The Second-Best Player in Oakland A's History

Jason Burke | Jan 3, 2025

Jun 1971; Unknown location, USA; Oakland Athletics third baseman Sal Bando (6) at bat during the 1971 season. Mandatory Credit: Manny Rubio-Imagn Images / Manny Rubio-Imagn Images

With the end of a year, it's common to get reflective over what has been. This particular year was a little bit different, given the Athletics' departure from Oakland while the franchise heads to West Sacramento for three of four years beginning with the 2025 campaign.

Given that backdrop, I began wondering who the second-best player in Oakland A's history was by WAR (wins above replacement). The obvious answer for the top spot is Rickey Henderson, who turned in a remarkable career overall, and would have been a Hall of Fame player even if just his time with the A's were counted.

Rickey finished with 72.7 bWAR in his time in the green and gold across 14 seasons, and he ended his career with 111.1 WAR according to Baseball-Reference. Depending on the position, a Hall of Fame player generally needs about 55-65 WAR over their careers to earn a plaque in Cooperstown. Rickey nearly doubled that.

But who was the player that was technically "right behind" Rickey? The A's have made a habit out of trading players away before they've stuck with the club for too long, so in general those career numbers with the team are fairly condensed. Josh Donaldson was terrific for the A's for parts of four seasons, but he really only had two years to thrive with the club. He ended up with 15.3 WAR, well behind the greatest of all time.

If you have your guess for who was behind RIckey, this is your last chance before getting the answer.

Aug 25, 2019; Oakland, CA, USA; Former Oakland Athletics outfielder Rickey Henderson acknowledges the crowd during a ceremony to honor the 30th anniversary of the 1989 World Series championship team before an MLB Players' Weekend game at Oakland Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

It was Captain Sal Bando, who just edged out Reggie Jackson. Both players were part of the Oakland A's dynasty in the 1970's. Bando spent 11 seasons with the A's, beginning in Kansas City in 1966, before heading to Oakland in '68. He finished second in the MVP voting in 1971, behind teammate Vida Blue and his 1.82 ERA in 39 starts.

Since we're talking about WAR, both Blue and Bando were actually outdone by Chicago White Sox right-hander Wilbur Wood that year. He'd finish the the top-two in Cy Young voting and top-10 in the MVP the following year, but reached just one All Star Game after 1972.

In Bando's 11 seasons with the A's, he recorded 50.6 WAR as a member of the Oakland A's, 52.1 while in the A's organization (including his time in Kansas City). Jackson placed third in the Oakland era with 48.6 WAR.

This record speaks a bit to the longevity of these players with the team, while also how great they were in their time with Oakland.

Since Bando and Jackson were from the 1970's, I decided to look into more modern players that were also ranked highly, and found an interesting tidbit. Mark McGwire, who ranked fourth on the Oakland WAR leaderboard with 42.9, was one of the recent greats, so I measured his production across 1,329 games to Jason Giambi's 28.8 WAR total in 1,036 games.

Turns out McGwire was still better, even if they'd played the same number of games. McGwire would have ended up with 33.44 WAR in Giambi's game total.

A little further down the list still was a much more recent player, Matt Chapman, who played in just 573 games with the A's and ended up ranked No. 14 on the list with 23.3 WAR. Solid defense will vault you up the leaderboard pretty quickly.

He played in just five seasons with Oakland, but if he'd been around for the 12 years and 1,329 games that McGwire had, Chapman would have finished with 54.04 WAR, which would have seen him as the second most valuable Oakland A of all time.

He still wold have been nearly 20 wins behind Rickey.