Featuring not one but two ghastly suggestions to trade future Hall of Famers!
Well, it’s deadline day. By the time the clock strikes six and the dealing is done, there’ll be plenty of swaps and shuffles to discuss. But while you wait, why not take a look at some stories of trades from years past? In order to keep the mood light on this most serious and nerve-wracking of days, we have intentionally excluded stories featuring trades that turned out too badly for our beloved Phils (though if you do want to read a sad trade story, TGP has you covered there, too). Enjoy!
“Phillies Would Trade Roberts To Help Team”: December 31, 1957
Modern managers have mastered the art of the statement that is not a statement, of responding to questions with a series of words that individually convey meaning yet, combined, carry absolutely no information at all. But this art, like the cassette tape or ATM, had apparently not yet been developed in 1957. When Phillies skipper Mayo Smith was asked to write an article for the United Press about his team’s outlook for the upcoming season, he declined to fill it up with the standard fare of cheery bromides. Instead, he happily penned a piece that started, right up front, with the information that the team would most certainly trade away Robin Roberts if the return was good enough. He did go on to note that he felt Roberts would have a good season in 1958 following his underwhelming 1957 campaign; perhaps that might’ve soothed Roberts’ nerves as he read his morning paper. Smith was right about Roberts, who was much better in ‘58 (and was not traded). His prediction that the Phils would “definitely” end up in the top half of the National League didn’t fare quite as well; the Phillies finished dead last.
“Phillies Trade Seen Imminent”: May 9, 1959
“The baseball world is buzzing with Philadelphia Phillies trade talk,” reported the Associated Press. What was it that had everyone so excited? A juicy rumor? A team official with loose lips? A 1950s version of today’s Hugwatch? In actuality, it was the fact that the Phillies only gave their players three days worth of meal allowance money as they departed on their road trip, when the standard was seven. Pity the poor baseball fanatics of midcentury, who had to subsist on this thin gruel of rumor. The Phillies would indeed make a deal, swapping a few pitchers with the Cubs.
“Barney Schultz: ‘Trade Could Mean Phils Flag’”: October 28, 1965 and “Does Trade Mean Pennant? Could Be!”: April 22, 1966.
“Do you realize that could mean the pennant next season for the Phillies?” said Cardinals reliever Barney Schultz, clearly quite a fan of his three Redbird teammates who had just been traded to Philly. About six months later, once that predicted pennant campaign had already begun, the Phillies made another swap, this time grabbing a pair of veteran hurlers, Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson, from the Cubs in exchange for Adolpho Phillips. Ben Borowsky of the Bucks County Gazette was as impressed as Schultz had been, openly asking his readers “did the Phillies trade for the pennant yesterday?”
The trade with the Cardinals did bring in a player who would someday give a speech in Cooperstown, by which point he was universally acknowledged as one of the most adored figures the national pastime ever saw. Unfortunately for the Phillies, the on-field accomplishments of that player, Bob Uecker, had little to do with his future honors. The Phillies finished 4th in 1966.
“White Charges Cards Made Him Older To Get Better Deal in Phillies Trade”: December 10, 1965.
One of the other players in the deal with the Cardinals, first baseman (and future National League president) Bill White, had an unusual complaint: he claimed that St. Louis GM Bob Howsam had added a full six years to his age. White was 31, and he said that the Cards were presenting him as 37. The idea was that Howsam had lied about White’s age so as to convince the Cardinals top brass that he was dispensable. The Cards denied this.
If Baseball Reference had existed at the time, there would’ve been no issue. BR notes that White was born in 1934, and was indeed 31 at the time of the trade.
“Phillies Deny Trade Rumors”: March 29, 1965
“It’s total bullspit,” said a Phillies official. Putting the oddity of the exclamation aside, what could have produced such an exasperated outburst from the Phils?
The suggestion that they were considering trading Mike Schmidt to the Dodgers.
The supposed trade, leaked by a Dodgers official who insisted upon anonymity, was Schmidt (career WAR 106.9) for pitchers Bob Welch and Tom Niedenfuer, first baseman Sid Bream, and prospects Ralph Bryan and Jack Fimple (combined career WAR of 66.6, and 43.7 of those wins were contributed by Welch).
Who knows whether or not the unnamed Angeleno was being truthful, but we can all be glad it didn’t happen.
Smith, Mayo. “Phillies Would Trade Roberts to Help Team.” The Duncan Banner. Dec. 31, 1957, pg 3.
Associated Press. “Phillies’ Trade Seen Imminent.” Delaware Country Daily Times, May 9, 1959, pg. 14
United Press International. “Cubs and Phillies Trade Two Pitchers”. Clinton Daily News, May 13, 1959, pg. 5
Ribar, John. “Barney Schultz: ‘Trade Could Mean Phils Flag’”. The Bristol Daily Courier, Oct 28, 1965, pg. 32
Borowsky, Ben. “Does Trade Mean Pennant? Could Be!”. The Bucks County Gazette, Apr 22, 1966, pg. 21
Temple, Wick. “White Charges Cards Made Him Older To Get Better Deal in Phillies Trade”. The Terre Haute Star, Dec 10, 1965, pg. 22
Conlin, Bill. “Phillies deny trade rumors”. The Daily Dispatch (Moline, Illinois), Mar 29, 1985, pg. 19