Craig Counsell talks about ice fishing, the '80s and nicknames on 'Old Baseball Cards'

Spring training is here and that means a whole lot of things for baseball lovers. But one thing it means for our “Old Baseball Cards” show is the return of — wait for it — managers episodes!

Can’t lie, manager episodes are some of our favorite and we usually try to give you a batch of them as baseball starts back up. In the coming weeks, we’ll have Rocco Baldelli, Kevin Cash and Brad Ausmus.

We start off the spring, however, with a delightful pack-opening session with Milwaukee Brewers skipper Craig Counsell. This week we’re opening 1982 Fleer and 1997 Topps, one of them from Counsell’s youth, the other from his rookie year.

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Along the way, we talked about ice-fishing in Alaska, great ’80s nicknames, Dave Stewart, Tommy John, Jorge Bell, old Brewers uniforms and even an old Brewers player Counsell couldn’t place. (We’re sure Milwaukee will forgive him).

If you’re new to our show, welcome aboard. We open packs of old baseball cards with baseball players, coaches and famous fans. Most of the cards aren’t worth much — in fact, most of them came from my garage, where they were collecting dust — but the stories, memories and nostalgia they bring are priceless. If you dig the show, we have plenty of great episodes below to check out.

If you want more episodes of managers delightfully opening baseball cards, we’d suggest our episodes with Gabe Kapler, Scott Servais and Bob Melvin.

Previously on Old Baseball Cards
RECENT EPISODES: Don Mattingly | Tom Gordon & Nick Gordon | Ron Darling | Mike Rizzo

MUST-SEE EPISODES: Randy Johnson | George Brett | Dave Winfield | Gary Vee | Jerry Dipoto | Mike Krukow | HQ’s Scott Rogowsky | Felipe Alou| Torey Lovullo | Nick Swisher | David Ross | Tim Raines | Thomas Ian Nicholas aka Henry Rowengartner | Pedro Martinez | Bronson Arroyo | Eric Davis | Dusty Baker | Hank Azaria | Alex Rodriguez | Scott Boras | A.J. Ellis | Bernie Williams | Chase Utley | John Smoltz

COMPILATIONS: Best trades of 2017 | Best finds of 2017 | Best Guests of 2017 (Part 1) | Best Guests of 2017 (Part 2) | The Best of People Eating 30-Year-Old Gum | The Best Finds of 2018 | Favorite Guests of 2018

CROSSOVER EPISODES: The Miz | Metta World Peace | Jazzy Jeff

STARS FROM BACK IN THE DAY: Fred Lynn | Eduardo Perez | J.J. Putz | Luis Gonzalez | Duane Kuiper | Edgar Martinez | Ryne Sandberg | Frank Thomas | Sandy Alomar Jr. | Delino DeShields | Cliff Floyd | Dan Plesac | Aaron Boone | Bobby Bonilla | Andre Dawson | Ivan Rodriguez | Jack Morris | Jeff Nelson | Mark Teixeira | Rick Ankiel | Kevin Millar

MANAGERS/COACHES: Terry Francona | Joe Maddon | Bruce Bochy | Clint Hurdle | Buck Showalter | Brad Mills | Bob Melvin | Dave Roberts | Gabe Kapler | Alex Cora | Dave Martinez | Ron Gardenhire | Scott Servais

CURRENT PLAYERS: Alex Bregman | CC Sabathia | Curtis Granderson | Noah Syndergaard | Kyle Hendricks | Clayton Kershaw | Todd Coffey | John Axford | Dee Gordon | Adam Eaton | Rajai Davis | Brad Ziegler & Tyler Clippard | Buster Posey, David Price & Anthony Rizzo

CELEBS: Kurt Busch | Bill Nye | Mr. Belding | Alyssa Milano | Josh Duhamel | Joel McHale

ETC: Chris “Mad Dog” Russo | Josh Kusnick | Jeff Passan | Ken Kendrick

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Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz

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