The Cubs poached Craig Counsell from Milwaukee with a record contract and all that’s happened since is the Brewers beat the Cubs for the division both years, beat the Cubs in the postseason and Counsell’s replacement is now the 3rd manager ever to win in consecutive years https://t.co/YuR82rVov9
— nugget chef (@jayhaykid) November 12, 2025
I have read the text on the above tweet roughly 5,000 times this morning, and I think I like it more every time I read it. It’s poetry!
Man, what a story Murph is. Career baseball man, decades in college baseball, got a brief job as the interim manager of the Padres but wasn’t retained, spent 8 seasons as Craig Counsell’s bench coach, then finally got his first major league managerial job at 64 years old when Counsell turned traitor and went to Chicago.
Now I’ll be honest, when they hired Murph before the 2024 season, I thought he made perfect sense as a buffer manager. The guys knew him because he had been Counsell’s assistant since 2016, a guy who had been around the sport his entire life, let him take the reigns for a few seasons before you make the move to a more long term solution. Hell, it kind of felt like that’s precisely how the Brewers felt as well when they hired Rickie Weeks as his bench coach. At that time there was no doubt in my mind that Rickie would takeover after a few seasons getting mentored by Murphy.
But then something interesting happened: Murph started winning. A lot. A LOT a lot. 93 wins and a playoff appearance in his first season, a franchise record 97 wins and a run to the NLCS in his second season. And not only has he been winning, he’s been the perfect fit for the market in terms of personality. His quirks are folksy and VERY ‘Midwest.’ He doesn’t take himself too seriously, he’ll chop it up with anyone, and he’ll feed you pancakes directly from his pocket. I don’t think I’ve talked to a single Brewer fan that doesn’t love Murph.
And the team has taken on his identity. They’re gritty, hard working, constantly fighting to prove that they belong. I’ve often said of Counsell that, like it or not, he’s the greatest manager in the history of the franchise. And as bitter as I was with how he left, when he did leave, I didn’t think that we’d actually end up in a BETTER spot with his successor. But here we are. All of a sudden the placeholder has become just the 4th manager to win back-to-back Manager of the Year awards. The team is young and talented, and there’s no reason to think they’re not going to win 90+ again next season. Just crazy how things work out sometimes.
PS: Don’t want, NEED Murphy to start his acceptance speech with, “I have a letter here, from Bob Uecker….”
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