:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/7382213/castrobill.0.jpg)
It's largely not what he's remembered for, but Dominican righthander Bill Castro was a pretty good Brewer reliever for much of the 1970's. He appeared in 179 games over seven seasons with the Brewers and posted a 2.96 ERA over that time, walking just 2.4 batters per nine innings.
Castro set a career high by pitching 84.1 innings and posted a 2.77 ERA in 1980, which got him onto 1981 Fleer card #517:
By the time the card was in circulation, though, Castro had moved on to the Yankees as a free agent.
Castro's playing career ended in 1983 but by 1985 he was back in the Brewer organization, working as a scout. He joined the major league team as bullpen coach in 1992 and stayed in that role for parts of 17 seasons before being promoted to pitching coach in 2009 and fired later that same year. He coached in the minors for the Brewers in 2010 and 2011 before moving on to the Orioles as their bullpen coach in 2012.
Earlier this week Nicholas Zettel of Disciples of Uecker suggested that Castro could be a worthy inclusion for their site's "Hall of Greatness." You can certainly make a case for him.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- 2011 Brewer Yuniesky Betancourt, who turns 31.
- 2000-01 Brewer pitching coach Bob Apodaca, who turns 63.
Today is also the tenth anniversary of the Brewers signing outfielder John Vandel Wal as a free agent in 2003. We covered that event in Today In Brewer History last year.
After over 500 installments spanning two seasons and a full offseason, there are some days where I've exhausted all of the available content for Today In Brewer History. Brewers A-Z is a supplemental feature to help fill in the gaps in my historical calendar. You can see past installments in the series in its special section.