Thanks to Beau Lofgren for this week’s suggestion of Chris Bando’s 1985 card for the Terrible Tuesday column.
Bando came off a pretty decent year in 1984 when he hit .291 and slugged .505 for the Indians in 220 at-bats. In 1985 though, he lost something. His batting average plummeted to .139 and he hit nary a homer after hitting 12 in ‘84. Sal’s son brother only hit five extra bases, four doubles and one triple.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 Totals | 73 | 57 | 199 | 173 | 11 | 24 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 22 | 21 | .139 | .234 | .173 |
For his trouble, Chris gets hit numbers 0-8-8-8-9-9. He does have the benefit of four 14s by virtue of 22 walks in 199 plate appearances. So if Bando is facing an A pitcher, his 66-0 is practically his only chance for hit. He does have six 7s in the second column so a single is possible in that situation.
Ugly numbers: 11-8, 15-36, 44-9
It doesn’t help that Bando was rated as a C-6 in 1985 either. On the other hand, he struck out less than he walked and received only three 13s, less than what you might see on most cards in this column.
In 1984 and 1985, Bando split time behind the plate with Jerry Willard. I remember Willard being a top catching prospect (as I guess, Bando was in his time as well). Willard never panned out like the pundits thought. While he lasted till 1994, Bando was out of baseball by 1989.
Thanks, Beau!
[corrected dates 1/22… thanks Chip!]
Jerry Willard played for the 1991 and 1992 Atlanta Braves according to Baseball Reference. Was out of baseball after 1993, Just saying… Remember him as a good pinch hitter for those Braves teams.
Chris Bando, younger brother of Sal Bando. His last ML at-bat was a walk-off single in extra innings in 1989 for the Oakland A’s in the 2nd to last game of the season. He was 1 for 2 that season (I was curious about how his career ended when I saw his card so I looked it up). Today, he is a head coach for a college in San Diego. My guess is Tony Larussa gave him an appearance just so that he had a chance to play for the A’s like his brother Sal. Even though I grew up a Twins fan in the 70’s, I was always a fan of those Oakland A’s teams. Sal Bando, Joe Rudi and Gene Tenace were 3 of my favorite players.
loved Joe Rudi. Good hitter, great OF!
though for some reason he is the one player on my league team whose card I crumpled up. This was back when he played in real life. Forgive me, I was younger. :)
Must have had big expectations of him!!