The Brewers, who have not been in post-season play since their World Series loss to St. Louis in 1982, had their last winning season in '92. The pitching staff has borne the brunt of the blame for the team's failures, and with Rowe now in retirement in southern California, the job becomes new pitching coach Bill Campbell's concern. Bando planned to inform the coaches of their job status by phone after having a post-season meeting with Garner. Rowe didn't want to wait. Before the first game of the final weekend series of the season, he met with Garner and Bando in the clubhouse at Dodger Stadium.
Insiders say the meeting became heated.
Rowe said he thought he and close friend and roommate Lamar Johnson, who was fired as hitting coach in August, were being made scapegoats for the club's struggles. Bando, who gave Rowe the option of resigning, simply thought a change was needed. I told him that only time will tell how good or how bad a job he did. We have guys that have been here for a while who haven't gotten appreciably better. Now, there is a chance that nobody can possibly get more out of these guys than Don did.