Chris Bando is born in Cleveland, Ohio.

A local product, Bando was selected by the Indians in the second round of the 1978 draft after attending Solon High School and then Arizona State University. He debuted with the club in 1981, working steadily behind the plate. The switch-hitter put together a career year in 1984, when he slugged eleven doubles, a dozen homers, and drove in 41 runs while batting a career-best .291.

He was released in August of 1988 and joined the Detroit Tigers for a month, appearing in just one game. He spent the 1989 season with the Oakland Athletics organization, playing in 31 games for their Triple-A affiliate while appearing in one game with the MLB club, hitting a walk-off single in the eleventh inning of the final game of the season to give the first place A’s a 4-3 win over the second place Kansas City Royals in his final Major League at bat. Oakland would go on to win the World Series, but Bando did not appear in the postseason in his only chance to in his career.

With his 12-year professional career completed, he entered the coaching ranks, spending six seasons as a minor league manager for the Milwaukee Brewers beginning in 1990 before a promotion to Major League coach working for the same team as his brother, former MLB pro and general manager Sal Bando.

He returned to the Indians organization in 2001, working as the manager at Double-A Akron. He spent 2002 as the manager at short-season Mahoning Valley and was the club’s hitting coach the following season. In the time since, he has also managed in independent ball and was a coach and head coach at San Diego Christian College from 2010 through 2015, where he was reunited with his former teammate in Cleveland, Doug Jones. He now serves as the school’s Athletic Director.