So Different, Yet So Alike: The Pitchers Bannister

Written by: Mark Healey on 15th June 2010

So Different, Yet So Alike: The Pitchers Bannister | read this item

At first glance, the father and son have little in common.

Dad was a power lefty, while the kid is a right-hander who relies on guts and guile.

Yes, they both went to Pac-10 schools, but Poppa was a collegiate superstar at Arizona State, and Sonny was a walk-on at USC.

But where it really counts, Floyd and Brian Bannister both approach life with the same zeal they approach baseball: passion, intelligence and commitment.

“One thing I’ve always appreciated about my father is that he never forced me to play the game of baseball”, Brian Bannister told MLBTR.com back in 2008. “Instead, he always made himself available to practice with me if I felt like it, and that’s what made me want to work even harder at the game.”

Work ethic. Though their styles were vastly different, each approached their livelihood with the same zeal for excellence.

MLB.com:

In 1988-89, the elder Bannister pitched for the Royals. Brian remembers trying to keep up with his father on his runs and helping him with workouts.

“He would go out on his flush runs, his distance runs, the day after he pitched,” Brian said. “I would be on my little bike and he would be running, and I would tag along behind him. I would just try to keep up with him, but he would run faster than I could bike. He would be doing medicine-ball sit-ups, and I would stand on his feet and I would throw it back. I remember it being so heavy at the time.”

It was those runs and in those workouts that Brian started to mold himself into a replica of his dad — a person who works hard, one who never strays too far on the emotional spectrum and one who remains calm.

“It was really just his work ethic,” Brian said. “I remember him working hard. The thing that I always appreciated with him was whether he won or lost that night, he would come home and he was just dad. I never ever remember him taking the game back home with him — sad, frustrated or just being totally excited. He was just always so even keel, and that was one thing I always appreciated.”

Floyd, though blessed with a strong arm and was tabbed early as a future star (after his senior year in high school, he was drafted in the third round of the 1973 draft by the World Champion Oakland Athletics), still spent hundreds of hours trying to become a complete pitcher.

Not bad for a kid that taught himself how to pitch left-handed by throwing a rubber-coated ball against a a wall in his backyard.

“It helped me create that down-angle muscle memory and throw a foot off the ground,” Floyd told the Sporting News in 2008. “I’m sure that really helped develop my arm to be successful at that level.”

It worked, as he blossomed at Arizona State, finishing his three-year career with a 38-6 record and a 1.88 ERA. That performance caught the eye of the Houston Astros, who selected him No.1 overall in the 1976 MLB draft, ahead of Rickey Henderson, Jack Morris, Wade Boggs and Alan Trammell.

Before retiring in 1992, pitching on mostly bad teams, the talented left-hander would finish his career with a misleading 134-143 career record, a 4.06 ERA and appearances in the 1982 All-Star Game and the 1983 American League Championship Series.

Brian has to work much harder. While a star in high school like his father — he was a three-time (1997-99) All-Region and All-City selection at Chaparral High in Scottsdale, AZ and helped Chaparral to a state title in 1999 — he was a walk-on at USC.

His only standout season with the Trojans was his sophomore year, during which he served as the team’s closer, posting a 2.80 ERA in thirty-five relief appearances.

Despite an arm injury and lack of a consistent track record, Bannister was drafted by the Mets in the seventh round of the 2003 amateur draft. Impressed by his intelligence, hard work and commitment, the Mets rewarded each of Bannister’s small successes in the minors with promotions to higher levels; culminating his making the team in 2006 out of Spring Training.

The dream turned into a nightmare quickly. He tore his hamstring three weeks into the season, and would be dealt to the lowly Kansas City Royals after the season for the now incarcerated Ambiorix Burgos. Bannister has become a dependable, if not spectacular, starting pitcher. He holds no bitterness against his former club.

“The Mets will always be very special to me,” Brian told MLBTR.com. “They took a chance and drafted me, they invested a lot of time and resources in me over the years in the minor leagues, and they let me represent their organization in 2006 at the major league level.

“Ironically, the day before I was traded I was at a card show in New York City, and was signing autographs at a table in between my friend (and Mets pitcher) John Maine and Royals great Bo Jackson, whom I had known as a child when my father played for the Royals but had not seen in over 15 years. Bo and I talked for a while afterward, and we told Royals stories from the 80′s. Little did I know I would be a Royal the next day.”

Floyd was a hard thrower who pitched for mostly mediocre to poor baseball clubs, and is remembered by those who saw him pitch as better than his stats. His son, who has embraced advanced metrics in an effort to help his career, is viewed as an incredibly smart pitcher who makes up for his lack of power pitches with grit.

Hall Of Famer Jim Rice:

…interesting to watch Brian Bannister pitch. I faced his father Floyd Bannister a lot and had pretty good success. Their makeup is essentially the same; Floyd molded his son in the same pattern. The differences I noticed came in approach, not makeup.

This year, Brian is 6-4 with a 5.40 ERA, despite those pedestrian numbers, he is already part of the trade rumor mill for a Royals team that continues to disappoint.

With teams like the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angele Dodgers, and Texas Rangers looking to add pitching for a postseason run, Brian might yet get a chance to do something his talented father was never able to do, pitch in the World Series.

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Topics: Approach Life, Arizona State, baseball, Brian Bannister, Dad, Emotional Spectrum, Father And Son, First Glance, Game Work, Guile, Guts, Lefty, Livelihood, Medicine Ball, MLB, One Thing, Pac 10 Schools, Passion, Pitchers, Play Game, Right Hander, Sit Ups, Sonny, Strays, Superstar, Ups, Usc, Work Ethic, Workouts, Zeal