MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee's Pat Murphy and the Chicago Cubs' Craig Counsell have a friendship that goes back well over three decades. That wasn't going to end now that they're managing NL Central rivals.
''I'm sure all of you have great friends in the world, people that you've been associated with for many, many years in different way,'' Murphy said Friday before the Brewers lost 10-0 to the Cubs in the season's first matchup between the teams. ''Maybe the relationship changed a little bit. Maybe you used to live in the same town. Maybe now you don't. But your really, really true friends, you don't have to call them on the phone every night and say, ‘What happened last night? What did he say? Or what did he say?'
''Craig and I will be close forever. I respect him. I love him. I love his family.''
Counsell and Murphy had worked together in some capacity for much of the last 35 years or so before Counsell left his job as Milwaukee's manager to become the Cubs' skipper after the 2023 season. Murphy, a key part of Counsell's staff in Milwaukee, was promoted to Brewers' manager.
Their relationship started long before either reached the big leagues.
Counsell played college baseball on Notre Dame teams coached by Murphy from 1989-92. When Counsell was hired as the Brewers' manager after the 2015 season, he made Murphy his bench coach.
They saw each other just about every day for most of the next eight seasons. Now that they're working for different teams, they naturally don't talk as often.
Nor can they confide in each other the way they could while working on the same staff.
