Modified stance helps Counsell heat up at the plate

Nice feature story by Anthony Witrado on the Milwaukee Brewers' (and Whitefish Bay's own) Craig Counsell:

Modified stance helps Counsell heat up at plate

As he rounded first base, having just watched a ball off his bat clear the right-field fence, Craig Counsell pumped his fist.

He immediately regretted the gesture.

"I shouldn't have done that," Counsell said. "Matt Williams always used to get on me (when we played for Arizona) because he said I fist-pump every home run. And I always said that's because I don't hit enough home runs. I'm always so excited when I hit one."

Counsell, the Milwaukee Brewers' utility infielder not known for his pop, had just hit his first home run of the season against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday to inspire the hand motion. At the time of that home run, Counsell had already scored a run and set up another by moving a runner over earlier in the game, so he figured into three of the team's four runs at that point.

It isn't surprising Counsell didn't approve of his own spur-of-the-moment action. He is soft-spoken, low-key and not great at talking about his own success.

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And, if you like a little baseball humor, check out The Onion's satirical story:
Turns Out Craig Counsell Was Actually Best Baseball Player of the Steroid Era

Aaron helps open 'Chasing the Dream'

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Cooperstown, N.Y. — He's still the classiest man in the room, just like in his playing days when with quick wrists and amazing grace he chased the ghost of Babe Ruth, chased the greatest record in baseball.

On Saturday, Hank Aaron came back to Cooperstown - where ballplayers are forever young - and reminded a new generation of fans just why he's part of the fabric and history of a game, and a nation.

Thirty-five years after he surpassed the great Ruth to become baseball's all-time home run king, the slugger who once plied his trade with the old Milwaukee Braves and the modern-day Brewers was on hand for the ribbon-cutting of an extraordinary permanent exhibition: "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream."

In the entire history of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, only two players have been deemed worthy of having permanent exhibitions to detail their careers: Ruth, the larger-than-life figure who brought baseball into a modern slugging era, and now, Aaron, more of an everyman whose consistency in all phases of the game marked a stellar career.

Aaron's 1957 World Series ring he won with the Milwaukee Braves was on display, along with his National League MVP plaque. And so, too, was the shirt, pants, cap and helmet Aaron wore when he hit his 715th while playing with the Atlanta Braves.

Continued