5 Less Famous Baseball Brothers Lurking in Your Commons Box
Can you guess their bloodlines?
In case you were wondering, Chris Bando was born on February 4, 1956. That means today is his 68th birthday.
And to celebrate, I thought we’d whip out everybody’s favorite birthday party game: Guess the Baseball Brother, aided by our trusty baseball cards, of course.
Here we go…
1979 Topps Don Reynolds (#292)
Don Reynolds was the Padres’ 18th round pick in 1975, but he made quick work of each minor league stop. After hitting .368 for the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders in 1977, Reynolds forced the Friars’ hands.
He broke camp with the big club in 1978 and stayed in San Diego all season, batting .253 in 102 plate appearances across 57 games. That bought him some more time at Triple-A in 1979, but he also saw some more mustard moments that summer and a nifty Topps rookie card.
And then, well, he was done in the majors. After one more season in the Pads minor league system, Reynolds spent 1981 at Triple-A for the Mariners’ top farm team, the Spokane Indians.
The year before that, the M’s drafted Don’s brother, a kid who would break into the majors in 1983. Know who he is?
1981 Topps Rich Murray (#195)
Murray took a bit longer to reach the majors, languishing in the minors from the time the Giants picked him in the sixth round in 1975 all the way into the summer of 1980. But after putting up seven homers in just 49 games for the Phoenix Giants — in his third go-round at Triple-A — Murray finally got his call.
He hit .216 with four homers in 53 games for the Giants, then opened 1981 back at Phoenix. He stayed there all year as the majors battled through The Strike.
Then the Indians selected Murray in the rule 5 draft in December before selling his contract to the Expos in June of 1982. Neither team brought Murray back to The Show, though, and Montreal released him before the 1983 season.
The Giants then swooped in to reclaim their prize and, of course, sent him back to Phoenix. He did get a four-game cup of coffee, though, with his last major league appearance coming on July 4.
Murray then wound up with two more seasons in the bushes — one with the Giants, one with the Royals.
And, by the by, while Rich Murray was putting the finishing touches on his big league career, his brother was getting ready to head off to yet another All-Star game.
En route, you understand, to an epic October.
1982 Donruss Chris Bando (#551)
Our man of the hour, Bando was drafted twice out of Arizona State — by the Brewers in the 22nd round in 1977, and by the Indians in the second round in 1978.
That second pick stuck, and Bando was in the majors three years later. He had proven in the minors that he could call and catch a game, and he even showed a decent bat.
The tools of ignorance carried over to the majors, even if the stick sort of petered out. In 498 big league games, Bando came to the plate 1467 times and managed a meager .227 batting average, albeit with a bit of power — 27 home runs, 46 doubles, and 142 RBI.
But his defense kept Bando in the bigs for parts of nine seasons, mostly for not-so-great Indians teams. He made his last appearance for the 1989 A’s, but he did not see any postseason action as they marched to a World Series title.
And speaking of the A’s and World Series titles, Bando’s older bro was a bit more successful in that regard.
1993 Topps Traded Marcos Armas (#100T)
And speaking of the 1980s A’s, Oakland signed Marcos Armas as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela in 1987.
He spent the next five seasons hacking his way through the Oakland system, mostly hitting for low averages, occasionally showing some power. Armas also showed smarts on the basepaths, collecting 14 triples and converting 13 of 14 stolen base attempts in 1992 and 1993 combined.
That was a sort of localized peak for Armas, who finally got the call to Oakland in May of 1993 at age 23.
Things didn’t go all that well, and he was back in Triple-A for most of the season. In all, Armas’ batting line for the A’s that summer read .194 with one home run, one RBI, and one stolen base in 33 plate appearances across 15 games.
His last big league appearance came September 29 that same year before he spent 1994 back in the minors, 1995 out of baseball, and 1996 in the Mexican League.
As with Bando, Armas’ brother had blazed a more successful trail through Oakland some years earlier.
1999 Team Best Mike Glavine (#46)
If you can’t guess who this guy’s brother is, you’re just not trying.
But as for Mike Glavine himself, the story is much the same as it was for the other players on our list, only more exaggerated.
First picked in the 93rd round of the 1994 draft by the Astros, Glavine inexplicably left all that bonus money on the table and returned to Northeastern University. The extra seasoning paid off when the Indians took him in the 22nd round in 1995.
From there, Glavine had eight seasons to develop his BBB - bush bus butt, that is.
In that time, the Indians sent him to the Braves, the Braves released him, and the Mets signed him.
Finally, on September 14, in a last-ditch effort to avoid losing 100 games, the Mets gave Glavine his shot…at age 30. Across six games, he hit .143 in seven at-bats, courtesy of a single single, two strikeouts, and no walks.
Glavine’s last big league appearance came on September 28.
There is some chance that Mike may have crossed paths with his sibling in the majors that month. One may have even been pinch hitting for the other.
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So did you get all the brothers? They were really tough, I know, sort of like figuring out who Mike Yastrzemski’s grandpappy is.
But, hey, no matter what you thought of my little “quiz,” there’s some good baseball news all around.
It’s February! Pitchers and catchers will report before you can say, “No Pepper!”, and then we’ll be cooking with gas.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
P.S. Here’s what you missed this week in the daily newsletter (unless you read it, of course)…
