Roster Moves
8/24/2012
Invisible Hands drop Miguel Cabrera (DET) and pickup Jose Bautista (TOR)
In honor of the Dodgers-Red Sox deal, trades will be the focus of:
This Week's Three Trivial Things...
1. One of the worst trades in MLB history occurred on July 23, 1910. The Philadelphia A's sent 2B/3B Morrie Rath and a player to be named later to the Cleveland Naps for OF Bris Lord. The player to be named later was sent to Cleveland a week later. That player was Shoeless Joe Jackson. The A's gave up on Jackson after just using him in 10 games over two seasons.
2. Catcher Harry Chiti spent 10 seasons in the major leagues. At the end of his career he was traded from Detroit to the expansion New York Mets in 1962. Chiti was traded for a player to be named later. Chiti underwhelmed the Mets so much that they returned him to Detroit to fulfill the terms of the trade. That makes Chiti the first player in MLB history to be traded for himself.
3. He had 3,000 hits and was traded for a dinner. This happened to Dave Winfield. In 1994, Winfield was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later. However, before he could don an Indians uniform, the players went on strike and the rest of the season was cancelled. The Indians never sent a player to Minnesota as Winfield's contract expired at the end of the season. So, to settle the debt, the Twins front office staff took the Indians front office staff out to dinner to complete the deal. Winfield would play for the Tribe in 1995, but it was under a new contract.
Baseball Card of the Week
In honor of his one-man deal, Harry Chiti gets a spot in the blog. Here's a look at Harry's 1960 Topps card #339.
Until next week folks, remember the trade that brought Vernon Wells to the Angels may go down as one of the worst in MLB history.
-The Commissioner
