chin-hui tsao, the latest dodger double dipper

at first, i thought it would be ramon troncoso, and then perhaps eric stultz, but it turned out to be chin-hui tsao that became the most recent dodger double dipper - a dodger who left the organization for another, only to return and appear in a game for the team a second time.

[this is the ninety-sixth 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, wally hood, jim bruske, bill dahlen, patsy donovan, jamey wright, watty clark, andy messersmith, rocky nelson, newt kimball, hank behrman, jimmy sheckard, and jake flowers, and goody rosen.]

after spending three seasons (2003-2005) in the majors with the colorado rockies, tsao appeared in 21 games for the 2007 dodgers, going 0-1 with a 4.38 era.  as such, he earned a dodger card in the 2007 topps factory set

this was one of five dodger cards added to the dodger themed complete factory set, not the dodger team factory set.  it is his only dodger card, as far as i can tell.  after the season ended, tsao became a free agent and signed with the kansas city royals.  here is some photographic proof of that fact.

the royals released tsao in may of 2008, without him having pitched in a big league game.

i had not heard tsao's name mentioned since he left the dodgers eight years ago, so obviously i missed the news that they had signed him this past winter.  it was only when i was watching the game against milwaukee on july 10th that i realized tsao was back.  here's a getty images photo of him pitching in that game.

tsao earned the win in his first big league appearance in 8 years that night, and pitched in the next day's game, too.

welcome back, chin-hui tsao, and congratulations on being a dodger double dipper!

oh, did you think i was done with double play cards from bo?

well, i wasn't.  here are some more that are new to my collection:

1993 donruss tony fernandez (back)

i'll show the front of this card in yet another post of cards from bo, but on the back, tony the padre is turning two.

here's a 1995 pinnacle john valentin card

featuring a double play on tatooine

1996 pinnacle robby thompson

with just a bit of the lead runner's helmet to confirm the turn

1996 score alex arias

and 1996 score jeff reboulet

are more obvious examples of the pivot

as are 1998 fleer tradition jose offerman

and 1998 topps stadium club gary disarcina

bo even included some minor league dp's.  here's a 1999 just minors brent butler card

plus three 1999 team best baseball america top prospects - ron belliard

chad durham

and brett taft

that is some dedication to a trade package.  thanks again, bo!

card show stuff

it's been over a month since wallet card and i went to the semi-annual regional card show, and i still haven't shown off the other cards i bought and scanned.  like this 1951 bowman don newcombe card

it's nice that the 'bull pen' is labeled and that curious george's man in yellow is watching newk warm up from the stands.

i picked up a card for my 1965 topps set, and it features three hall of famers

say hey! the giants must have had a pretty good team in 1964 with all that power (plus juan marichal and gaylord perry on the mound).  well, they won 90 games but were 4th in the national league, 3 games back of the pennant winning cardinals.  the dodgers were two games under .500, but bounced back pretty well in '65.

i also grabbed a card for my 1957 topps set for a buck - don mossi

i won't mention the ears.

from the dime binder, a 1982 topps sticker of pedro guerrero

showing his co-mvp form in the 1981 world series

the rest of the stuff comes from the dime boxes, and they were brimming with junk wax. i took some new to me double plays, like this 1993 donruss spike owen

1993 leaf ricky gutierrez

1994 leaf jose lind

1995 leaf carlos baerga

and 2001 fleer tradition marlon anderson

a little something for pretty much every facet of my collection!

who's carrying jackie robinson's torch? besides everyone, that is...

this week marks the 68th anniversary of jackie robinson's debut in the major leagues.  however, this post focuses more on the end of his playing days, as i thought i'd take a look at how his career torch was passed.

in his final regular season at bat (on september 30, 1956), jackie robinson grounded out against the pirates' bob friend.  here's jackie's 1956 topps card - the last from his playing days.

jackie did play in the world series in '56, but i am keeping this to regular season games.  for the record, jackie made the final out of the '56 series, striking out against the yankees' johnny kucks.

bob friend, who appeared with sandy koufax on a 1964 topps league leaders card,

retired deron johnson of the reds on september 24, 1966 while he was pitching for the mets.  johnson was the last batter friend faced in the majors.

deron johnson, seen here on a 1974 topps card as an oakland a,

struck out in his final big league appearance to end the game on may 28, 1976 as a member of the red sox against the orioles' grant jackson

on september 8, 1982, grant jackson had a one-game return stint for the pirates after pitching for the royals for the majority of the season.  here's his 1982 topps traded card

he entered in relief with the mets having loaded the bases in the 9th inning with one out, and promptly served up a grand slam to catcher ron hodges.  jackson retired the next two batters to end the inning, the last of which was ron gardenhire.  that was the last time jackson appeared in the big leagues.

ron gardenhire, still with the mets,

struck out in the 9th against jeff reardon to end his major league playing career on october 6, 1985. i like gardy's 1985 donruss card because of dodger stadium in the background.

jeff reardon finished his career in 1994 as a yankee (see this 1994 upper deck collector's choice gold parallel as proof)

allowing a game-tying single to tim salmon with his final big league pitch on may 4 of that year.

tim salmon (shown on a 2003 upper deck mvp card)

popped out against oakland's huston street in his last career at bat on october 1, 2006.  salmon was in the on-deck circle when the game ended.

huston street is still going strong, pitching for the angels following a midseason trade with the padres last year.  here's his 2014 topps update card

there are other, more important ways, in which jackie robinson's legacy lives on, but this sort of playing legacy has always intrigued me.

on the road with octavio dotel

i realize that this is a topic that has been done before, but i've already done these types of posts for tommy davis, bob miller, and mike morgan, so i would feel remiss to leave out the most well-traveled player of all-time, octavio dotel.  especially since he was, for a short time like the others mentioned, a dodger.

dotel's big league career began with the mets (that's one team) in 1999 (here's a 2000 upper deck card)

even winning a game in the nlcs against the braves that year.  however, dotel was traded to the astros (two) in december of 1999 in the mike hampton deal, so he got an astros card in the later series of that same set

the astros converted dotel to a reliever, and he pitched for them for four-plus seasons before he was sent to the a's (three) during the 2004 campaign in the three-team deal that netted the 'stros carlos beltran.  this is a 2005 fleer tradition card

showing dotel in the green and gold.  from there, dotel became a free agent after the 2005 season and signed a one year deal with the yankees (four).  he signed another free agent deal after the 2006 season, this time with the royals (five).  topps issued a card of him wearing the kansas city uniform as part of the 2007 topps set

but he was again traded midseason, this time to the braves (six).  so, topps put him in the update & highlights set that year (this is the gold parallel)

and the photographer had him pose such that dotel has a light standard growing out of the side of his face.

after finishing out the 2007 season with the braves, dotel spent 2008 and 2009 with the white sox (seven) before joining the pirates (eight) for the start of the 2010 season.  at the trading deadline that year, the dodgers (nine) sent james mcdonald and andrew lambo to pittsburgh for dotel.  topps was kind enough to fake him into a dodger uniform for the 2010 update set (here's the walmart black parallel)

even though the dodgers traded dotel to the rockies (ten) in mid-september.  for the record, dotel pitched in 19 games as a dodger, going 1-1 with a save and a 3.38 era.

dotel began the 2011 season with the toronto blue jays (eleven). here's his 2011 topps card

once again, however, dotel was traded during the season.  this time, he was headed to the cardinals (twelve), and was included as such in the 2011 topps update set (this is a cognac parallel)

dotel won a world series ring as a member of the 2011 cardinals.  he pitched in all three postseason series, winning a game in both the nlds and nlcs, but losing one in the fall classic.

he was back in the world series again in 2012, but this time it was as a member of the detroit tigers (his thirteenth team - a major league record).  here's his 2012 topps update card showing him as a motor city kitty

the tigers lost that series, but brought dotel back for the 2013 season.  unfortunately, he remained unsigned after the season ended, and his big league career was over.

13 teams in 15 seasons is pretty impressive, and i'm glad dotel came through los angeles on his tour of duties, even if ned gave away mcdonald and lambo for six weeks of a replacement level reliever.

a mish-mash of double play turns

i've allowed a number of new to the blog/collection double play turns to accumulate in my scanned folder, so today will be all about the pivot.

1984 topps traded tony bernazard

now granted this image is pre-pivot, but i consider second basemen waiting for the throw while standing at the base to be a double play turn. i remember waiting for these throws and wondering if i had enough time to turn and throw and not get bowled over.

1995 topps bret boone

ditto.

1992 topps stadium club manny lee

sorry - he goes by manuel here.  this is where i am thankful for others who collect double play cards, particularly jeff at 2x3 heroes and nick at dime boxes.  they will show off dp cards that they receive in the mail, and then i go and dig in my collection to see if i have those cards.  such was the case with this manuel lee card.  one of them showed it, and i didn't have it, so i went and bought it on sportlots for 18 cents.  this particular card shows a play from the first inning of a game played on june 30, 1991. harold reynolds has grounded to the first baseman (john olerud), who threw to second to force the lead runner (edgar martinez).  manuel lee is preparing for the relay throw, but reynolds is safe at first. thanks baseball-reference!

1982 o-pee-chee tim foli

not only was foli traded from the pirates to the angels (creating a team and text variation), but he's about to throw to first to complete a spring training double play.  i doubt that he's on the second base side of the bag for any other reason, so this is a double play turn.  now i just need another copy of his 1982 topps card for the dp binder.

1992 leaf mariano duncan

and 1992 leaf mariano duncan black gold

plus the back of another 1992 leaf card, that of terry shumpert

the photo on the shumpert back is very similar to the back of his 1992 fleer card.

my double play collection sometimes runs on duncan - here's his 1995 topps stadium club card

plus jody reed's card from the same set

nice junior griffey cameo, too.  i had previously shown a 1st day issue parallel of the reed card, but not the plain ol' base.

here's another couple of cards that have sort of been shown before - 1997 topps stadium club carlos garcia

i previously showed the members only parallel, which is really only different on the back due to some watermark text, and 1995 score rafael belliard

of which i have previously shown the gold rush parallel version.

last card of this post is brent gates' 1996 score card

thanks again to nick for showing this one on his blog. i couldn't believe that there was a brent gates double play card that i was missing.