Glory Days of the 50s and 60s: Offseason Transactions

Transactions make the offseason fun.

Until free agency came along, we watched for trades and waited for the blockbuster variety. Of course, those deals still pump life into baseball’s winter – the rumors alone provide plenty of drama – but now there are also signings and those rumors as well.

Nobody liked trades more than Frank Lane. A major league general manager for parts of four decades, he reportedly made more than 400 trades. In seven years with the Chicago White Sox, he pulled off 241 deals.

Trader Frank swapped players like they were baseball cards. He even traded his manager once, sending Joe Gordon from Cleveland for Detroit skipper Jimmy Dykes. Some of his trades were very unpopular. Like the one he made two days before the Indians’ 1960 season opener.

Lane sent Cleveland slugger Rocky Colavito to the Tigers for Harvey Kuenn, who had won the American League batting title (.353) the previous season. Colavito had shared the home run crown (42) with Harmon Killebrew.

Colavito, always a fan favorite with the Indians, slammed 80 homers in his first two years in Detroit. Kuenn batted .308 in 1960 with Cleveland, then was traded to the Giants.

Bill DeWitt earned a What Was He Thinking plaque for unloading Frank Robinson. The 1956 National League Rookie of the Year and two-time MVP (only player to win it in both leagues) was only 30 years old at the time of the deal, but DeWitt called him “an old 30.”

The Cincinnati general manager sent Robinson to Baltimore for pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun and outfielder Dick Simpson in December of 1965. Coming off a season in which he batted .292 with 33 home runs and 113 RBI for the Reds, Robinson won the triple crown in his first year with the Orioles.

Robinson hit .316 with 49 home runs, driving in 122 in an MVP season for Baltimore, which went on to win the 1966 World Series. Pappas went 30-29 in two and half seasons with Cincinnati. Baldschun was 1-5 in relief for the Reds in barely more than a season. Simpson batted .246 with five homers and 20 RBI in two years with Cincinnati.

An equally remembered 60s “steal” was the St. Louis Cardinals’ acquisition of Lou Brock. It stands out because it sparked the Cardinals to the 1964 National League pennant and World Series championship.

On June 15, 1964, St. Louis GM Bing Devine traded pitcher Ernie Broglio, 39-year-old lefty Bobby Shantz and outfielder Doug Clemens to the Cubs for the speedy Brock along with pitchers Paul Toth and Jack Spring. Broglio had won 21 games in 1960 and 18 in ’63, but was off to a slow start in 1964.

Brock was hitting .251 with two home runs at the time of the deal. He caught fire with the Cardinals, batting .348 in 103 games with 12 homers, 33 stolen bases and 81 runs scored. He was inserted into the leadoff spot for St. Louis and became a catalyst for the club’s offense over a Hall of Fame career.

Broglio won seven games in two and a half seasons for the Cubs before retiring from baseball. The contributions of the other four players in the trade were totally forgettable.

Ironically, Devine, who was later called “a mastermind” for pulling off the trade, was fired by Cardinals owner Gussie Busch two months after the deal was made.

We often hear that sometimes the best trade is one not made. Such was the case for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees in 1959.

Following that season, Pittsburgh GM Joe L. Brown was searching for some power. He talked with Kansas City, and a trade was proposed that would have sent shortstop Dick Groat, center fielder Bill Virdon, catcher Hank Foiles and starting pitcher Ron Kline to the A’s for outfielder Roger Maris, shortstop Joe DeMaestri and catcher Hal Smith.

At the last minute, with the trade about to be finalized, Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh told Brown not to make the deal. In December, Maris was shipped from Kansas City to New York.

He and Groat both won MVP awards the next season. Maris clouted 39 home runs and had 112 RBI in his first year with the Yankees. Groat led the National League with a .325 batting average and anchored a fine Pittsburgh infield as the Pirates defeated New York in the memorable 1960 World Series.