ARLINGTON, Texas — The pregame banter Sunday between Cubs manager Craig Counsell and media members drifted to the way some players, such as Pete Crow-Armstrong, draw attention anytime their name appears in a headline. Counsell noted he isn’t exactly clickbait.
“When they put my name in a headline on an article in ‘The Onion,’ then people read it,’’ he said. “One headline was, ‘Craig Counsell Proven to be Best Player of the Steroid Era.’ ’’
Counsell’s recollection of the headline is pretty accurate, especially since it was published by the satirical publication on Feb. 12, 2009.
Here’s the text of the story:
“After the records of players who used performance-enhancing drugs are carefully removed, statistics provided by the Elias Sports Bureau indicate that lifetime .255 hitter Craig Counsell was the best player of the past 15 years.
“If you judge them on the basis of pure physical ability, you’re left with Craig Counsell,” said ESB representative Patrick Wondolowski, adding that Counsell’s 35 career home runs narrowly beat out Quinton McCracken’s 21 and pitcher Glendon Rusch’s three.
“Upon hearing the news, broadcaster Bob Uecker lauded the Brewers utilityman as “one of the best I ever saw, if we’re talking about those who I can say without a doubt never took steroids. He came this close to stealing a base off of Ivan Rodriguez, and I swear I heard him foul tip a Roger Clemens fastball. The kid could flat-out steroid-free play.
“One time he was playing third base and he caught a Rafael Palmeiro line drive — just caught it, right in his mitt.” When asked about his Hall of Fame chances, Counsell dodged the question by asking if anyone had a few bucks so he could go buy a sandwich.’’
For the record, Counsell finished with a lifetime batting average of .255 with 42 career home runs. His single-season high was nine for the Diamondbacks in 2005. And, yes, Counsell sai
