What years did Joe Sambito play?

Joe Sambito played in Major League Baseball from 1976 to 1987.

Was Joe Sambito a pitcher?

Yes. Joe Sambito pitched in the major leagues, recording 37 wins and 489 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Joe Sambito hit?

Joe Sambito hit 0 career home runs with 7 hits.

What teams did Joe Sambito play for?

Joe Sambito played for 3 teams: the Houston Astros (1976–1982, 1984), the New York Mets (1985), and the Boston Red Sox (1986–1987).

Did Joe Sambito win a Cy Young Award?

No. Joe Sambito did not win the Cy Young Award.

What awards did Joe Sambito win?

Joe Sambito was selected to 1 All-Star Game.

What were Joe Sambito's career stats?

In 461 games, Joe Sambito went 37-38 with a 3.03 ERA, 489 strikeouts, 629.0 innings pitched, and 84 saves.

What was Joe Sambito's salary?

Joe Sambito's last recorded salary was $360,000, in 1987. His highest recorded salary was $500,000, in 1986, and his lowest was $360,000, in 1987. The Salary History table lists each season from 1986 to 1987.

What position did Joe Sambito play?

Joe Sambito played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Joe Sambito and how much did he weigh?

Joe Sambito was listed at 6 feet 1 inch and 185 pounds.

What was Joe Sambito's career ERA?

Joe Sambito finished with a 3.03 career ERA, going 37-38 with 489 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Joe Sambito have?

Joe Sambito recorded 489 career strikeouts.

Is Joe Sambito in the Hall of Fame?

No. Joe Sambito has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Joe Sambito

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1976-1987)

Joe Sambito was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1976 to 1987 for the Houston Astros, the New York Mets, and the Boston Red Sox, a span of 12 seasons. Across 461 career appearances, he went 37-38 with a 3.03 ERA, 489 strikeouts, and 84 saves. Joe Sambito was an All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 11636.5.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 15, 2026

W–L 37–38

ERA 3.03

WHIP 1.20

SO 489

Pitcher PIV 11636.5

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 185 lb
Born: 6/28/1952 in Brooklyn, NY, USA
MLB Debut: 1976-07-20
Last Game: 1987-10-03
Awards: All-Star

Full name: Joseph Charles Sambito

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Career Pitching Statistics

Joe Sambito — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
37	38	461	5	1	1	84	629.0	562	212	48	195	489	3.03	11636.5

Career ERA 3.03 vs. league average 3.87 across their career seasons — 21.6% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Joe Sambito Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1976	HOU	NL	3	2	20	4	1	1	1	53.1	45	21	14	26	3.54	3.51 (-1%)	126.8
1977	HOU	NL	5	5	54	1	0	0	7	89.0	77	23	24	67	2.33	4.00 (+42%)	2448.6
1978	HOU	NL	4	9	62	0	0	0	11	88.0	85	30	32	96	3.07	3.69 (+17%)	3257.6
1979	HOU	NL	8	7	63	0	0	0	22	91.1	80	18	23	83	1.77	4.00 (+56%)	2470.1
1980	HOU	NL	8	4	64	0	0	0	17	90.1	65	22	22	75	2.19	3.84 (+43%)	3499.2
1981	HOU	NL	5	5	49	0	0	0	10	63.2	43	13	22	41	1.84	3.58 (+49%)	521.8
1982	HOU	NL	0	0	9	0	0	0	4	12.2	7	1	2	7	0.71	3.86 (+82%)	564.5
1984	HOU	NL	0	0	32	0	0	0	0	47.2	39	16	16	26	3.02	3.81 (+21%)	-282.3
1985	NYN	NL	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	10.2	21	15	8	3	12.66	3.89 (-225%)	-452.6
1986	BOS	AL	2	0	53	0	0	0	12	44.2	54	24	16	30	4.84	3.97 (-22%)	193.4
1987	BOS	AL	2	6	47	0	0	0	0	37.2	46	29	16	35	6.93	4.29 (-61%)	-710.5
Career · 11 seasons			37	38	461	5	1	1	84	629.0	562	212	195	489	3.03	—	11,637

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Joe Sambito — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
462	52	4	7	1	0	0	4	0	10	19	.135	.274	.154	.428	0

Career AVG .135 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 48.3% below league average.

Career OBP .274 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — 15.7% below league average.

Career SLG .154 vs. league average .389 across their career seasons — 60.5% below league average.

Career OPS .428 vs. league average .714 across their career seasons — 40.1% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Joe Sambito Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1976	HOU	NL	20	9	1	2	0	1	3	2	.222	—	—	—	—	0.0
1977	HOU	NL	54	13	1	2	0	1	0	6	.154	—	—	—	—	0.0
1978	HOU	NL	62	6	1	1	0	0	1	2	.167	—	—	—	—	0.0
1979	HOU	NL	63	7	1	2	1	2	5	0	.286	—	—	—	—	0.0
1980	HOU	NL	64	9	0	0	0	0	1	5	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	HOU	NL	49	5	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	HOU	NL	10	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	HOU	NL	32	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	NYN	NL	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	BOS	AL	53	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	BOS	AL	47	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 11 seasons			462	52	4	7	1	4	10	19	.135	—	—	—	—	0

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Joe Sambito — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Joe Sambito — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AVG
1986	ALCS	BOS	3	.000
1986	WS	BOS	2	.000
1981	NWDIV	HOU	2	.000
1980	NLCS	HOU	3	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Joe Sambito — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	1	10	0	0	6.1	12	6	7	8	8.53

Playoff Pitching by Year

Joe Sambito — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1986	ALCS	BOS	0	0	3	0.2	1	0	1	0	0.00
1986	WS	BOS	0	0	2	0.1	2	1	2	0	27.00
1981	NWDIV	HOU	1	0	2	1.2	5	3	2	2	16.20
1980	NLCS	HOU	0	1	3	3.2	4	2	2	6	4.91

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (923 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Joe Sambito — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	221	28	3	4	0	2	.143
Away	241	24	1	3	0	2	.125

Pitching — Home / Away

Joe Sambito — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	221	321.1	275	83	79	240	2.32
Away	240	307.2	287	129	116	249	3.77

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Joe Sambito — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1987-10-03	BOS	MIL	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1987-09-28	BOS	NYY	L	0.0	1	1	1	0	0	0
1987-09-24	BOS	MIL	L	0.1	1	1	1	0	0	0
1987-09-22	BOS	DET	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1987-09-10	BOS	BAL	W	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	0
1987-09-05	BOS	CLE	—	1.1	6	4	4	2	1	0
1987-08-19	BOS	CHW	—	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0
1987-08-18	BOS	CHW	—	1.1	2	2	2	0	2	1
1987-08-17	BOS	CHW	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0
1987-08-11	BOS	TOR	—	0.2	2	1	1	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Joe Sambito — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	461	5	35	104	9	13

Season-by-Season Fielding

Joe Sambito — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1976	HOU	P	20	4	4	10	0	1
1977	HOU	P	54	1	4	17	2	1
1978	HOU	P	62	0	6	16	2	3
1979	HOU	P	63	0	5	14	2	2
1980	HOU	P	64	0	7	13	2	2
1981	HOU	P	49	0	5	12	0	2
1982	HOU	P	9	0	0	4	1	1
1984	HOU	P	32	0	1	3	0	0
1985	NYN	P	8	0	1	3	0	0
1986	BOS	P	53	0	1	8	0	1
1987	BOS	P	47	0	1	4	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Joe Sambito Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	461

Awards & Honors

Joe Sambito — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1980	Player of the Week	Week of 1980-08-22

Salary History

Joe Sambito's recorded salaries total $860,000 over 2 seasons, 1986 to 1987. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Sambito's career ran from 1976 to 1987. His seasons before 1985 are not included, and no salary is recorded for 1985.

Joe Sambito — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1987	BOS	AL	$360,000
1986	BOS	AL	$500,000
Total recorded salary (partial)			$860,000

Award Voting History

Joe Sambito — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1980	Cy Young Award	NL	5th	1.0	120	0
1979	Most Valuable Player	NL	21th	9.0	336	0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Joe Sambito (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Joe Sambito: the record in brief

Between the debut on July 20, 1976 and the final game on October 3, 1987, Joe Sambito built the record summarized on this page. The season rows list, in order, the Houston Astros (1976 to 1984), the New York Mets (1985), and the Boston Red Sox (1986 to 1987). Sambito, born on June 28, 1952, in Brooklyn, NY, USA, is listed as a pitcher and both batted and threw left-handed. Size on record: 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds. The bio lists the given name Joseph Charles.

Sambito's career pitching line is 37 wins, 38 losses and a 3.03 ERA over 461 appearances. The totals include 489 strikeouts and 84 saves. The leagues Sambito pitched in allowed 3.87 earned runs per nine over those seasons, so the career ERA was 21.6% better than average. Sambito won 8 games in 1979, the most of any season listed. 1978 produced Sambito's most strikeouts, 96. Sambito saved 22 games in 1979, the season high.

Frequently Asked Questions about Joe Sambito

What years did Joe Sambito play?: Joe Sambito played in Major League Baseball from 1976 to 1987.
Was Joe Sambito a pitcher?: Yes. Joe Sambito pitched in the major leagues, recording 37 wins and 489 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Joe Sambito hit?: Joe Sambito hit 0 career home runs with 7 hits.
What teams did Joe Sambito play for?: Joe Sambito played for 3 teams: the Houston Astros (1976–1982, 1984), the New York Mets (1985), and the Boston Red Sox (1986–1987).
Did Joe Sambito win a Cy Young Award?: No. Joe Sambito did not win the Cy Young Award.
What awards did Joe Sambito win?: Joe Sambito was selected to 1 All-Star Game.
What were Joe Sambito's career stats?: In 461 games, Joe Sambito went 37-38 with a 3.03 ERA, 489 strikeouts, 629.0 innings pitched, and 84 saves.
How much did Joe Sambito earn in his career?: Joe Sambito's recorded salaries total $860,000 over 2 seasons, 1986 to 1987. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Sambito's career ran from 1976 to 1987. His seasons before 1985 are not included, and no salary is recorded for 1985.
What was Joe Sambito's salary?: Joe Sambito's last recorded salary was $360,000, in 1987. His highest recorded salary was $500,000, in 1986, and his lowest was $360,000, in 1987. The Salary History table lists each season from 1986 to 1987.
What position did Joe Sambito play?: Joe Sambito played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Joe Sambito and how much did he weigh?: Joe Sambito was listed at 6 feet 1 inch and 185 pounds.
What was Joe Sambito's career ERA?: Joe Sambito finished with a 3.03 career ERA, going 37-38 with 489 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Joe Sambito have?: Joe Sambito recorded 489 career strikeouts.
Is Joe Sambito in the Hall of Fame?: No. Joe Sambito has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.