it's 5 o'clock somewhere

time for a brewski bruske

1997 score jim bruske, that is.  not too hoppy.  i'll even have a second, as bruske was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the eighty-fourth 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, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, marv rackley, bobo newsom, maury wills, dazzy vance, ray hayworth, zack taylor, john cronin, art herring, brian falkenborg, bill reidy, john anderson, vito tamulis, and wally hood.]

bruske was an outfielder converted to a pitcher in the minor leagues by the indians.  he didn't make it to the majors until he was 30, and his big league debut didn't go so well - he allowed five runs (three earned) while getting just one out for the dodgers against the phillies in august of 1995.  the next day, however, he returned to the mound and pitched 2 perfect innings.  in all, bruske pitched in 9 games for the dodgers that season. he earned no decisions, but did record a save on the final day of the campaign against the padres.  he allowed runs in just two of those 9 appearances, and finished the season with a 4.50 era.  the dodgers brought him back in 1996, and this time he pitched in 11 games, 9 of them being scoreless appearances.  he again had one bad outing (a 5-run inning of work against the pirates) that sunk his era - 5.68 on the season.

bruske moved on to the padres for the 1997 season - here's his 1998 pacific crown collection card

bruske earned his first big league win in his first appearance for the padres.  he threw a career-high 5 (scoreless) innings in relief against the giants on june 23, and came away with the victory.  bruske finished the season 4-1 in 28 games for the pads with a 3.68 era.  the dodgers were impressed, apparently, because they claimed him on waivers shortly after the season ended.

back in la in 1998 (here's bruske's 1998 pacific online red foil parallel)

bruske was 3-0 with a save through 35 appearances when the dodgers traded him back to the padres for a minor leaguer in late july. a month later, the padres traded bruske to the yankees where he made (and won) his only career start in the final game of the season.  having pitched for both the 1998 national league champions (the padres) and the 1998 american league and world series champions (the yankees), i wonder if bruske received playoff shares from both clubs, even though he did not appear in the postseason.

bruske didn't pitch in 1999 and wound up his big league career in 2000 with the brewers, although he ended his professional career with a stint in the dodger organization at triple-a las vegas.

i'll raise a glass to you, jim bruske - a dodger double dipper!