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Sal Bando, who spent the last five seasons of a decorated playing career with the Milwaukee Brewers and then held the role of general manager of the franchise for another eight seasons, died Friday at the age of 78 in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
A statement from his family said Bando had been battling cancer for five years.
The three-time World Series champion who plays with the Oakland Athletics made four All-Star teams during his playing days with the A’s and signed a five-year, $1.5 million contract with the Brewers after the 1976 season, the first premier free- agency additions in Brewer’s history.
Bando hit .254 with 242 homers and 1,039 RBI in 16 seasons with the Athletics and Brewers. He won three straight titles with the A’s from 1972-74.
“It can never be overstated the role Sal played in Brewers history, both on and off the field,” said former Brewers owner and baseball commissioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig. “I can’t stress it enough. When he came to us as a player, it was a big day in our history. He helped us turn the corner and was everything we hoped for, playing an important role in developing our younger players like Robin Yount and Paul Molitor, to stars. He was truly our captain.
“More than a great player, he was a tremendous person, a truly great man. And he truly loved Milwaukee, and chose to stay here and raise his family, which meant so much to him. Beyond all of that, Sue and I, and Our entire family loved our friendship with Sal. He will be truly missed. This is a sad day.”
The Brewers’ first free agent
The Brewers selected third baseman Bando in the now-defunct 1976 “draft,” placing them among a small group of teams with negotiating rights. Getting him to agree a deal marked a new era for the club.
“It has long-term significance, because it proves that we can sign free agents, and that will be important for years to come,” Selig said at the time.
The Brewers thought they had a chance to sign Bando’s roommate in Oakland, catcher/first baseman Gene Tenace, but he ultimately chose San Diego. Still, the Brewers improved marginally in 1977 and then went on to have six consecutive winning seasons, starting with a 93-win team in 1978 that was the first winning club in Brewers history.
Bando played in Milwaukee from 1977-81, posting his best year in uniform with that 1978 team when he hit .285 with 17 homers. He also played 32 games for the 1981 team that became the first playoff qualifier in club history, serving in a player-coach role for the last two years.
Selig had boasted that when the Brewers signed the third baseman, he had strong recommendations from people with the A’s.
“You don’t understand,” said Selig then. “The heart and soul of the Oakland A’s is not Catfish Hunter, and it’s not Reggie Jackson, and it’s not Rollie Fingers. It’s Sal Bando.”
From player to front office immediately
With his playing career complete, Bando immediately became a special assistant to general manager Harry Dalton, the architect of Milwaukee’s success from the late 1970s through the 1980s. But the Brewers hadn’t finished higher than third in the American League East in nine years following their run to the 1982 World Series, and after a series of free-agent signings for the 1991 season flopped, Selig turned to Bando, just 47 years old. old, as the new president of baseball operations. Dalton stayed on as senior vice president.
“I would be less than honest if I told you that I was particularly excited to no longer be the general manager of this team, but I am very, very happy to remain with the team,” Dalton said at the time.
Bando’s first major act was to fire incumbent manager Tom Trebelhorn, and he led the search that eventually produced Phil Garner as manager for the 1992 season. Bando’s only winning season in his GM tenure was the first, a memorable 1992 campaign in which the club won 92 games and finished second in the American League East behind World Series champion Toronto.
Paul Molitor’s departure
The deck was stacked against Bando in the 1990s when salaries began to skyrocket and the small-market Brewers couldn’t keep up until revenue sharing began in 1996. That may have played a role as Bando spearheaded one of the most questionable decisions in franchise history, brings not franchise legend Paul Molitor back for the 1993 season.
The Brewers braintrust delayed contract negotiations after the 1992 season, then infamously asked Molitor to take a pay cut; instead, the Toronto Blue Jays entered the fray with a three-year offer worth $13 million. The Brewers offered him a shorter, cheaper deal.
“I didn’t understand their approach to that whole negotiation, and I guess I didn’t understand the economics of what they were going through at the time,” Molitor said later. “I just thought I didn’t have the support. I thought they were trying to make me out to be the bad guy at the time and they were trying to protect their image and do some damage control as well.”
At age 36, Molitor turned in the first of two consecutive All-Star seasons with the Jays, finished second in the MVP voting and was named the World Series MVP. Molitor and Robin Yount are the two players enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, mainly seen as Milwaukee Brewers.
Bando resigned in the August 1999 season shortly after firing Garner, who was replaced by interim manager Jim Lefebvre. Just like his predecessor, Bando was reassigned within the organization, to the newly created role of Special Assistant to the Club President.
Bando, a Cleveland native who played college baseball at Arizona State, remained attached to Milwaukee. Bando’s son, Sal Jr., was the head coach of the Marquette High School baseball team that took second place in the WIAA Summer Baseball State Tournament in 2016 and 2017.
Bando was inducted into the Brewers Wall of Honor as a charter member in 2014. He entered the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.
