Craig Counsell or Pat Murphy? We went to Whitefish Bay for the answer

WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. — Not sure if you knew this, but Brewers manager Pat Murphy invented bratwurst.

And beer. And Friday fish fries. And supper clubs. And Brandy Old-Fashioneds. Not to mention cheesehead hats and deer stands.

All that might as well be true, anyway, as much as Wisconsin loves the 67-year-old skipper, who has a real chance at a third straight National League manager of the year award.

Murphy’s predecessor, Craig Counsell, never won one of those. That’s because Counsell is a no-good bum. Don’t let his three division titles and five playoff appearances as Brewers manager — or his third straight winning season and soon-to-be second straight playoff trip with the Cubs — fool you.

Brewers fans still love to boo and rip the winningest manager in team history, who happens to have grown up here, played here, ushered in a winning era here and continued to live here, a mere 10 miles from American Family Field.

Starting Monday, the Cubs are back in Milwaukee for the first time since winning a key series against the Brewers in late June. In the rubber match, a 4-3 win in 10 innings, Counsell used seven pitchers, pulling all the right levers as the suddenly soaring Cubs raised their record to 12-4 following a brutal 5-18 stretch. The Brewers still led the Cubs by 5½ games, but it looked like the division race could be hotter than butter-burger grease the rest of the way.

It gave me an idea: Why not spend a day in Counsell’s beloved stomping grounds — Whitefish Bay — to see if there was one place in Brewerland where fans still rated the manager with 707 Brewers wins ahead of his former bench coach, who at the time had 467 fewer of them?

My first stop was the office of Whitefish Bay High School athletic director Randee Drew, who has witnessed the athletic exploits of all four of Counsell’s children at the school where their old man, now 56, roamed the diamond ages before leaving the Brewers behind for the Cubs.

“Just a great family and a very supportive, popular dad,” Drew said. “He comes to everything. In my opinion, he’s very humble. If we were all blessed with the opportunities that Mr. Counsell has created for himself, I think a lot of people would make similar choices. If people knew him, they would know how great of a person he is.”

Counsell over Murphy, then?

“Oh, I’m not going to answer that,” Drew said.

Across the hall, the gym was bustling with summer activity. At the top of a stairway from the basketball court to the weight room, I found Counsell’s retired No. 19 jersey framed in glass. A couple of dozen Dukes were hard at work, which I took as an invitation to rudely interrupt everything.

Murphy or Counsell? Let’s just say I might have been pointing to a certain jersey for effect.

“Murphy,” the three who took note of a lumbering interloper replied.

Even here, in Counsell’s school?

“Doesn’t matter,” said both Charlie and Owen, sophomore baseball players.

“You can’t be a Brewers manager and then dip and head to the Cubs,” said Cal, a junior soccer player and golfer.

All agreed Murphy’s Brewers again would rule the roost in the National League Central when all was said and done.

I tried Sendik’s grocery store, stopping at the meat counter.

“Can I help you with anything?” a man asked.

Yes. Better Brewers manager, Counsell or Murphy?

“You need to talk to Joe.”

In produce, I found Joseph Galioto, 69, a diehard fan since the Brewers moved to Milwaukee in 1970. Counsell has been shopping here since way back when, turns out.

“Yeah, I’m good friends with him,” Galioto said.

Ah — this must be one strong vote for the pride of Whitefish.

“I pick Murphy,” Galioto said. “Murphy lets them do what they want — bunt, sacrifice, steal — on their own. … When [Counsell] was managing the Brewers, he didn’t know how to bunt. And Murphy lets the pitchers pitch.”

Next: the village’s Little League home, named for a certain highly accomplished skipper. No, not Murphy, for God’s sake.

At Craig Counsell Park — the man’s name is on the signs and everything — there could be only one numero uno. No games were happening on this day, but Joe Wollersheim, 43, was stocking the concession stand he runs.

Counsell over Murphy?

“Uh, absolutely not,” Wollersheim said. “I can’t call it ‘Craig Counsell Park’ anymore. I just call it ‘CCP.’ ”

But this was a baseball question, after all, not a popularity contest.

“I appreciate what baseball is trying to do with analytics, but I much appreciate Murph being old school, a gut-feeling guy,” said Wollersheim, who rates himself a 10 as a fan on a 1-10 scale. “He just seems like he shows emotion. The more distance from Counsell, the more I don’t like his managing style. He doesn’t seem like he’s as good with people.”

Harsh. The situation called for one of a veteran reporter’s go-to moves.

I bellied up to the bar at The Bay and ordered a cold one.

Seated next to me was Erin Byrne, 54, who lives up this way and prefers the Brewers but also did stints in Lincoln Park, Roscoe Village and Evanston and has a soft spot for the Cubs — and for Counsell.

“I used to see him at a deli, just a neighborhood deli, and it was a nice thing to see,” Byrne said. “He was very friendly. Right here in the neighborhood.”

Though I wasn’t sure I should bother, I had to ask.

Counsell or the other flippin’ guy?

“I will admit I don’t know a ton about baseball,” she said, “but I will say Craig Counsell.”

Maybe, just maybe, she knows more than she thinks.