Sal Bando’s Complicated Legacy

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Photo: MLB/Milwaukee Brewers

Sal Bando batting with the Brewers

Sal Bando batting with the Brewers

Brewers’ fans of different generations may have a significantly different recollection of Sal Bando’s life and legacy. Bando passed away on Friday at the age of 78.

Bando’s baseball life had two very distinct chapters. He played in the majors across portions of 16 seasons, debuting with the Kansas City Athletics and following the team to Oakland. While with the A’s he made four All Star teams, finished in the top five in the American League’s MVP voting three times and won three consecutive World Series from 1972-74, a feat that has only been matched one time since. He had an RBI double in the sixth inning of Game 7 of the 1972 series that drove home the eventual game-winning run.

Bando was well on his way to a potential Hall of Fame career when he was one of the first beneficiaries of a major shift in baseball economics: The beginning of free agency. Following the 1976 season he could have gone anywhere but then-Brewers owner Bud Selig flew out to California to meet with him in person and convinced him to make the improbable decision to come to Milwaukee. Not long after that the Brewers traded for Cecil Cooper, cementing the cornerstones of the first great Brewers teams. Bando was a part of the Brewers’ first winning season in 1978, a team that set a longstanding franchise record for wins in a season with 95 in 1979, and his final MLB season coincided with the Brewers’ first-ever postseason appearance in 1981.

Top 10 Ranking

While Bando’s productive years ended too early to live up to his potential Hall of Fame promise, he finished his career with 1897 games played at third base, which at the time was the fifth most in MLB history. His 235 home runs and 1002 RBI as a third baseman were also in the top 10 all-time at the time of his retirement.

That was not, however, the end of Bando’s baseball story. He remained active in the Brewers’ organization as a special assistant to Brewers general manager Harry Dalton for most of a decade, and following the 1991 he took over for his longtime mentor. Bando immediately put his fingerprints on the team by firing longtime manager Tom Trebelhorn, who at the time was both the winningest and longest-tenured manager in franchise history, and replacing him with former teammate Phil Garner.

Bando’s best season as Brewers general manager was his first one, when the Brewers won 92 games and finished just four games back of the eventual World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays. That was the last time the Brewers posted a winning season for 15 years. One of Bando’s first transactions that first season set the tone for lean years to come: He inherited a young shortstop named Gary Sheffield, arguably the most highly regarded prospect in the history of the franchise but also someone the organization had struggled to maintain a positive relationship with. In March of 1992 Bando traded Sheffield to the Padres and received three notable players in return but nothing to compare to Sheffield, who won a batting title in his first season with San Diego and became one of the sport’s premier hitters nearly immediately after leaving Milwaukee.

Cutting Payroll

After the 1992 season Bando was the public face of an effort to cut payroll that led to the departure of one of the organization’s all-time greats.  After a season where Molitor had played in 158 games and batted .320 with a .389 on-base and 461 slugging the Brewers offered him a one year contract at a reduced salary. Molitor left for Toronto, where he had one of the best seasons of his career and won a World Series. The Brewers also lost starting pitcher Chris Bosio and reliever Dan Plesac that winter, and traded future All Star outfielder Dante Bichette. They went from 92 wins to 69 in a single year.

What followed was a decade stuck in the middle. The Brewers were never serious contenders for a playoff spot during the remainder of Bando’s tenure but they also never “bottomed out” and rebuilt either. The stars of his era largely went on to better days elsewhere: Former #1 overall pick B.J. Surhoff left Milwaukee after a big year in 1995 and went on to play ten more seasons in the majors. Outfielder Greg Vaughn’s best season was with the Padres after the Brewers traded him there for an underwhelming return in 1996.

Ownership didn’t do Bando any favors by cutting costs nearly immediately after installing him in the role, but it’s also worth noting that Bando’s Brewers struggled with the things a small-budget team has to do to remain relevant. During his time in charge the Brewers had 12 first round picks in the MLB draft, for example. In his final season they selected Ben Sheets, who would go on to be a major success, and they got Geoff Jenkins with the #9 overall pick in 1995. They also selected five players who never reached the majors, another who only got there after leaving the Brewers and three who played in less than 50 MLB games. In 1994 they spent the #4 overall pick on third baseman Antone Williamson, who made just 24 MLB appearances.

While he almost certainly wasn’t solely to blame for it, Bando oversaw eight seasons where the Brewers posted a combined .476 winning percentage, soured their relationship with one of their all-time greats, largely failed to accumulate the volume of talent needed to compete and didn’t get much in return for that talent when they left.

As such, Bando leaves behind one of the more complicated legacies in the history of the Brewers’ franchise. He was a major contributor to the organization’s first rise, but it’s tough to ignore the role he played in its later decline.