triple dipper juan castro

it's been a while since i have looked at a player that played for the dodgers, left the franchise for another, and then returned to wear dodger blue again.  double dippers, i call them.  sometimes, they even triple dip.

[this is the fiftythird 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, and joe medwick.]

juan castro made his big league debut in september of 1995 as, what else - a defensive replacement.  over the course of the next few seasons, he split time between aaa and the majors thanks mainly to his glove as his big league batting average hovered just under .200.  here is his 1998 pacific online card featuring a photo of castro from 1995 or 1996 (he stopped wearing number 60 prior to his 1997 appearances).

on april 1, 2000, the dodgers traded castro to the reds for a minor leaguer named kenny lutz.  it does not appear that lutz ever played in a game for any dodger affiliate.  castro, however, played for the reds for the next five seasons.  here is his 2004 topps card

after the 2004 season, castro signed a free agent deal with the twins who then traded him back to the reds in 2006.  they released him in 2008, but he was quickly signed by the rockies.  without appearing in a game for colorado, castro was traded to baltimore where he finished out the '08 season.  in january of 2009, castro signed with the dodgers, and became a double dipper.  here's his 2009 topps update card as proof

castro hit a robust .277 in his return to the dodgers.  he played in 57 games and saw time at short, second, third and even left field.  after the season, however, he opted to sign with the phillies, who had beat the dodgers in the 2009 nlcs for the second straight season.  if you can't beat 'em, join 'em i guess.  there were no cards of castro issued in 2010, so i made one using the 2010 goose joak originals template.

i have to believe that the highlight of castro's short time with the phillies came on may 29, 2010.  that was the day that roy halladay threw his perfect game. castro was 2 for 4 as the phillies' third baseman in that game, and he fielded ronnie paulino's grounder and threw it to first for the final out of the game.  a few weeks later, the phillies gave castro his release.

no worries, though, as ned colletti brought castro back to the dodgers for a rare third term.  here's another 2010 goose joak original i created to note the occasion.

castro even re-signed with the team as a free agent after the 2010 season before calling it quits during the 2011 campaign.  i saw somewhere around the time of his retirement that he had one of the lowest ops marks of any player with a significant number of plate appearances over the last 20 years or so.  clearly it was his glove that kept him around for 17 seasons, including three tours with the dodgers.

here's to you juan castro - a rare dodger triple dipper!

hairston styles

hey! happy new year, everybody!  i want to kick 2013 off right, so i'll show a nice looking dodger card - it features jerry hairston jr. on a 2012 topps update card

a dodger stadium play at the plate.  hairston played some middle infield for the dodgers last year, and turned about 20 double plays.  as much as i like the photo on the above card, a dp turn would have been nice.  hairston still has one more year on his contract with the dodgers so there's hope i suppose.  you can probably guess that i still haven't finished posting all of my double play cards, some of which feature none other than jerry hairston jr.  like his 2003 topps card

and his 2004 topps card

and his 2006 upper deck card

and then there is the double play-errific miguel tejada on this 2005 upper deck espn web gems insert

back to the 2003 topps set, we have pokey reese with an appearance by todd walker

and then we have todd walker returning the dp favor, this time to the giants

i am ok with that.

in the 2003 topps traded set, we got a card of dodger prospect eric riggs turning two

while wearing maury wills' number.  riggs never did make it to the big leagues, although he put together a couple of decent looking seasons at aaa las vegas.

finally, here's a 2009 topps chrome orlando hudson card, featuring a lurking juan castro

this is a refractor parallel, and i like how the empty seats add some nice color to the card.  it looks like a diamondback player is getting forced at second, in case you are curious.

stay tuned for even more double play cards.  there are more than i first thought.

reader mail - long overdue trade post

a long time ago (i say apologetically), i received some cards in a trade from reader bill. i sent bill a mattingly ysl card he needed and he sent me some cool dodger cards in return - here is a sampling:

1996 score antonio osuna
i have an affinity for osuna. he threw hard, and used to wear a huge chain around his neck with a medallion that reminded me of a license plate.

2007 topps team cardusually the team cards are taken so you see the pavilion in the background. this one is flipped so their backs are towards home plate.

1996 upper deck collector's choice juan castro a card from juan's first stint with the dodgers

1997 pinnacle mint collection hideo nomo (ill-jacked) i hope he gets his medallion back...

2007 fleer eric stults

seems destined to fill the role of 'spot starter'

1989 topps dodgers leaders

apparently, their leaders were scioscia, hershiser and sax, with presumably ron perranoski and alfredo griffin obscured but lurking

2008 topps heritage rafael furcal

raffy has brought some stability to the shortstop position. now if only we could get a long term third baseman...

1990 donruss diamond king willie randolph

part of the post-sax revolving door at second, the dodgers and yankees essentially traded second basemen after the 1988 season

finally, 1991 donruss darryl strawberry

perhaps the start of the dreaded 'press conference photo' baseball card scourge. i think gretzky's 1988-89 topps card was the first ever, though.

thanks bill!

goose joak originals - the infield

orlando hudson's cycle got me to post his card already, but here is the rest of the dodgers' infield in their 2009 goose joak originals glory.

playing first base, number 7, james loney.
a nice centerfield shot of his nlds grand slam.

at shortstop, number 15, rafael furcal.i was really hoping ned would re-sign furcal. now i hope furcal stays healthy.

at third base, number 23, casey blake.last year, blake was wearing number 30. this year, hudson wore 30 once or twice. now, nobody's wearing it. makes me wonder if there's something going on with maury wills, even though the dodgers are notorious for not retiring numbers unless it's for a hall-of-famer (jim gilliam being the only exception).

now for some of the backup infielders. the theme this year is versatility. all of these guys can play just about any of the infield positions. even the injured doug mientkiewicz can play first and third.

blake dewitt.dewitt can play second or third, and even short, and we will probably need him in all spots before the season is through.

juan castro.

his second tour of duty with the dodgers. great glove - only 65 errors in his career playing all infield positions, except for one game in the outfield.

mark loretta.

he's already shown up at first, second and third.

tony abreu.

abreu saw a good amount of action in 2007 at second, third, and short, but is still waiting for another shot.