All time great baseball trades?

[Chris-Counts]

Originally Posted by Jim65

Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander

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.