July 29, 2008; October 13, 2016 - An all-city quarterback at Warrensville Heights (Ohio) High School, Salvatore Leonard Bando chose to focus on baseball at Arizona State University. In his junior year, he led the team to the 1965 College World Series title and was named the tournament’s outstanding player. Following his junior year at ASU, Bando was selected by the Kansas City A’s in the sixth round of the 1965 draft.

By 1968 the 6-foot, 200-pound third baseman was in the A’s starting lineup, and the following year he was the American League’s starting third baseman in the All-Star Game. Recognizing Bando’s leadership qualities and his win-at-all-costs approach to the game, that same year manager Hank Bauer named the 25-year-old infielder captain of the now Oakland A’s, a team that featured three future Hall of Famers: Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, and Rollie Fingers. Respected by his teammates and management, Bando provided a much-needed stabilizing influence on a team marked by outsized personalities that clashed with some frequency. Considered to be the mavericks of Major League Baseball because of their trademark mustaches and internal squabbles, the A’s won three consecutive World Series between 1972 and 1974.

While his on-field performance was at times overshadowed by that of some teammates, Bando was the undisputed leader of the A’s and played a key role in the team’s success, in part because, as captain, he was the intermediary between the players and their tight-fisted owner, Charlie Finley. While the team flourished on the field, the players had an increasingly contentious relationship with Finley. They even took the unprecedented step of threatening to strike in the midst of the pennant race in 1976 when Finley refused to play three of his star players after Commissioner Bowie Kuhn nixed the owner’s attempt to sell them. Bando served as a buffer between the players and Finley, but he was also one of his most outspoken critics.

Fed up with Finley’s meddling, Bando became a free agent after the 1976 season and spent his final five years playing for the Milwaukee Brewers. A durable player who led the league in games played four times, over his 16-year career he hit .254 with 242 home runs and 1,039 RBIs. A four-time All-Star, he finished in the top four in MVP voting three times between 1971 and 1974.

After nine years as an assistant to General Manager Harry Dalton, Bando served as the Brewers GM from October 1991 until August 1999, which he describes as the toughest eight years of his life. His brother, Chris, was a major-league catcher from 1981 to 1989, primarily with Cleveland, and his son, Sal, Jr., played in the minors.

Episode 40 - Dan Bellino

Baseball Italian StyleBy Baseball Italian StyleDec 22, 2021