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!

goody rosen was a dodger double dipper

while the dodgers acquired former dodger eric stults recently, they also dfa'd him, so my hopes of him becoming the next dodger double dipper were seemingly dashed.  however, he eventually accepted an assignment to double-a, and so may yet (like ramon troncoso) make a return to the dodgers and earn that double dipper status.

this post doesn't deal with what may come, rather, it celebrates goody rosen, a bonafide dodger double dipper.

[this is the ninety-fifth 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.]

i have this 2003 american jewish historical society card of rosen

from their jewish major leaguers set.  sandy koufax, steve yeager, and shawn green are also included in the set, but rosen is the only one i've got in my collection to date.

hailing from toronto, rosen played for the dodgers from 1937 through 1939, and was one of their primary outfielders in '38 when he hit .281 in 138 games.  in 1940, he was acquired by the pirates, and he later wound up with the cardinals and then the reds.   while rosen didn't appear in the majors for any of those three teams, he did play in about 600 minor league games away from the dodger organization before returning to brooklyn in a may, 1944 trade with cincinnati.

back with the dodgers, rosen hit .261 in 89 games in 1944, and then hit .325 and scored 126 runs in 145 contests in 1945, earning an all-star spot and enough regular season mvp votes to finish 10th in the voting that year.  he was 1 for 3 in 3 games during april of 1946 before his contract was purchased by the new york giants, and this time, his departure from the dodger organization was permanent.

here's to you goody rosen, a dodger double dipper!

jake flowers was a robin/dodger double dipper

it's spring, and april showers (though there weren't many) have indeed brought may flowers to this part of the country.  a recent review of some 1990 target dodger sheets has also brought to my attention that jake flowers played for the robins and then the dodgers in two separate stints sandwiched around time spent with another team.  he was a dodger franchise double dipper.

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

here's flowers' 1990 target card

featuring a photo from his second stint with the club.  i know this thanks to the hall of fame's 'dressed to the nines' site linked through baseball reference, and also because the team wasn't known as the dodgers during his first tenure with the team - they were the robins then.  and, while i'm on the subject of names, flowers' real name was d'arcy, by the way.

flowers began his big league career with the cardinals in 1923, and he played for them again in 1926 when he went 0 for 3 in the world series but still won a ring.  he was traded to the robins early in the 1927 season, and he played short, second, and some outfield for them (even earning some mvp votes after the 1928 season during which he played in a career high 103 games) until he was claimed by the cardinals on waivers during the 1931 season.

back in saint louis, flowers again helped the cards win the pennant, and he again didn't do much in the world series (he was 1 for 11 this time).  still, the cardinals beat the a's, and flowers had his second world series ring.  after one more season with the cardinals, flowers returned to brooklyn in the 1933 trade that sent dazzy vance to saint louis.  in 78 games that season, flowers hit .233 for the dodgers.  he finished his career as a pinch-hitter with the reds in 1934.

a turn of the century brooklyn triple dipper

i learned while writing the sunday morning target dodger post that (hopefully) published earlier today that jimmy sheckard (or sheckhard, if you believe the 1990 target card below)

was a member of the baltimore orioles in between stints with the brooklyn bridegrooms and superbas, and then again between stints with the superbas. that makes him a triple dipper.

[this is the ninety-third 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, and hank behrman.]

the relationship between brooklyn and baltimore brought on by ned hanlon's involvement in both teams has created a few of these situations.  in sheckard's case, he played for brooklyn in 1897 and 1989, playing in a total of 118 games.  prior to the 1899 season, he was sent to baltimore where he led the league in stolen bases with 77.  he was back in brooklyn with the team now known as the superbas for the 1900 season, and he hit an even .300 in 85 games for the league champions.

after a strong 1901 season in which he hit .354 and led the league with 19 triples, sheckard was again sent to baltimore.  however, he played in just four games for the american league version of the orioles in 1902 before he was returned to brooklyn.  this time, sheckard stuck around for four full seasons, including a good 1903 campaign in which he led the league in both home runs and stolen bases, before the superbas traded him to the cubs prior to the 1906 season.  he went on to help the cubbies win the world series in both 1907 and 1908 before ending his career in 1913 with a season split between the cardinals and the reds.

hank behrman double dipped in a single season

hank behrman was a brooklyn native who played for his hometown team. in two separate stints. hank behrman was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the ninety-second 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, and newt kimball.]

the only card i have of behrman comes from the 1990 target set.

i didn't realize that behrman double dipped until i was preparing the sunday morning target dodger post that ran earlier today.  that's because he double dipped in the same season, so there was no noticeable gap in his dodger service time.

after debuting in 1946 and posting an 11-5 record with a 2.93 era, behrman had a couple of bad outings against the new york giants in april of 1947. a week or so later, he was traded to the pirates in the al gionfriddo deal.  in 10 subsequent appearances for pittsburgh, behrman was 0-2 with an era over 9, and the pirates decided to return him to brooklyn.  back with the dodgers, behrman pitched a bit better, going 5-3 with 8 'saves' in 38 appearances despite an era of 5.30.  he even pitched in 5 of the 7 games of the 1947 world series against the yankees.  after one more season with the dodgers, behrman finished his big league career with the giants in 1949.

this may be the last of the double dipper posts, although i see that the dodgers just re-signed ramon troncoso.  and, this is post number 2600 for the blog - that's one more post than steve garvey had hits in his big league career.  didn't think i would get to that number...

newt kimball, dodger double dipper

newt kimball was one of the players on the sheet of cards in the 1990 target dodger giveaway set that i posted this morning.

while preparing that post, i learned that kimball was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the ninety-first 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, and rocky nelson.]

kimball was with the dodgers for the start of the 1940 season, and pitched in 21 games for them (all in relief) before his contract was purchased by the cardinals.  he finished the season in saint louis (pitching in two games including one start), but had his contract bought back by the dodgers in april of 1941.  in his return to brooklyn which lasted into the 1943 season, kimball was 6-2 with 34 appearances.

rocky nelson was a dodger double dipper

rocky nelson was the second rocky (after colavito) on the sheet of cards i featured earlier today from the 1990 target set.

so, it's rocky ii!  not a bad sequel as sequels go.  this rocky, however, predated colavito by a decade or so.  in fact, rocky nelson was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the ninetieth 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, and andy messersmith.]

nelson first appeared for the dodgers in 1952 following a trade with the white sox that came after the end of the 1951 season.  he hit .256 in 37 games during the regular season, and was 0 for 3 with a walk in the world series agains the yankees. nelson spent 1953 in the minors, and after the 1953 season, he was dealt to the indians.  the 1954 indians were one of the best teams (record wise) in history, but nelson played in only 4 regular season games before being re-acquired by the dodgers in may.  he spent the rest of the season, and the 1955 campaign as well, in the minors, but resurfaced with the dodgers in 1956.  however, after hitting .208 in 31 games for the dodgers, he was on the move again - this time on a claim by the cardinals - and he finished the season in saint louis.

nelson finished his career with the pirates, winning a ring in 1960.  nelson was the pirates' first baseman for game 7 of that series, which was won on bill mazeroski's home run.