for richert, for the dodgers. twice.

[this is the twentyninth 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, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, and mike devereaux.]

lefty pete richert signed with the dodger in the late 1950's and made his big league debut for them in april of 1962.  topps was kind enough to let us know on his 1962 card that he was, in fact, a 1962 rookie

richert split his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen from '62 through 1964, and although he pitched in 20 regular season games in 1963, he did not appear in the world series that year against the yankees.  while i am not sure if he was on the postseason roster or not, it is worth noting that the dodgers used only 4 pitchers that series - 2 complete games by sandy koufax, another by don drysdale, and an 8.1-inning effort by johnny podres who was relieved for less than a full inning by ron perranoski.  a year later, richert threw his first career complete game for the dodgers (a 2-hitter) against the mets in september of 1964.  a few months later, he was dealt to the senators in the frank howard/claude osteen deal.

after two all-star seasons as a starting pitcher in washington, richert was traded to the orioles.  here's his 1970 topps card as proof

the orioles wound up putting richert in the bullpen full-time, and reaped the rewards.  with richert helping to close out games, baltimore appeared in the world series three straight years from 1969 through 1971.  richert made exactly one appearance in each series, with his 1969 appearance being the most memorable.  in game 4 of the series, richert was called upon in the bottom of the tenth inning wit nobody out and two men aboard.  jc martin attempted a sacrifice, but richert's throwing error allowed jerry grote to score, and the mets won the game to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead.  things were better for richert and the o's in 1970, as he earned a save in game 1 of that fall classic when he relieved jim palmer with two outs in the ninth, a one run lead, and pete rose on first, getting bobby tolan to make the final out of the game.

after the 1971 season, richert was traded back to the dodgers in the frank robinson deal, and his status as a double dipper was established.  he stayed for two seasons, and grew some nice sideburns as seen on his 1974 o-pee-chee card

by the time the 1974 season rolled around however, richert was in saint louis pitching for the cardinals.

in other news, richert is a good signer, and i have been on the receiving end of his kindness a couple of times.  here's a 1962 topps card (looks like a green tint variation) that he signed for me

as well as a 1964 topps card

a 1973 topps card

and a 1974 topps card

he also signed one of his 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards

i'm glad he doesn't hold any ill will towards 1969.

as a reminder, my 'timeless teams' blog kicks off on 1/2/12.  i'll get to richert and his teammates a few posts in.

here's to you (and thanks), pete richert - a dodger double dipper!