Joseph Charles Sambito (born June 28, 1952) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Houston Astros (1976–1982, 1984), New York Mets (1985) and Boston Red Sox (1986–1987).

A fastball and slider specialist, Sambito was a starter in the minors, as he led the Southern League in strikeouts at Double-A Columbus in 1975.

In 1979, he continued the trend with further improvement, collecting 22 saves (a career high) and a 1.78 ERA in 1979 – a season in which he posted a string of 402⁄3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run (doing so from May 3 to July 14[4]) and was named to the National League All-Star team; he pitched a career high 911⁄3 innings pitched while striking out 83 batters with 23 walks.

He appeared in 64 games for 901⁄3 total innings pitched, which resulted in a 2.19 ERA and seventeen saves as he struck out 75 batters with 22 walks.

In Game 4, with the Astros needing just one victory to win the Series, Sambito was sent out to pitch in a shaky eighth inning that saw him as the third pitcher used by the team (which saw a 2–0 lead turn into a tie).

Sambito struck out the first batter he saw before allowing a sacrifice fly by Manny Trillo that resulted in a 3–2 lead for Philadelphia at the end of the play and inning.

Sambito was sent out to pitch that inning; Greg Luzinski and Manny Trillo would each hit RBI doubles to give Philadelphia a 5–3 lead that they would hold on to tie the series at two.

He allowed one hit and no runs before Denny Walling won the game in the bottom of the eleventh to give Houston the victory.

[9] He started 1982 with four saves and a 0.71 ERA in nine appearances in April, before it was discovered that bone chips had damaged the ligaments of his pitching elbow.

He appeared in 53 games for 442⁄3 innings while going a perfect 12-for-12 on save opportunities with a 4.84 ERA with thirty strikeouts to sixteen walks, as he helped the Red Sox reach the World Series.

Holding onto a one-run lead, Sambito retired Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield with the bases loaded to close out the game.