Gabor Paul Bako II (/ˈbɑːkoʊ/; born June 20, 1972) is an American former professional baseball catcher.

He returned to the American League with the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles, then played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies for one season each.

In 1990, Bako was drafted out of Lafayette High School—who later retired his number 6[6]—with the ninth pick of the sixth round by the Cleveland Indians.

[13] Bako began his professional career with the Pioneer Baseball League's Billings Mustangs, a rookie-league farm team of the Reds located in Montana.

[14] Bako walked 22 times, stole 5 bases, and batted in 30 runs, while excelling defensively compared to the other catcher on the team.

[23] On November 11, 1997, Bako was traded by the Reds to the Detroit Tigers in an offseason deal that included Donne Wall.

[8] After playing 13 games with the Tigers AAA-level affiliate—the Toledo Mud Hens—in 1998,[16] Bako was called up to the Major League club.

[24] His first Major League hit, a bases loaded double, came the next day off Bill Swift, when he went 2-for-5 against the Seattle Mariners in a 17–3 Tigers win.

[25] He hit his first major league home run on May 15 against the Oakland Athletics; it came off Mike Mohler in the bottom of the sixth inning with two runners (Damion Easley, Joe Randa) on base.

[8] After the season, the Tigers traded Bako to the Houston Astros in a seven-player deal that included Brad Ausmus.

In fact, journalist Dayn Perry jocosely noted the 1999 Astros, "in pursuit of arcane history, used eight players whose last names began with 'B.

'"[27] The eight included Bagwell, Bako, Glen Barker, Derek Bell, Sean Bergman, Lance Berkman, Biggio, and Tim Bogar.

[37] In a trade of catchers, the Braves acquired Henry Blanco from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Bako and José Cabrera.

[8] Over his two years, he backed up Damian Miller and Michael Barrett, and was reunited with former Braves teammate Greg Maddux in 2004.

He backed up both Jason Phillips and Dioner Navarro in 2005,[47] but underwent season-ending surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament in June of that season.

[48] The Dodgers granted Bako free agency after the season, and he signed with the Kansas City Royals in December 2005.

[8] After beginning the 2006 season in the minor leagues,[30] Bako returned to the majors with the Royals, where he batted .209 backing up John Buck.

[50] On February 1, 2008, Bako signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Cincinnati Reds.

[8] As of 2011[update], Bako was an equipment representative for the Marucci Bat Company, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.