Trading Dugouts

Before the beginning of the 1960 season, the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians pulled off a fascinating trade, swapping 1959 home run king Rocky Colavito with the previous season batting champion Harvey Kuenn. However, this was not the strangest trade made between the two clubs that season.

Indians then-general manager Frank Lane had a quick trigger hand in trades and temper alike and had earned nicknames such as ‘The Wheeler Dealer’ and ‘Frantic Frank’. In his four decades as a baseball executive, Lane had made over 400 trades. In addition to Colavito, he had traded other notable players such as Roger Maris, Red Schoendienst and Early Wynn. During his reign in St. Louis, he had even attempted to trade the great Stan Musial.

His favorite trading partner that season was the new Tigers president, William DeWitt Sr. Five days before the Colavito-Kuenn swap, a trade that was won by the Tigers, the two clubs pulled off a deal that is viewed as one of the most important trades in Tigers history. DeWitt plucked future Tiger star Norm Cash from Lane in exchange for utility infielder Steve Demeter, who would go on to play five more major league seasons before retiring. While DeWitt’s legacy is somewhat tarnished by the Frank Robinson trade, he was always known as a bold trader when it came to improving his ball club.

So it should come to no surprise that later during the 1960 season, the two executives dreamt up a trade that had never been done in this history of baseball, a manager-for-manager swap. On August 3rd of that year, it was official; Tiger manager Jimmy Dykes would trade dugouts with Indians manager Joe Gordon.

Given his history, it should not surprise you that this trade was brought up by Lane. When given his history with his field manager Gordon, it’s no wonder Lane took much of his time in August selling the trade idea to DeWitt. If he had a shaky relationship with Gordon however, why not just fire him? Hey, Frank Lane loved to trade.

After a successful career as a power-hitting second baseman for the Yankees and Indians, Gordon had two stints as a manager with the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals in 1951-52 and in 1957, winning a PCL pennant in ’57. Midway through the 1958 season, Lane hired Gordon to replace Bobby Bragan as the manager in Cleveland. Gordon went 46-40 in his half season stint and was brought back for the 1959 season.

On the field, 1959 was somewhat of a success. Gordon led Cleveland to an 89-65 record, good for second place in the American League, and five games back of the pennant winning Chicago White Sox. However, in September, with Cleveland fading down the stretch, Lane publicly questioned some of Gordon’s decisions and said he was eyeing four or five other men for the job next season. So after the season, Gordon resigned and Lane coaxed former Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher out of his comfy color job with NBC to manage the Indians in 1960. However, the deal with Durocher went south and Lane later apologized to Gordon and rehired him.

Meanwhile, the 1959 Detroit Tigers started a mind boggling 2-15 and decided to make a managerial change. Sixty-two-year-old Jimmy Dykes took over on May 3 ^rd and lead the Tigers to a fourth place finish at 76-78. Unlike Gordon, Dykes was celebrated in Detroit for turning the club around after he led them to a record of 74-63.

In 1960, Gordon was managing the Indians to a disappointing fourth place finish. No doubt the team was missing Colavito, who was still hitting home runs for the Tigers. Lane was upset with the club’s performance and once again, Gordon was the scapegoat. The trade happened on August 10 ^th with Gordon heading to Detroit and Dykes coming to fill line-up cards in Cleveland. At the time of the trade, the Indians were 49-46 and in fourth place while the Tigers were 44-52 and in sixth place.

After the trade, neither manager could get either team going. Gordon went 26-31 in his stint in Detroit and was let go after the season. Dykes struggled just as much, going 26-32 with the Tribe. Dykes was brought back for the 1961 season but was fired after a 77-83 season in Cleveland. Dykes’ major league managing career was over after 21 seasons and a record of 1406-1541.

After leaving Detroit for the second time (he was a scout between PCL stints), Gordon became the manager of the Kansas City Athletics for 60 games before owner Charles Finley shipped him out with the club in ninth place. After eight seasons as a minor league instructor for the California Angels, Gordon returned to Kansas City to manage the expansion Royals. Gordon won 69 games with the Royals, leading them to a respectable fourth place finish in the newly created AL West. Gordon resigned after the season and went into real estate.

So while on deadline day, you’ll see sluggers like Manny get traded or aging superstars like Junior get dealt, you may never, ever see the unusual swap of managers again.