dave hansen, double dipper

[this is the tenth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, and rafael landestoy.]

dave hansen was a serial double dipper.  he played in the majors for 4 different teams - the dodgers, cubs, padres and mariners.  he had two stints with each of them, although his second go around with the cubbies lasted just a month during spring training in 2005.  what i am most concerned with, however, is his status as a dodger double dipper.

hansen, shown here on a 1993 donruss card,

was the dodgers' 2nd round pick in the 1986 draft.  he was supposed to put an end to the stream of misfits that occupied the hot corner in chavez ravine after ron cey was traded away, but instead, he settled into a pinch hitting and spot starter role.  in his first run as a dodger, from 1990 through 1996, he had 224 pinch hit at bats, and had 63 hits in those at bats.  it is only fitting that his first career home run was as a pinch hitter - it came in 1991 when he hit a 3-run blast against wally whitehurst and the mets.

hansen became a free agent after the 1996 season, and he signed a deal with the chicago cubs.  the only card of hansen featured as a cub that i could locate comes courtesy of wrigley wax - a 1997 cubs team issue:

for the cubbies, hansen made 40 of his 186 plate appearances as a pinch hitter.  he had 10 pinch hits with 5 walks.  one of those hits was a home run, a solo shot in 8th inning of a game against the dodgers and chan ho park.  he also broke up a no-hit bid by florida's alex fernandez with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning with an infield single.  while it was hansen's only at bat of the game, it wasn't a pinch hitting appearance as he had entered the game in the top of the 9th as a defensive replacement. hansen hit .311 overall for the cubs, but left after the one season in chicago to play in japan. 

after one year in the far east, hansen returned to los angeles.  he was once again pegged in the role of pinch hitter and occasional spot starter, and from 1999 through 2002, he had 197 plate appearances in a pinch hitting role.  in 2000, he set a major league record with 7 pinch hit home runs.  perhaps that's why topps made a card of hansen in 2001

in 2003, hansen played for the padres and then went to seattle to start the 2004 season. the mariners sent him back to san diego during that campaign.  he signed on with the cubs in spring training of 2005 as mentioned earlier, and then joined the mariners for the actual '05 season, his final one as a major league player.

here's to you, dave hansen - double dipper!