LAS VEGAS — Brian Sabean takes great pride in assisting the next generation of baseball executives because he knows the value of depending on good baseball people himself.
During his three decades with the Giants, which featured eight playoff appearances, four National League pennants, and three World Series championships, Sabean never hesitated to commend his support group.
He still does today.
“They all challenged me and had my back at the same time,” said the 70-year-old Sabean.
It was the legwork and input from all those individuals that led to his decision-making with roster construction, managerial hires, and everything else that created a lifetime of memories for generations of Giants fans.
For his accomplishments in San Francisco as well as New York, where his fingerprints were all over the Derek Jeter-led Yankees’ dynasty, Sabean was placed on the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot that will be judged in a Dec. 6 vote.
Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker, Giants managers when Sabean was the team’s general manager, are on the ballot. So is Lou Piniella, whose roots in the Bronx overlap Sabean’s. Along with Sandy Alderson, whose work with the Oakland A’s was greatly admired by Sabean from across the bay. Plus Bill White, a former Giants first baseman who as National League president helped save the team from moving to Florida in 1993. And Joe Maddon and Ted Turner.
An eight-man ballot full of worthy candidates.
“I’m honored and flattered,” Sabean told The Standard. “It’s a special cast of folks. It’s literally a who’s who, and I’ve had dealings with lots of those folks.”
Sabean’s four-year mentorship with the Yankees came to an end last week when the team chose not to renew his contract as executive adviser to GM Brian Cashman. That makes Sabean a free agent, and it opens the door to a possible return to the Giants, who now are run by Buster Posey, the heralded catcher on Sabean’s three World Series championship teams.
Sabean would be an excellent sounding board for the president of baseball operations if he returned to the organization and took a crack at helping turn the Giants around. He said he and Posey “exchanged pleasantries” after the ballot was announced.
Asked whether he’d be interested in a Giants advisory role, Sabean said, “We’ll see. That’s certainly up to them. I’m a guy who wants to give back at this stage of my career. It depends on what they’re looking for. I’d certainly listen.”
Paying it forward is important to Sabean because of how he valued his own mentors, advisers, and close-knit allies. From contributing to the foundation of the Yankee dynasty to becoming the architect of Giants World Series teams, Sabean is forever grateful to his trusted lieutenants.
His inclusion on the Hall of Fame ballot has put him in a reflective, sentimental, and even melancholy mood, especially when recalling veteran members of his scouting inner circle: Dick Tidrow, Pat Dobson, Ted Uhlaender, Paul Turco, Lee Elder, Joe DiCarlo, and Jim Fregosi, all of whom had hands in initiating the Giants’ glory days, many of whom have passed.
“I had some great kitchen-cabinet people to surround myself with and lean on,” Sabean said. “I’m certainly thinking of them.”
The list of Sabean’s behind-the-scenes confidants goes on and on, and here’s a sampling beyond his wife, Amanda, and children: Jeremy Shelley, Bobby Evans, John Barr, Karen Sweeney, Steve Balboni, Joe Lefebvre, and Larry Baer and the rest of ownership.
And, of course, Ned Colletti, Sabean’s first assistant GM in San Francisco.
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“He’s probably the smartest baseball person I’ve ever been around,” Colletti said. “Even though he was the boss, he welcomed conversation. He accelerated my growth because he wasn’t territorial. He was a great listener. He gave me a chance to voice my opinion. He taught me without knowing he was teaching me. It was the greatest relationship I ever had in the game.”
The 1997 season was Sabean’s first as GM and Colletti’s first as assistant GM. They worked to construct the worst-to-first division championship team that followed the Matt Williams-for-Jeff Kent trade and ignited an eight-year run spanning Candlestick Park and Pacific Bell Park in which the Giants averaged 92 wins.
The revival came in the wake of the infamous 1994-95 strike and horrendous 1996 season.
“I think the ‘97 team, with the iconic combination of Barry (Bonds) and Jeff and all the players we brought in with a chip on their shoulders, had a positive impact on the culture of the city and its willingness to support the team and ballpark,” Colletti said. “Our owners were relentless in their pursuit of getting a ballpark and staying in San Francisco. That ‘97 team started to capture the hearts of the people in San Francisco, and Sabes is the guy who masterminded it all.”
Imagine the possibilities of the Hall of Fame class of 2027. Bochy. Baker. Sabean. And Posey, who’ll make his debut on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. Cooperstown would turn into Giants nirvana, an orange and black carnival for the ages.
Realistically, four Giants is too much to ask. The 16 voters on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee get three votes apiece (a total of 48), and 12 votes are needed for any candidate to get elected. The math makes it tough.
Bochy and Baker seem locks. After that, it might be a stretch for Sabean or anyone else to get elected, especially if voters spread the love around.
On the other hand, just being part of the ballot for the first time is a testament to Sabean’s impact in the industry, and that he shares it with Baker and Bochy makes it more meaningful.
“Those folks did it at another level,” Sabean said. “They stayed current and forever were changing with the game. Way before analytics, these folks pretty much programmed their brains as far as situational awareness and comparative analysis. By watching the game. The game talks. I always said you’ve got to be able to listen and be intent on how to watch a game, then you can make the right moves. They deserve credit as pioneers with their longevity and success.”
Baker’s and Bochy’s stints were sandwiched around another heralded manager on Sabean’s watch, Felipe Alou, who’s also deserving of Hall of Fame recognition such as the Buck O’Neil Award, an honor presented every three years to the game’s great ambassadors.
“I’m beyond lucky,” Sabean said. “I don’t know if anyone else had the luxury of being with that type of talent in the dugout back to back to back.”
Sabean shakes Buster Posey’s hand as Giants players receive their 2012 World Series rings. | Source: Brad Mangin/MLB via Getty Images
Sabean has insight into the 16-member voting committees. He was on the committee that elected Dick Allen and Dave Parker to the class of 2025. A year later, another veterans committee elected Kent, the sixth player in San Francisco franchise history to go into the Hall of Fame as a Giant.
“I thought Jeff was always so underrated because he was an offensive second baseman in waiting,” Sabean said. “We got lucky that his breakout was with us as part of Dusty’s really good lineups. He was certainly a much better second baseman than given credit for, especially with the double play, and he was a gamer, always prepared. Probably my biggest regret was not having him re-signed with the Giants.”
Sabean said Bonds, whose candidacy has been derailed because of his link to baseball’s steroid scandal, should be in the Hall of Fame as well.
“I don’t think there’s any question,” he said. “It’s talent first as far as consideration for me. It’s a what-if? I don’t know if he’ll continue to get penalized. He was already one of the best players we’ve seen before controversy surrounded his situation.”
Reminded that other players linked to the scandal have been enshrined, Sabean said, “That’s what’s frustrating on my part.”
With the Dec. 1 labor lockout coming, Giants officials are in Las Vegas this week for the annual GM meetings, usually a precursor to the more eventful winter meetings. But the lockout will wipe out this year’s San Diego-based winter meetings, so this week’s gathering is essential for the Giants to make strides with reconstructing their roster.
With the Giants’ chaotic 97-loss season in the rearview mirror, I asked Sabean to weigh in on Posey, whose 2027 season – whenever the labor strife allows it to start – will be his third as the Giants’ boss.
“Every year is a year unto its own. It’s almost non-predictable,” Sabean said. “It might not turn out how you think it might. Unfortunately, injuries can wreck a season or really hurt your chances. I think his group will be better off for it, getting through the tough times, because that’s what really hardens you or pulls your group together, experiencing something you don’t expect.
“Part of the reality of what baseball’s about, it’s a grind. If you can gear yourself to meet the grind head on, I’ll take my chances with that group of people if they have the passion and work ethic. It’s a labor-intensive sport. You just have to be immersed with it 24/7 every day year-round.”
The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee usually meets during the winter meetings. Even with no meetings this year, the committee is scheduled to assemble Dec. 6 in San Diego to vote on a Giants-heavy ballot.