born August 21, 1970 in South Bend, Indiana) is a Major League Baseball infielder who plays for the Milwaukee Brewers and has a career batting average of .260. On November 26, 2006 he signed a two-year deal returning to the Milwaukee Brewers with an option for 2009. He has also played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He attended college at Notre Dame and won the 2001 NLCS MVP Award while on his first tour on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

    Counsell was born in South Bend, Indiana and grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and went to Whitefish Bay High School, where he played baseball. His father worked for the Milwaukee Brewers.

    Counsell is particularly known for his unusual batting stance, where points the bat straight up into the air as high as he can and moves back and forth in an erratic fashion. While batting, almost his entire back is pointed towards the pitcher, though his feet remain perpendicular with the pitcher's mound.

    [edit] Interesting facts

    • In the 2004 season, Counsell reached base on catcher's interference six times. That was more than the rest of the National League combined (five times).
    • Counsell was on-base for the winning scoring plays of two World Series Game 7's. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series for the Marlins on an Edgar Renteria single over pitcher Charles Nagy's head, after tying that game in the bottom of the ninth with a sacrifice fly. He was also hit by a pitch by Mariano Rivera to load the bases for Luis Gonzalez in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, after which Gonzalez drove in the winning run for the Diamondbacks, also a single over Rivera's head ending the Yankees hopes of four straight World Series titles.

    [edit] External links

    Preceded by
    Mike Hampton    		 National League Championship Series MVP
    2001    		 Succeeded by
    Benito Santiago
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/r/a/Craig_Counsell_3aec.html"