Merkle takes the heat, but there have been others

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Most of the real bonehead moves, to me, involve trades. Certainly the Red Sox sending Ruth to NY was good for NY. But sometimes money is very important - ask Connie Mack.

Certainly a rotation which included Koosman, Ryan and Seaver was too much to fathom. But I am a Giants fan, or I was. And the trade which irked me most was Schoendienst for Dark. I don't know why I thought Al Dark was the better player. The hall sure doesn't. But I still do.

Anyway, the Giants biggest bonehead move(s) to me were made by John McGraw. To me, he had the potential for the greatest team ever, but he traded the key players away for comparitively nothing.

He dumped Hornsby, a .358 lifetime hitter, who hit over .360 that year and .387 the next. Then as if that was nothing, he went on the following year and dumped a .349 lifetime hitter (Lefty O'Doul) who went on to hit .398 for his new team.

To me an infield of Bill Terry, Hornsby, Lindstrom and Travis Jackson can only be compared to an outfield consisting of O'Doul, Ott and anyone else.
You pretty much don't (Hubbell) need pitching (Fitzsimmons) with these guys (Walker, etc.)

What is your favorite bonehead move?

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Posted By: warshawlaw

The Nu-Cards Scoops (1961) card on Merkle is a comedy classic. The cards are mock newspaper headlines. Merkle's reads "Merkle Pulls Boner". Needless to say, American slang has changed over the years.

I'm not sure you can class getting rid of Hornsby as a per se bad move. The guy was the Albert Belle of his day, had open aspirations to manage, and Mac probably could not stand him once he got him. Bear in mind that St. Louis traded him before the Giants, at or near the height of his skills, so Mac was by no means unique in finding that the man was toxic.

Boston's dump of Tris Speaker over a salary dispute was probably a dumb move. I've always found Speaker to be an intriguing personality. We all know abot how he and Cobb agreed to fix a game in the late 1920's, costing both men their managerial jobs and sending both on odysseys that had them in Philly in 1928. There is much agreement that he was a vehement racist in his early days (many say he was a KKK member), yet he had a close relationship with Larry Doby and Doby credited Speaker specifically for teaching him to play the outfield in Cleveland.

How about the Dodgers giving up on Pedro Martinez? Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps? The Roger Maris trade(s)?

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Posted By: Scott

I give the Mets credit for more bonehead trades and acquisitions than any other team. I think the Pedro move will turn out to be a disaster for both of them - the Mets are where "after prime" pitchers go to complete their fade quicker. Goodbye Pedro - I think we've heard the last of you.

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Posted By: Scott M

As a long suffering Phils phan these two immediately come to mind... One which worked out badly for the Phillies and one which worked out pretty well...

Larry Bowa for Ivan DeJesus but lets thrown in rookie Ryne Sandberg to clinch the deal.

Rick Wise for Steve Carlton is one I'm sure the Cardinals would liked to have taken back over the years...

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Posted By: Pcelli60

Hornesby was a headache for McGraw and for that matter so was Frankie Frisch. Hack Wilson was yet to show his future prowess and I dont really know why O'Doul was let go..Dispite these questionable moves the
Giants and McGraw did pretty well for themselves..
Now Gil, if you really want to point to a "gaff" or "boner" just look at the Fred Snodgrass "muff" in the 1912 Series. Or the miscommunication between Merkle and Myers on the pop foul between first and home that would have been the 2nd out of the inning. Tough luck always seemed to find Matty and McGraw in Oct.

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Posted By: Pcelli60

Just to follow up..Gil I am a HUGE McGraws Giants fan! His teams are what got me started in vintage collecting. I always wondered if there was a group out there that focused on them ..The San Fran version means nothing to me..
I live in NYC and naturally follow the Football Giants and I see the Mets as a kind of second coming of my Polo Groung heros long since gone..
And for the record, my Mets will NEVER score enough runs to keep Pedro in the winning colunm! Just ask Tom Glavin or Al Leiter about that..

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Posted By: Paul

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series it's not as fashionable to talk about their failings, but they've had some major bonehead moves -- and not just trading Ruth.

In a single inning in the 86 World Series, John McNamara made two of the most bonehead moves ever. He left Buckner in the game, even though he had taken him out for defensive purposes in the late innings of every single prior postseason game. And, he left Calvin Schiraldi in the game after everyone in the country knew that he had lost it and should be pulled. And to top it off, he finally replaced him with Bob Stanley, which everyone in the country knew was a horrible mistake. I guess that's three bonehead moves.

But one of the most frustrating of all bonehead Bosox moves was the signing of Matt Young as a free agent. At the time, Young had the worst winning percentage in baseball history. And the Sox still threw several million dollars at him. I think he became one of the top 5 or 10 paid pitchers in the game. His winning percentage did not improve.

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Posted By: PASJD

Reds trading Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. Cardinals passing on Mickey Mantle. Red Sox deciding that Roger Clemens (four Cy Youngs subsequent) was in the "twilight" of his career. Red Sox trading Jeff Bagwell (ok, so he was only a prospect at the time) for an obscure relief pitcher.