Decades ago, baseball players were on just one team most of their careers. But eventually, even players like Pete Rose, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson switched uniforms at least once…sometimes more than that. Over the past 25 years or so, players have come and gone for three-year stints through free agency and major trades…for those teams who have plenty of cash and a daring GM to pull it off. The game has changed.
Chances are you clearly remember great and not-so-great trades your team has made over the years—that first- or second-year player who was very average on your team but who blossomed once he was traded for that superstar/savior your team acquired who seemed to “call it in” once he signed that fat contract.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest trades for a variety of teams, mostly in terms of the star power involved…or how it turned out for at least one of the teams.
The Boston Red Sox trade a youngster named Jeff Bagwell to Houston for…
…an aging reliever named Larry Andersen. Bagwell went on to play 15 strong seasons for the Astros, starting off by being NL Rookie of the Year in 1991. He also won three Silver Slugger Awards and was a three-time All-Star for the National League. The main reason behind the trade? Supposedly, Boston had Mo Vaughn at first base and they weren’t convinced young Bagwell could play another position. He went on to have a fantastic career at 2nd base, belting 449 career home runs with an on-base percentage of .408.
The Los Angeles Dodgers send Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to…
…the Florida Marlins, who would then trade Piazza to the New York Mets eight days later. The Dodgers, who didn’t want to meet Piazza’s contract demands, got Manny Barrios, Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich and Charles Johnson from the Marlins. None of them, except maybe Sheffield, did much in a Dodger uniform. Piazza was in his prime and went on to be a great player for the Mets, one of their all-time best. He hit 427 home runs and had a lifetime regular-season average of .308. Over that stretch of time, the Dodgers struggled to find a productive catcher.
The Boston Red Sox trade George Herman Ruth for…
…cash and a loan for a Broadway play. In what was the worst baseball deal ever, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, Harry Frazee, traded the soon-to-be biggest name in baseball history to the New York Yankees in January of 1920. George Herman, known as “The Babe,” became a legend for the Yankees. For decades, Babe Ruth’s name was connected to Boston only because of the disastrous trade and ensuing “Curse of the Bambino.” The Red Sox, who had won the World Series in 1918, wouldn’t win again until 2004. The Babe had been very good with Boston as a pitcher and hitter. He won 18 games in 1915, 23 the next season and 24 in 1917. And he hit over .300 four out of the six years he was there. Frazee, who was also a Broadway producer, needed cash to finance a play called My Lady Friends, which eventually became a famous, long-running musical play called No, No, Nannette.
The Red Sox trade Michael Goss, Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon and Jorge de la Rosa for…
…Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Why is this Fall 2003 trade so significant? Most people agree this was the deal that turned the Red Sox’s fortunes around and finally wiped out the dreaded Curse of the Bambino. Schilling won 21 games for the Red Sox in 2004, came in second for the AL Cy Young voting and, of course, started Game 6 of the 2004 AL Championship Series against the Yankees…the famous “bloody sock” game, where Schilling pitched the Sox to victory with a torn ankle tendon. There’d be a second bloody-sock game in the four-game sweep of the Cardinals in the World Series. Schilling became a Red Sox legend and the Curse was finally laid to rest.
The Tigers trade Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Eulogio de la Cruz, Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller and Mike Rabelo to the Marlins in December 2007 for…
…Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. Unless you’re a die-hard baseball fan, you probably don’t know many of the Florida players listed above. And unless you have lived in a cave since 2008, you know who Miguel Cabrera is. Cabrera was only 24 when he was traded to the Tigers and he’s been one of the best players in the game since that time. In the 2012 season, Cabrera became just the 15th player to win baseball’s Triple Crown and the first since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski did it in 1967. “I can’t describe the feeling right now,” Cabrera said. Most likely a lot of Florida Marlin fans were saying pretty much the same thing.
The Baltimore Orioles trade pitchers Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson for…
…Frank Robinson. Robinson started his career with the Reds in 1956. At age 30, the Reds must have figured that Robinson was getting too old, so they dealt him. Milt Pappas pitched pretty well for the Reds, winning 30 and losing nine over three seasons; but Baltimore scored with Robinson. He won the Triple Crown in his first season with the Orioles and led the league that year with 49 home runs, 122 RBIs, 122 runs and a .316 batting average. Oh, and he led the Orioles to a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, the team’s first-ever Series win. He led the team to another World Series in 1970, that time over his former team, the Reds.
The Kansas City Athletics acquire Don Larsen from the Yankees in 1961 by trading…
…Roger Maris. Don Larsen had pitched his perfect game in the 1956 World Series, but the Yankees sent him to the A’s along with two other players, including Hank Bauer. The Yankees also got players named Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley in the trade, but Maris turned out to be the prize. In ’61, he and Mickey Mantle battled all season for the home run title, and Maris broke Ruth’s single-season record of 60 homers on the last day of the season. He was named the Most Valuable Player that year as well. Chances are though that Maris would have rather hit his 61 homers out of the spotlight of New York City and Yankee Stadium, “The House that Ruth Built.”
Source: bbref.com
