Wondrous (overlooked) Seasons of the Past: Sal Bando, 1973

Sal Bando is not usually a name when one thinks of dominant hitters of the '70s.  Usually there are names like Morgan, Bench, Schmidt, Jackson, and Rice that probably come to mind first.   There was a stretch from 1969-1974 where Bando was always among the best in the league.  For a full rundown of his career exploits, read my previous post.   

In 1973, though, Bando could probably lay claim to being the best hitting player in the American League.  He only led the league in two counting stats or average categories (total bases and doubles).  However, it was his well-rounded contribution that led him to leading the league in the hitting component category of WAR.  He was 8th in OBP, 3rd in SLG, 5th in OPS (2nd in OPS+), 9th in at-bats, 5th in runs, 7th in hits, 4th in HR and RBI, and 7th in BB.

If there was a category that represented hitting in an excellent manner, he was among the leaders for this year.  Historically, the raw numbers don't stack up to other luminous hitting seasons, but for this hitting era, it was excellent, especially for the American League.  During 1973, most of the great hitting years were in the National League.  What also put his great year into context was the adjusted OPS of 150+ (where 100 is league average).  This is an ballpark-adjusted figure and his increase in rank from OPS shows the difficulty in hitting the Athletics stadium  (for reference, the one year park factor for the coliseum for hitters was 88 (which I think means it was 12% harder for a hitter to hit in than the average ballpark in 1973).  Sal Bando had a great year in context and continued his power surge in the ALCS as he hit two more home runs.  

 It's not always the all-time greats of the game that rise to top of their league for a season and they are all worth remembering.

non-HOF Profile Derby #18: Sal Bando

Next, is an integral part of Oakland's 1970s championship teams, Sal Bando.

Place on the WAR chart: :  Above Bobby Wallace and Dave Winfield and below Harmon Killebrew and Willie Keeler

Career Overview and Some Numbers:Played for the Athletics franchise from 1966-1976 and the Brewers from 1977-1981 almost exclusively as a 3B.  He was a 4x all-star and finished top 5 in MVP balloting 3x.  Was very durable, playing more than 150 games in 10 seasons of 14 full years.  Led the league in total bases once. and doubles once.   Had 6 20+ HR seasons and 2 100+ RBI seasons, finishing top ten in these categories 4 and 5 times, respectively.  Also had five seasons of greater than 130 OPS+. Finished top 10 in WAR for position players in the AL 8 times during his career.   Most similar players numbers-wise over his career were Todd Zeile, Willie Jones, and Ron Cey.

Best Season: Probably 1969 when he hit .281/.400/.484 (153 OPS+) with 31 HR, 113 RBI, 106 R, and 113 BB.

The Final Numbers:: .252/.354/.408 (119 OPS+) with 982 R, 242 HR, 1039 RBI and 1031:923 BB:K

Why He Should be Remembered: Besides having a prominent mustache on the A's '70s championship teams, also was a middle of the order presence in a decidedly pitching era.  Continuing a theme with this series, those with low batting averages and fairly high walk rates, playing a position in the middle of the defensive spectrum are fairly undervalued in terms of baseball history. Excelled in some postseason series, hitting two HR in the 1973 and 1974 ALCS. Was obviously highly regarded at the time as evidenced by his MVP voting results, but his peak was probably not sustained long enough to give notice to his overall numbers.

HOF Balloting Performance:one year on the ballot with 0.7% vote in 1987.

Rookie Card:: 1967 Topps #33

Modern Cards:: 2001 Upper Deck Decade '70s auto/relic, 2011 Topps relic