Today we give former Oakland A's star third baseman Sal Bando a "missing" in-action card in the 1972 set.
Take a look:
It's so easy to forget that Bando was such a solid player throughout the decade.
You look at the fact that he finished in second place for MVP in
1971 (behind teammate Vida Blue), fourth place in 1973 (behind teammate
Reggie Jackson), and third place in 1974, and he really could have been
remembered as one of the best of the wild-70's.
One of the anchors of the Oakland A's dynasty during the decade, he
easily get's lost behind former teammates Jackson, Rudi, Campaneris,
Hunter, Blue et al.
A four-time all-star, Bando moved on to Milwaukee after 1976 during
the Oakland "exodus" of stars and put together a few more solid years
before his career petered-out by 1979.
He retired after a 16-year career in 1981, with 1790 hits, 982 runs
scored, 242 homers, 1039 runs batted in and a .254 batting average.
And thanks to blog follower Joe, I've now realized that he was
denied an all-star card in the 1970 set! So what for that card in the
near future…
