Sal Bando was an integral part of the Oakland Athletics dynasty, and he was there when they were toiling in obscurity in Kansas City.  When the Athletics’ owner, Charles O. Finley, relocated the team to Oakland, Bando was at the core of what was poised to become a special team that would define the early 1970s.

Playing at the hot corner, Bando would prove to be a good hitter with decent power.  The four-time All-Star had six 20 Home Run seasons, with two seasons seeing him accrue an On Base Percentage over .400.  From 1971 to 1974, Bando would finish in the top four in MVP voting in three of those seasons, with the ’71 campaign seeing him as the runner-up. 1972 to 1974 was also the years of the A’s dynasty, where they won three consecutive World Series Championships, and Bando would hit five homers for Oakland in the playoffs.

Defensively, he was more than adequate, but as this was the era of Brooks Robinson and, later, Graig Nettles, a Gold Glove would elude him.  Bando would later play for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1977 to 1981.

When you are named Bobo Newsom, you have to assume that the possessor is a colorful character.  He was, but there was a period where Newsom was also an excellent Pitcher.

Looking at Newsom's career, the first thing you notice is that he had a losing record of 211-222 and led his league in losses four times.  You also see that he was a vagabond pitcher who played for eight different teams, some of which he played for on multiple occasions.  Yet, this is a guy who stuck around a lot and struck out a ton of batters, so the value of Newsom is definitely there.

On three occasions, Newsom was a 20 Game winner, and he was an All-Star in all of those years.  Newson won the Strikeout Title in 1942 (113), and in the five seasons leading up to that, he was the runner-up.  Newson would end up with a nice number of 2,082 Strikeouts over his career.

While Newson was not known for having a great ERA, he did have four top-ten finishes in that stat, and regarding overall efficiency, he also had six top-seven ranks in bWAR for Pitchers.  Newsom also won a World Series Ring with the New York Yankees in 1947.

Nobody shot out of the gate quicker than Fred Lynn, as he made history when in 1975, he became the first player in Major League history to win the Rookie of the Year and the MVP in the same season.  As the other one who accomplished that feat was Ichiro Suzuki, an established veteran of the Japanese Leagues, this is a beyond-spectacular achievement.

In the previous year, Lynn would not only secure the ROY and MVP, but he would also win his first of four Gold Gloves, win the Slugging Title (.566), and finish first in OPS (.967), Runs Scored (103), and Doubles (47).  That season, he would power the Red Sox into the World Series, but they went down to defeat against the Cincinnati Reds.

Lynn remained a great player for years, and while he did not win the MVP again, he probably should have in 1979, when he swept the Slash Line (.333/.423/.637) and had career-highs in Home Runs (39) and RBIs (122).  After six straight All-Star years with the Red Sox, he was traded to the California Angels, and he kept his streak alive with three more All-Star appearances.

He continued his career with Baltimore, Detroit, and San Diego, and retired in 1990 with 306 Home Runs and a .484 Slugging Percentage.

A Cleveland Indian for his entire career, Mel Harder debuted for the Tribe in 1928, where he was used in relief in his first two seasons when he was on their main roster and not in the minors.

The Nebraskan would be part of the Indians' rotation for a decade, and the control pitcher would win the ERA Title in 1933 and was first in BB/9 in 1935.  The four-time All-Star finished in the top ten in BB/9 eight times, WHIP six times, and ERA six times.  Seven times he was in the top ten in SO/BB, which was very impressive, considering he had only one 100 Strikeout season.  From 1932 to 1939, he never had fewer than 15 Wins in a year.

While Harder’s skills began to erode in the 1940s, he lasted until 1947.  Although the Indians never made the playoffs while he was there, Harder is one of the best hurlers in franchise history.  He retired with 223 Wins against 186 Losses.