Best Milwaukee Brewers Manager Of All Time Bracket

Barrelman Region

(1) George Bamberger vs. (4) Rene Lachemann

Bamby’s Bombers provided some great years in the 1970s and 1980s. Under George Bamberger‘s leadership, the Milwaukee Brewers thrived as players like Robin Yount and Paul Molitor matured and developed. In Bamberger’s first year as manager, the Crew won 93 games. That was their highest win total in franchise history at the time, easily surpassing the previous record of 76 wins.

Bamberger missed a couple of seasons with medical issues in the early 80s. But he set the wheels in motion for success there in the 80s, even if he wasn’t managing in ’81 and ’82.

Rene Lachemann was the Brewers manager in 1984 after Harvey Kuenn was fired at the end of the 1983 season. With most of the core from that 1982 team still there, Lachemann only managed to a 67-94 record, finishing in last place in the AL East. Lachemann was replaced by Bamberger for the 1985 season.

(2) Ron Roenicke vs. (3) Davey Lopes

The Milwaukee Brewers hired Ron Roenicke to be their manager starting in 2011, taking him away from the Angels. In his first season as manager, Roenicke led one of the best Brewers teams in franchise history to the NL Central division title. After winning a thrilling NLDS against the Diamondbacks, Roenicke’s Brewers lost in six games in the NLCS to the Cardinals.

After the loss of Prince Fielder in free agency the following winter, and the cloud hanging over Ryan Braun‘s PED suspension, Roenicke was dealt some poor hands following 2011. Then in 2014, the Brewers looked good, primed to return to the playoffs, but utterly collapsed down the stretch, and missed the postseason. Instead of firing him then, the Brewers gave Roenicke one more chance, but a slow start in 2015 led to his firing and the start of the rebuild process and Craig Counsell era. His final Brewers managerial record was 342-331.

Davey Lopes was the first manager of the 21st century for the Brewers, leading the Crew to a 73-89 record in his first season at the helm in 2000. Again, some of those early 2000s teams were not good, being led by Jeff D’Amico and Ronnie Belliard among others. In 2001, the first year of Miller Park, the Brewers finished with a 68-94 record and a fourth place finish in the NL Central.

In 2002, after just 15 games, the Brewers were 3-12, and Davey Lopes was fired. Jerry Royster finished out a miserable season at the helm. Lopes final Brewers managerial record was 144-195.

Bernie Brewer Region

(1) Phil Garner vs. (4) Ken Macha

Phil Garner managed some forgettable teams in the 1990s, led by guys like Ricky Bones and Ben McDonald. Nevertheless, he did manage for eight seasons in Milwaukee and is still the winningest manager in franchise history. Garner took over in 1992 for Tom Trebelhorn and led the Crew to a second place finish that year with 92 wins.

In 1993, the Brewers finished in last place, winning only 69 games, spurred on by the loss of Paul Molitor in free agency. That began a span of disappointing seasons for Milwaukee. The closest Garner ever got the Brewers back to success was a third place finish in the AL Central in 1996 and 1997. He managed the club through their transition to the National League  in 1998, before being let go midway through the 1999 season. His final record was 563-617.

Ken Macha inherited a talented Brewers squad that was returning practically all of their star players from their 2008 run to the postseason, and man, did he completely botch it. Despite having Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, Corey Hart, and Yovani Gallardo in their primes, Macha couldn’t even manage a .500 season out of that group that just went to the playoffs.

The Brewers went 80-82 in 2009 and then struggled to a 77-85 record in 2010 before he was finally fired. He wasted two prime years in that playoff window the Brewers had. Right after he was fired, the Brewers won the division. Is that a coincidence? You decide. I don’t think so, but you decide.

(2)  Buck Rodgers vs. (3) Del Crandall

Buck Rodgers took over for George Bamberger after Bamberger started having medical issues and had to miss time in the dugout. He started in 1980, and the team went 39-31 under him. In a shortened season in 1981, Rodgers led the team to a 62-47 record, earning the AL East title. Back again in 1982, Rodgers had the team sitting at 23-24.

He was fired at that point in favor of Harvey Kuenn. Rodgers managed parts of three seasons for the Brewers, and got them to their first postseason appearance. His final record was 124-102. His .549 winning percentage is third highest in franchise history.

Del Crandall was the Brewers manager from 1973-75 during the George Scott–Don Money–Darrell Porter years. They finished a solid 5th place in the AL East in each of Crandall’s three seasons at the helm. His 76 wins in 1974 was the high water mark for the franchise until Bamberger took over in 1978. Still, the closest the Brewers got to the postseason under Crandall was 15 games back.

Crandall was the initial manager for Hall of Famer Robin Yount, helping develop the teenager from California. It wasn’t until a few years later that Yount finally got into high gear. Crandall finished his Brewers managerial career with a 271-338 record, 67 games below .500.

Racing Sausage Region

(1) Craig Counsell vs. (4) Alex Grammas

Craig Counsell is entering his 6th year as the Brewers manager and is seeing great success. After taking over for Ron Roenicke early in 2015, Counsell oversaw the rebuilding process for that roster. Counsell is known as being open to new ways of doing things, especially with pitching. He’s valued position versatility and creative thinking as a way to handle roster problems and has managed to win more games than everyone expects with the roster he has.

Counsell has taken the Brewers to back-to-back postseason appearances, the first time in franchise history since 1981-82, but he’s the first manager to accomplish that task. Buck Rodgers got the Brewers there in ’81 but Harvey Kuenn took the Crew to the postseason in ’82. Counsell is one of the longest tenured managers in baseball and has some job security moving forward.

Alex Grammas was the manager for Milwaukee in 1976 and 1977. Grammas was the third base coach for the Big Red Machine and a good one at that. As a manager, well, he was a good third base coach. Despite having some good talent on the team in the mid-70s, Grammas could not get the team to more than 67 wins in a season, finishing in 6th place both years.

Grammas had a 133-190 record as manager and was replaced following the 1977 season by George Bamberger.

(2) Tom Trebelhorn vs. (3) Jim Lefebvre

Tom Trebelhorn managed the Crew from 1986-1991 and had some good years at the helm. He took over for Bamberger for nine games in ’86 and then had the full job from ’87 onward. As most Brewers fans will remember, the 1987 season started off with a 13 game winning streak and included a no-hitter from Juan Nieves.

The Brewers won 91 games that year but finished in third place. In 1988, the Brewers also had a solid showing and finished in third place, winning 87 games. Trebelhorn has the fifth-highest winning percentage among managers in franchise history and has the third-most total wins.

Jim Lefebvre only managed 49 games for the Crew, filling in as the interim manager in 1999 after Phil Garner was fired. In those 49 games, the Brewers went 22-27, as he bridged the gap to Davey Lopes who took over the next year. Lefebvre wasn’t horrible and didn’t really have too much to work with in that 1999 season. It’s hard to blame him for how that team finished, especially when that roster wasn’t going anywhere to begin with.

Lefebvre also has the highest ejection ratio of any Brewers manager, getting ejected three times in his 49 games, which is just over 6.1% of the time.

Voting on these matchups will happen on our Reviewing the Brew Twitter account over the next several days. Be sure to vote to see who moves on in our bracket of the best managers in franchise history.