Michael Bajo

Michael David Bajo

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• School Loyola Medical School, St. Procopius University

• Born September 8, 1919 in East Chicago, IN USA
• Died September 26, 2008 in San Diego, CA USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Michael Bajo played baseball and basketball in college. The Chicago White Sox signed him. In 1941, he was 5-2 with a 3.92 ERA for the Waterloo Hawks and 1-2 for the Saginaw White Sox. He then enrolled in medical school. The White Sox tried to lure him back to baseball but he turned them down. In 1944, he joined the US Navy as medical officer for the destroyer USS Dobbins, taking care of soldiers in the Pacific. In 1948, he opened a medical practice in San Ysidro, CA, the first one there, and helped patients in both the US and Mexico. He delivered 11,000 babies and had 15 children of his own. One of his grandsons, John Jaso, followed him onto the baseball diamond. Jaso later said he thinks he started batting lefty because Bajo was a lefty and the two were close. Bajo told Jaso that if Jaso made the majors, he could die happy. Bajo died a week after Jaso's first hit in the majors.

Sources

• San Diego Union-Tribune obituary
• 2013 San Francisco Gate article
• 2017 Post-Gazette article