Baseball Stew: Baseball’s most lopsided trades, part two

Here now is the second installment of a handful of select baseball swaps made in the 1900s which rank among the most lopsided trades ever.

Nolan Ryan was a throwaway, perceived as being disposable, when the Mets sent him, along with three obscure players, to California for Jim Fregosi in order to fill a long standing problem they had at third base. The move failed miserably. Simply put, a solid Fregosi would never be worth nearly as much as a Ryan. As a matter of fact, he lasted just 146 games with the Mets.

Ryan, on the other hand, set the single season strikeout record in 1973 with the Angels (383) and authored four no-hitters while in that team’s uniform. He pitched 162 or more innings in 19 seasons and in 12 of those years he led his league in strikeouts-to-innings pitched ratio, topping out at almost 10 1/2 K’s per nine IP in 1987 when he was, get this, 40-years-old!

A list all of his other major feats such as this Hall of Famer’s record for career strikeouts (5,714) or even some of his less famous accomplishments such as his record low 6.55 hits surrendered per nine innings over his career, would fill a tome, so let’s move on.

The Reds were criticized by many when they shipped Lee May, Tommy Helms, and Jimmy Stewart to the Houston Astros for Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham, Cesar Geronimo, and Joe Morgan. Morgan alone would have made that trade lopsided in favor of the Reds. A future Hall of Famer, Morgan won back-to-back MVPs in 1975 and 1976 as a prime mover of the Big Red Machine.

George Foster came to the Reds from the Giants for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert. Foster would top the 50 HR mark once, back when that was a ton of homers. In fact, when he hit 52 blasts in 1977 he was the first man to crack the 50 barrier since Willie Mays hit 52 in 1965 for the Giants; and nobody else would join the 50 Home Run Club until 1990 when Cecil Fielder smashed 51 for the Detroit Tigers.

Foster also turned in a rarity when he won three RBI titles in a row, he won an MVP award, and he certainly helped the Big Red Machine truly become the Big Red Machine. Meanwhile, San Francisco got virtually nothing in return. Duffy spent just 21 games with the Giants.

Duffy figured in another lopsided trade when the Giants sent the good fielding 25-year-old packing, off to the Indians, where he would play shortstop for six seasons, in exchange for an aging Sam McDowell. The only problem here was the Giants also sent a future two-time Cy Young Award winner and Hall of Famer to Cleveland in the same deal— we’re talking Gaylord Perry, of course. Perry won a Cy Young Award in his first year with Cleveland, 1972, when he put up sterling, league-leading totals for wins, 24, ERA, a microscopic 1.92, and complete games, 29. In the meantime, McDowell would win just 11 contests for the Giants.

Of course, following this trade Foster-Duffy-Perry trade path, Perry departed Cleveland in yet another pitiful trade, given up by the Indians for Rick Waits, Jackie Brown, Jim Bibby, and $100,000. If the Indians thought Perry, later to be known as the Ancient Mariner, was over the hill at 36, boy, were they wrong. He would go on to lead the league in wins again and last 8 1/2 more seasons, winning 127 additional games. By the way, if you can recall the last big league club he played for, you’re good (answer at the end of this article).

The Cubs robbed the Phillies in another terrible trade when they took Fergie Jenkins, yet another future Hall of Famer, off the Philadelphia Phillies’ hands. All they gave up was Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson. Both of these pitchers were through within three years of the transactions while Jenkins won 147 contests and whiffed 1,808 as a Cub. Jenkins is also famous for his six consecutive 20-win seasons while with the Cubs. His Cy Young award came in 1971 when he won 24 versus just 13 losses to go with a 2.77 ERA. A true workhorse who often racked up wins while going head to head with other clubs’ aces, Jenkins led the NL in batters faced in 1971 with a personal high of 1,299. Even today, only 30 pitchers have faced more batters lifetime than Jenkins.

For the record, the Cubs ended up trading Jenkins to Texas prior to the 1974 season for a superb hitter in Bill Madlock. Mad Dog would win four batting crowns, two with the Cubs (at a gaudy .354 in 1975 and with a lofty .339 the next year).

However, the Cubs had their pocket picked clean by the St. Louis Cardinals when they agreed to send Lou Brock, yes, another future Hall of Famer, to the Cards for hurlers Bobby Shantz and Ernie Broglio, both good pitchers, true, but they were both over the hill by the time of the 1964 deal. Broglio had led the National League in wins with 21 in 1960, and Shantz ended up with 119 lifetime wins, but in two-and-a-half years with the Cubs Broglio went 7-19 and Shantz lasted just 20 games in Chicago, going 0-1.

Brock, one of the greatest base stealers ever with 938 (second to Rickey Henderson), went on to become a member of the 3,000 hit club. Hailed by a nickname of “The Franchise,” he helped the Cards make it to the 1964 World Series, paying immediate dividends, as well as make it to the 1967 and the 1968 Series. In the latter two showcases, he dazzled the baseball world with his seven stolen bases in each of the seven-game sets, and he hit .300, .414, and .464 in his three Series appearances. That gave him an overall batting average of .391 in Fall Classic contests to go along with his .424 OB% and his 1.079 OPS.

Delve deeply enough into the record books and there are, of course, more trades which could qualify for the list of terrible, lopsided trades, but for now, these will suffice. The lesson is clear, though, for general managers every potential trade should be accompanied by a gaudy, rapidly flashing neon “Caveat Emptor” sign.

NOTE: Gaylord Perry, who made his major league debut in 1962, threw his last pitch, no doubt a wet one, on September 21, 1983, at the age of 45. He did so in the uniform of the Kansas City Royals. He had signed on with them as a free agent that July after being released by the Seattle Mariners.