The 10 strangest trades in MLB history
A model of this story initially ran in 2014.
We’ve seen all types of unusual trades in baseball.
We’ve seen groups (Detroit and Cleveland) swap managers (Joe Gordon and Jimmy Dykes). We’ve seen a broadcaster (Ernie Harwell) traded for a participant (Cliff Dapper). We’ve seen two guys (Max Flack and Cliff Heathcote) dealt for one another between video games of a doubleheader. We’ve seen the likes of John McDonald, Dickie Noles and Harry Chiti traded for… themselves (they turned out to be the “player to be named” in offers that had briefly shipped them elsewhere).
And if you wish to get literal within the unusual trades dialogue, we’ve seen Lou Frazier traded for … Doug Strange.
The strangest trades, although, are when human gamers are dealt for animals, meals or inanimate objects. With that because the theme, listed here are 10 of the strangest trades the game has ever seen.
1. Lefty Grove for a fence
Grove pitched six video games for the Martinsburg Mountaineers of the Blue Ridge League in 1920. He was bought to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League in June of that season for the sum of $3,500 — the fee to switch Martinsburg’s outfield fence, which had been leveled by a storm.
The Orioles had Grove till promoting him to the Philadelphia A’s in 1925 for $100,600 (or $600 greater than the Yankees paid for Babe Ruth). He went on to win 300 video games and 9 ERA titles. No phrase on how the fence held up.
2. Dave Winfield for dinner
The 1994 gamers’ strike worn out the top of the season and World Series, and it additionally introduced us one of many oddest transactions in MLB historical past.
The strike started in mid-August, however the season was not canceled till mid-September. Until that occurred, groups might nonetheless function as if play would proceed, and Cleveland — nonetheless holding out hope for a postseason run — swung a commerce for Winfield simply earlier than the now defunct waiver commerce deadline on Aug. 31. The membership was purported to get a participant to be named from Minnesota, however due to the strike, that by no means occurred. To settle issues, Cleveland executives took Twins executives out for a pleasant dinner. If the steak was anyplace close to nearly as good as Winfield, it should have been a heck of a meal.
3. Tris Speaker for lease
The Boston Americans signed Speaker out of the Texas League in 1907, however he hit simply .158 in seven video games with Boston. With the group slightly tired of him at that time, Speaker needed to pay his personal technique to the crew’s Little Rock, Ark., coaching camp in ’08. And on the finish of Spring Training, the Americans — who modified their title to the Red Sox — gave his contract to Little Rock’s Southern Association crew as cost to be used of the sector.
The solely stipulation was that if Speaker developed, Boston had the proper to repurchase him for $500. Well, he developed all proper. Into a future Hall of Famer. The Red Sox bought him again later within the 12 months, and he wound up main them to 2 World Series titles.
4. Johnny Jones for a reside turkey
Jones by no means made it to the massive leagues, however his title lives on in infamy because the participant that Joe Engel, “The Barnum of the Bushes,” traded for a turkey.
Johns was a light-hitting shortstop for the Chattanooga Lookouts, and he had drawn the ire of the native press. So in 1930, Engel despatched him to the Charlotte Hornets of the Piedmont League in trade for a 25-pound turkey that Engel declared was “having a better year.” Engel had the hen cooked up for the Southern Baseball Writers’ Association Dinner. Alas, the meat turned out to be a bit of powerful, so it was determined that the Hornets had gotten the higher finish of that deal.
5. Kerry Ligtenberg for bats and balls
Undrafted out of school, Ligtenberg landed with the Minneapolis Loons of the unbiased Prairie League, pitching for $650 a month. In 1996, he was one class away from graduating from the University of Minnesota with an engineering diploma and sure leaving baseball behind. But the Braves took an curiosity in him on the urging of Loons supervisor Greg Olson.
The Braves signed Ligtenberg, and assistant normal supervisor Dean Taylor supplied to compensate Olson for the discover. Olson was sensible sufficient to ask for what his membership actually wanted — 12 dozen baseballs and two dozen bats. A steal of a deal for the Braves, for whom Ligtenberg went on to make 254 appearances over 5 seasons.
6. Keith Comstock for $100 and a bag of baseballs
This one is a step past the earlier commerce, as a result of the left-handed Comstock truly needed to ship the baseballs himself.
Comstock had been toiling away within the Minors for fairly some time and was with the A’s when, within the spring of 1983, the Tigers confirmed curiosity in him. Detroit supplied $100. When that didn’t work, the Tigers sweetened the deal by throwing within the baseballs. Comstock wound up making it to the Majors in ’84 and is now identified not a lot for getting traded for a bag of baseballs however for hilariously posing with one.
7. Joe Martina for oysters
Martina pitched only one season for the Washington Senators in 1924. But his title was not misplaced to historical past due to the ’21 swap during which Dallas despatched him to New Orleans for 2 barrels of oysters.
Because of that deal, Martina was endlessly generally known as “Oyster Joe.”
8. Len Dondero for donuts… virtually
Dondero was an infielder with San Antonio within the Texas League in 1930. When Dallas house owners George and Julius Schepps, who additionally owned a bakery, supplied San Antonio proprietor Homer Hammonds a dozen donuts for Dondero, Hammonds bit. Literally. The house owners from the 2 groups wound up sharing the donuts, and the deal was disallowed.
(By the way in which, Leonard Peter Dondero’s nickname is listed on Baseball Reference as “Mike.” Perhaps he traded names?)
9. Cy Young for a go well with
The Cleveland Spiders wanted an arm, and proprietor Frank Robison determined to take an opportunity on Denton Young, who had put collectively a strong season with the Canton Nadjys (that’s a kind of horse, for the report) of the Tri-State League.
Young would encourage not solely an awesome nickname (“Cy” for “Cyclone,” a nod to the tenacity of his pitches) but in addition the sport’s most prestigious pitching award, named in his honor. And all it value Robison to accumulate him was about $250 or $300 (accounts differ) and a brand new go well with for Canton’s skipper.
10. Mike Cisco for … nothing
No phrase on whether or not George Costanza pitched this commerce, but it surely occurred throughout Spring Training 2013. At the time, Cisco, a Thirty sixth-round Draft decide in 2008 out of the University of South Carolina, was going nowhere within the Phillies’ system, regardless of some strong numbers as a reliever in Double-A and Triple-A the earlier 12 months. The Angels wanted organizational assist, and the Phillies allow them to have Cisco as a goodwill gesture.
Every so typically, you’ll hear a couple of man being dealt for a greenback simply in order that one thing is entered into the transaction system. But “no compensation” is a rarer return. Cisco by no means reached the massive leagues, however he put up a 3.99 ERA in Double-A in his lone 12 months with the Angels, which is … higher than nothing?
