Casagrande is one of those few Phillies players that Topps issued a major league card for that never actually appeared for the team, and in fact, never actually appeared for any major league team.
Teams were allowed to carry 28 men for the first 31 days of the season from 1953 to 1967. It's a shame that Casagrande was one of the season-opening 28 Phillies players in 1955, but never got into a game in his best opportunity to reach the majors. It was a "So close, but yet so far" situation.
Certainly, opening the season with 28 men for the first month of the season before cutting back to 25 had it's advantages and a manager could really shape a team's roster with that rule in effect. He could test his 'marginal' players and rookies under real competition that counted in the standings and in statistics, unlike Spring Training competition. Then when mid-May rolled around and the rosters had to be reduced managers could make informed decisions on who to keep for the final 25 man roster.
I liked that rule and you have to wonder was this practice was allowed to die out.
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