Today In Brewer History: Happy Birthday, Craig Counsell

On this day in 1970, Craig Counsell was born in South Bend, Indiana (he later moved to Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin). After going to college at Notre Dame he was drafted by the Rockies in the eleventh round of the 1992 draft, and made his major league debut as a September callup in 1995. He made his way back to the show in 1997 and has been a big leaguer ever since, appearing in over 1600 games (the 496th most in major league history) as a member of five teams over 16 seasons.

Counsell was the Brewers primary shortstop in 2004, then rejoined the team in 2007 and has been here ever since. He's never been much of a hitter, posting a career .255/.341/.344 line, but he's managed to be worth positive fWAR in all but one of his major league seasons (with 1999 as the lone exception). Even in 2011, when he's hitting .151/.255/.183, he's been worth +0.1 fWAR based on his defense.

As a Brewer Counsell has played 269 games at shortstop, 164 at third base, 109 at second base and one in the outfield. He turns 41 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:

• 1999-2001 Brewer Lou Collier, who turns 38.
• 1997 Brewer Mike Misuraca, who turns 43.
• 1986-87 Brewer John Henry Johnson, who turns 55.