Counsell, Erickson, and Thomas Headline First Timber Rattlers Hot Stove Banquet on January 25

GRAND CHUTE, WI – The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will be warming up the winter a few weeks before the official start of Major League Spring Training with their first Hot Stove Banquet on Wednesday, January 25. Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell, Milwaukee legend Gorman Thomas, and former Timber Rattlers manager Matt Erickson are the special guests for this first-time event which is presented by Fox Communities Credit Union. The banquet will be held in the FCCU Fox Club at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. BUY HOT STOVE TICKETS HERE

Counsell, who became the winningest manager in Milwaukee Brewers history during the 2022 season, is a two-time World Series champion as a player. He was named Brewers manager in May of 2015 and has led the team to the playoffs four times, including a trip to the National League Championship Series in 2018. The Wisconsin native played for the Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Milwaukee Brewers over a playing career that lasted sixteen seasons.

Thomas was a Brewer for eleven of his thirteen Major League seasons. The Seattle Pilots drafted Thomas in the first round of the 1969 draft out of James Island High School in Charleston, South Carolina. The Pilots became the Brewers for the 1970 season. Thomas, who played against the Appleton Foxes in the Midwest League as a member of the Clinton Pilots in 1970 and Danville Warriors in 1971, would make his MLB debut with Milwaukee in 1973. He would lead the American League in home runs with 45 in 1978, make the All-Star team in 1981, and play in the World Series in 1982 while hitting 208 homers in 1,103 games as a Brewer. Thomas also played for Cleveland and Seattle during his career.

Erickson is the winningest manager in Wisconsin Timber Rattlers history. The Appleton native was the Wisconsin hitting coach in 2009 and 2010 before becoming the manager of the team in 2011. The Timber Rattlers won a Midwest League title in 2012 and 652 regular season games in Erickson’s ten seasons as the manager. Erickson joined Counsell’s staff at the Major League level for the 2022 season. He played eleven seasons as a farmhand in the Marlins, Brewers, and Diamondbacks organizations from 1997 through 2007 with four games in the Majors with the Brewers in 2004.

The Hot Stove Banquet will start when the gates to the stadium open at 5:30 with a Happy Hour. Dinner is served at 6:30pm with a program to start at 7:00pm. Tickets for the Hot Stove Banquet are $35 and include admission and dinner. They will be available for purchase from the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Box Office or online at timberrattlers.com

Dinner will be prepared by our award-winning chefs and includes a spring mix salad topped with fresh berries, candied walnuts, feta cheese, and a honey vinegarette; an entrée of beef chateau with demi-glace and snakebite chicken with loaded mashed potatoes and chef’s choice vegetables; and a dessert of Kahlua mini-cakes paired with chocolate dipped strawberries.

Space is limited for this event. Make sure to order this great gift for the baseball fan in your life excited for the 2023 season!