All time great baseball trades?
 

Let us know what all time baseball trades you liked or disliked? Rogers Hornsby for Frankie Frisch jumps out for me.

Lou Brock trade was a great win for the cardinals ..bad for cubs

An old Amos Rusie for Christy Mathewson

Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander

December 8, 1899 the Louisville Cardinals traded:
Honus Wagner,
Rube Waddell,
Mike Kelley,
Fred Clarke,
Deacon Phillippe,
Claude Ritchey,
Tommy Leach,
Bert Cunningham,
Jack Wadsworth,
Chief Zimmer,
Tacks Latimer,
Tom Messitt

To the Pittsburgh Pirates for:
Jack Chesbro,
George Fox,
John O'Brien,
Art Madison, and $25,000

Feeling bad about getting Brock for Broglio from the Cubs as Jake mentioned, the Cardinals sought to even things up by trading Carlton to the Phils for Rick Wise

December 13, 1927: The Detroit Tigers traded Lu Blue and Heinie Manush to the St. Louis Browns for Harry Rice and Elam Vangilder. What were the Tigers thinking?

Lu Blue 36.7 career WAR, Manush 47.2

Rice 15.3, Vangilder 2.0

On the plus side, in 1960 the Tigers traded Steve Demeter to Cleveland for Stormin' Norman Cash.

An even better Tiger trade was when they dumped McLain on October 9, 1970:

Traded by Detroit Tigers: Denny McLain, Don Wert, Norm McRae and Elliott Maddox

to Washington Senators for Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodriguez, Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan

Brinkman and Rodriguez were an excellent left side of the infield, and Coleman went 20-9 in 1971. He won 98 games for the Tigers in the 6 years he was with them.


McLain was 10-22 with a 4.28 ERA in 1971, and was dumped prior to the 1972 season, for Don Stanhouse and somebody named Jim Panther.

Ooops, I guess he can pitch.
 

Continuing the thread of "great" deals i.e. terrible for Washington, in December 1948 the Senators shipped Early Wynn and Mickey Vernon to Cleveland for Joe Haynes, Ed Klieman, and Eddie Robinson.
https://net54baseball.com/attachment...4636098636087;

Robinson is underrated (of course so is Vernon, who I think is a worthy hall debate candidate especially when you factor in 2 years of his prime lost to service) but man that's lopsided. On a tangential note is Eddie the oldest living Major Leaguer?

Colavito for Kuenn has long been one of my head scratchers. A HR leader for a BA leader. GM "Trader Lane" was long reviled in Cleveland for that one in '59.

Never Throw A Slider To The Glider!
 

This may not be on anyone's radar, but how about prior to 1969 when KC dealt Ed Charles "The Glider" to NYM for Bob Elliot and $50K !?!

Not only a pivotal part of the '69 Amazin's, but a long time coach, scout and ambassador of the game.

Gotta love the Glider, one of the game's "common" greats.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...fprPbBZo1fXJKK

I'll never forget when I learned Jim Fregosi had been traded to the Mets. I would have been about 11. Not only was he the Angels' greatest player ever up to that time, but he lived nearby me. He was literally the hero of every other kid in the neighborhood.

All I knew about Ryan was that he was a hard-throwing reliever who switched to being a starter the year before and had a mediocre year. The first time I saw him was in spring training of 1972. He started against the Giants, and when he faced Willie McCovey, he threw a pitch so high against the backstop that Willie could only look up at. From my seat in the stands at the ballpark in Palm Springs, I groaned and silently cursed the Angels for trading away Fregosi.

When I think of my favorite trades, I can't help think about the time I traded a handful of old steel pennies and buffalo nickels to a little league teammate for a baseball signed by the 1939 Cleveland Indians. I still have it.

Not exactly a trade but interesting because of the names involved: In late August, 1956 the Yankees claimed Enos Slaughter on waivers from K.C. To make room for Slaughter they released Phil Rizzuto.

December 12, 1903
 

The St. Louis Cardinals trade Mordecai “Three Fingers” Brown to the Cubs for Jack Taylor and Larry McLean.

The Brock deal was karma.

December 15 1900 the Cincinnati reds traded a unproven superstar in Christy mathewson to to New York giants for a washed up superstar in amos rusie.

In July 1910, one of the most foolish trades in Baseball history.....which greatly benefited Cleveland.

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...rthyjoejax.jpgA's trade Joe Jackson to Cleveland for Bris Lordhttps://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...lord1910WC.jpg



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Charlie Williams for Willie Mays, allowing the 'Say Hey Kid' to finish his career in New York. He was obviously on a steep downward decline, but the Mets got to the World Series the next year (1973) and I can only imagine how many tickets were bought by the hometown faithful just to see him regularly roam the outfield at Shea.

I believe we have a winner here! Pirates are real Pirates!

I'm a Tigers fan and, if given the chance to do this trade again, I would. 100 times out of 100. Without the pickup of Alexander (and picking up Bill Madlock), the Tigers don't win their division in '87. They went 11-0 in his starts and never trailed in any of them. I'll take it.

Milt Pappas for an "old" Frank Robinson.

Redsox trade RHP Carl Pavano, RHP Tony Armas Jr.

For

Pedro

1997

How about the trade going the other way? Giants trade Christy Mathewson, Edd Roush and Bill McKecknie to the Reds for Buck Herzog and Red Killefor. Is this the only time a team got 3 Hall of Famers in a trade without getting at least one in return?

How about the Braves in 1993 getting Fred McGriff for three unknown pics....

How about the Braves in 1993 getting Fred McGriff for three unknown pics....

This was a big one from Dec 5, 1990: Blue Jays trade F McGriff and T Fernandez to SD for R Alomar and J Carter

How about the Astros getting Jeff Bagwell for Larry Anderson in 1990? Turned out well for Astros.

Yes, he became the oldest living Major Leaguer last November when Val Heim died. He'll turn 100 this December.

In my online trivia league, forfeiting every game in a 25-day season is known as a Pavano.

Ozzie Smith for Gary Templeton (1982)……...how'd that work out, Padres?

Aroldis Chapman "rental" trade at the 2016 deadline. Cubs/Yankees trades are as high profile as it gets. Sure, we gave up Gleyber Torres who is a bonafide star. But our infield was already stacked (at the time) so we really don't miss him. I do not believe the Cubs would have won Game 5 without him, as well as game one of the NLDS.

I remember how mad I was when the Cards traded Templeton for this weak hitting SS. What were they thinking?! I guess their scouts knew more than I did after all.

Has this been noticed before? That's Magee, not Briscoe Lord......

Great detective work!!!!

A favorite trade of mine was the occasion early in the 1966 season when the Cubs traded a pair of major veteran pitchers, Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl, plus John Herrnstein, to the Philadelphia Phillies, for Adolfo Phillips and a young relief pitcher, one Ferguson Jenkins.

I was watching the Cubs game where Fergie made his debut. Relieving the starter, Jenkins did right well, and manager Leo Durocher let the kid bat, and KER-BLAMO!---a home run at Wrigley Field! Some genius on the Cubs converted Fergie to a starting pitcher .....

Adolfo Phillips was erratic, but when he was hot, he was red-hot. In 1967 I recall he hit 5 home runs in a doubleheader against the Mets at Wrigley. We all loved Dolph; it's too bad he didn't keep it up, but Leo was a tough one on sensitive players in a slump.

As for Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl, it was truly the right call. Those twirlers had been terrific in their time, but their time was coming to an end. That's one trade the Chicago Cubs got right.;)

---Brian Powell

I'm in with you on the Carlton. Costs the Red Birds some division titles because Auggie Busch was a hard headed clown.

Also forgot Bob Sykes for Willie McGee. Sykes never saw the mound with the Yankees.

This one was pretty huge at the time:

On December 5, 2007, the Marlins traded Cabrera and starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for pitchers Andrew Miller, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop, outfielder Cameron Maybin, and catcher Mike Rabelo.


Cabrera has won 4 batting titles, 2 MVPs, and a Triple Crown in Detroit. I'd say the Tigers did A-OK with this one.

Trade
 

Danny Carter for sparky lyle

Another big one that worked out OK for both teams:

6/14/84: Cubs get Rick Sutcliffe, Ron Hassey, and George Frazier. Cleveland got Joe Carter, Mel Hall, and two minor league pitchers.

Sutcliffe won a Cy Young and finished 4th in the MVP in 1984 after going 16-1 with Chicago. He would lead the NL in wins in 1987 as well. Unfortunately for Chicago, he got bombed in game 5 of the '84 NLCS as the Cubs blew a 2-0 games lead to lose in 5 to San Diego.

Joe Carter did alright for himself in Cleveland, leading the league in RBI and putting up big numbers his last four years there. Ended up in the HOF.

12/12/80 Brewers and Cardinals

Rollie Fingers(81 MVP/Cy Young/HOF)
Pete Vuckovich(82 Cy Young)
Ted Simmons(HOF)
For
Sixto Lezcano/Larry Sorenson/David Green/Dave LaPointe

Worked out quite well for the Brewers

2014: Eugenio Suarez (to Cincinnati) for Alfredo Simon (to Detroit)

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The Braves getting Fred McGriff for 3 minor league players in 1993!!

Yes, it was posted in this thread.... https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...=237816&page=7 (Post #315)

Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton. Don't get me wrong, Templeton wasn't a slouch but the stupid Padres let go of a HOF player for a good player. Ozzie was a site to watch in the field. I'm sure the pitchers were pissed when that deal was made. It opened up a little more real estate for those seeing eye grounders.

Roger Maris to NYY from KC
 

12-11-1959 Traded by Kansas City Athletics with Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley to New York Yankees in exchange for Don Larsen, Hank Bauer, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry (December 11, 1959

1/27/82- The Phillies, seeking to avoid paying a veteran all-star, ship Larry Bowa to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. To seal the deal the Phils threw in a fringe prospect named...Ryne Sandberg.

To be fair, San Diego was looking for a little more offense and Smith had been putrid at the plate for them. He didn't even remotely resemble a HOFer.

Orlando Cepeda Trades!
 

Being a huge Cepeda fan these 3 transactions over 6 years are pretty impressive.
05-08-1966 Traded by San Francisco Giants to St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Ray Sadecki (May 8, 1966).

Became 1st unanimous NL MVP in 1967!

03-17-1969 Traded by St. Louis Cardinals to Atlanta Braves in exchange for Joe Torre (March 17, 1969).

Torre went on to win 1971 MVP

06-29-1972 Traded by Atlanta Braves to Oakland Athletics in exchange for Denny McLain (June 29, 1972).

McLain would only win 4 more MLB games. Cepeda eventually becomes Red Sox 1st DH.