As much as we love
NFL
betting, there’s something missing from it: that wacky sense of
“old-timeyness” that calls to mind press hats, flash bulbs and fedoras. For
whatever reason, baseball hasn’t lost that culture. When we see stuff like the
Blue Jays giving away Alex Rios, it reminds us that the boys of summer
sometimes make crazy decisions in the front office.
Presenting the top 10 wackiest baseball trades of
all time. This isn’t to be confused with the worst trades – Pierzynski for Nathan, Liriano and Bonser is safe.
We’re talking bizarre deals that rival little Johnny trading his pudding cup to
Stevey in the lunch room at school for two G.I. Joes and a bag of marbles
(Great job capitalizing on Stevey’s hunger at the trade deadline, Johnny).
10. Johnny
Mac for Johnny Mac
John MacDonald wasn’t the first ballplayer to be
traded for himself, but it was funny to see him get dealt to the Tigers for
future considerations, then find out that he
would turn out to be the future consideration.
9. John
Odom for 10 bats
Hey, you can’t go wrong with a bunch of good maple
bats, right? The Odom trade is low on this list simply because his team, the Calgary
Vipers, was cornered. He had a felony on his record and wasn’t allowed to cross
the Canadian border and play for Calgary, so the Vipers shipped Odom the Laredo
Broncos for 10 maple bats.
8. Harry
Chiti for Harry Chiti
The original “guy for himself” deal. The Indians
sent him to the Mets in 1962 for cash and player to be named. A player by the
name of Harry Chiti. Hopefully he enjoyed his brief trip to the Big Apple.
7. Johnny
Jones for a “tough” turkey
Hey, at least Jones got traded for a living thing.
Joe Engel, the crazy owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts, dealt his shortstop to
Charlotte for a 25-pound turkey. Engel felt confident he’d won the deal with
his nice, fat bird (like the Expos did when they got Bartolo Colon), but later
admitted he lost because the turkey meat was “tough.”
6. Joe
Gordon for Jimmy Dykes
If you think J.P. Ricciardi is shady in Toronto,
you haven’t heard of former Indians GM Frank Lane. Fed up with his sputtering
Tribe in 1960, he attempted to trade the entire Cleveland Indians for the
Detroit Tigers. When Major League Baseball blocked the deal, he settled for
swapping his manager with Detroit’s. Neither team fared much better with its
new skipper. I’m betting
management in Kansas City and Washington wouldn’t mind trying out this
swap.
5. Dave
Winfield for a nice meal
No one was betting online on Cleveland back in 1994, and no
once was betting on Hall of Famer Dave Winfield getting traded for dinner
either. The Twins sent him to Cleveland for a player to be named but the
season-ending strike prevented him from every playing for them, meaning
Minnesota got nothing for Winfield. The Tribe compensated the Twinkies by
taking their execs out for a fancy dinner.
4. Ken
Krahenbuhl for a whole lotta catfish
Once again, the team acquiring a human got the
last laugh. The Pacific Suns felt they got a great return for Ken Krahenbuhl –
some cash and 10 pounds of Mississippi catfish – but got a rude awakening when
Krahenbuhl tossed a perfect game in his Greensville Bluesmen debut. Rumor has
it the fish rotted on the Suns bench.
3. Tom
Fortugno for 12 baseballs
The Fortugno gets the nod over the other human-for-non-human
deals because he was traded not only for inanimate objects, but for cheap inanimate objects. At least John
Odom can claim the maple bats were pricey items. But Fortugno was worth 12 baseballs? Ouch.
2. Susan
Kekich for Marilyn Peterson
The original wife swap? If you foresaw this one in
your baseball
picks, you must be psychic. Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson swapped not only
their wives, but their kids in 1973 as Yankee teammates. On one hand, the deal
was a shocker, but on the hand, is anyone named Fritz not a swinger?
1. Cy Young
for a (hopefully) good suit
OUCH. Trade the
pitcher to end all pitchers, the standard for excellence in the sport, for
a suit? A SUIT!? I hope whoever wore
it cleaned up with the ladies. Worse yet, a minor league team traded Cy Young
up to the majors for the suit. Methinks we know who won the deal (assuming the
suit wasn’t Armani).