1976 Topps #293 - Bill Castro

• Bill Castro had a ten-year career, mostly with the Milwaukee Brewers. Bill was signed by the Brewers in 1970 and was in their minor league system from 1971-1974. He came up to the Brewers at the end of the 1974 season and pitched in eight games (4.50 ERA in 18 innings).

• Castro pitched in 18 games (5 starts) in 1975 and was 3-2 with 1 save and a 2.52 ERA. He may have had some injury problems -- he pitched only once after July 20. In 1976 Bill was 4-6 with 8 saves and had a 3.45 ERA in 39 games.

• Bill had career highs in saves (13) and wins (8) in 1977. He was 8-6 with a 4.15 ERA in 51 games. Castro had his best ERA (1.81) in 1978 -- he was 5-4 with eight saves in 42 games. Bill was pretty much a 1 inning per game guy -- he pitched 49.2 innings that year.

• In 1979 Castro was 3-1 with six saves and an ERA of 2.03. Bill's last season with the Brewers was 1980. He was 2-4 with eight saves, a 2.77 ERA, and a career-high 56 appearances. After the 1980 season Bill became a free agent and signed with the New York Yankees.

• Castro wasn't used very much by the Yankees in 1981. He was with the club for the first two months and was 1-1 in 11 games (19 innings). Bill spent the rest of the season with AAA Columbus. During spring training in 1982 Castro was traded to the California Angels for Butch Hobson. He didn't make the Angels and was released at the end of spring training. The Oakland A's signed Castro on May 2 but he was released on June 25 without pitching a game. The Kansas City Royals then signed him on July 6. Bill pitched in 21 games (4 starts) and was 3-2 with one save and had a 3.45 ERA.

• Bill pitched poorly in 1983 (2-0, 6.64 ERA in 18 games) and was released on July 8. The Brewers signed him on July 15 and he spent the rest of the season with AAA Vancouver. Castro retired after the 1983 season.

• After his career Castro did a lot of coaching. He was named the Brewers' bullpen coach in 1992 and was there (except for a brief "interim pitching coach" stint in 2002) until he was named the Brewers' pitching coach in 2007. Bill was let go as pitching coach in August 2009. He was also the pitching coach for the Dominican Republic's team in the World Baseball Classic.

• Liked to face: Carl Yastrzemski (.176 in 17 AB); Jim Sundberg (.188 in 16 AB); Bobby Bonds (.077 in 13 AB)
• Hated to face: Brian Downing (.533 in 15 AB); Andre Thornton (.467 in 15 AB); Doug DeCinces (.389 in 18 AB)