Remember 1969: Who Won? Deals of History - 1968 through 1971

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who won?

 Today's segment will include four years spanning their first World Championship with two years following it and two years preceding it.   There were only 13 trades in those 4 years.   By contrast, there were `13 in 1967 by itself.    They will all be included in Thursday's piece. 

                                  November 1970 through October 1971

Notes:  None of these three trades were particularly notewothy except that trading Swoboda was painful for us that learned the Mets in 1969.   Swoboda and Hahn each stuck around the majors for 4 or 5 years after the trade, but both were about replacement level players at that time. 

(1)  New York Mets traded Ron Herbel to the Atlanta Braves for Bob Aspromonte  (Dec 01, 1970)

 (2)  New York Mets traded Bill Denehy and Dean Chance to the Detroit Tigers for Jerry Robertson  (Mar 30, 1971)

 (3)  New York Mets traded Ron Swoboda and Rich Hacker to the Montreal Expos for Don Hahn  (Mar 31, 1971)

Trivia:    None of these three trades were particularly notewothy except that trading Swoboda was painful for us that learned the Mets in 1969.   Swoboda and Hahn each stuck around the majors for 4 or 5 years after the trade, but both were about replacement level players at that time. 

Wasn't it Ron Herbel that had that massive stuffed bear on the bench with him in his days in San Francisco?  I might be wrong about that.     Herbel was obtained on Sept 1, 1970 (see below) and pitched in 12 games for the Mets with a 1.38 ERA before being traded after the season. 

Ron Herbal is actually the answer to a hitting trivia question.   He has the lowest batting average of any player in history with at least 100 at bats.    Over the first 109 at bats of his career, he had 1 hit, an average of .009.   He then went 5 for 97 to finish his career with a robust .029 average.   Nobody else did it any worse.  

The Bill Denehy trade of March 1971 was the second time in about 3 and a half years that the Mets traded him.   The other one was the better trade  . .keep reading. 

November 1969 through October 1970

Notes:  Trade 1 of the '69 - '70 offseason is generally regarded as the second worse trade the Mets have ever made.

Trade 2 certainly did not make up for Trade 1, but it turned out pretty well for the Mets as Sadecki was a southpaw workhorse for the next five years, starting in 161 games over that time with an ERA of just over 3.3.    

(1)  New York Mets traded Amos Otis and Bob Johnson to the Kansas City Royals for Joe Foy  (Dec 03, 1969)

(2)  New York Mets traded Jim Gosger and Bob Heise to the San Francisco Giants for Ray Sadecki and Dave Marshall  (Dec 12, 1969)

(3)  New York Mets traded J. C. Martin to the Chicago Cubs for Randy Bobb   (Mar 29, 1970)

(4)  New York Mets traded  Rod Gaspar to the San Diego Padres for Ron Herbel  (Sep 1, 1970)

Trivia:   Otis and Johnson together scored almost 50 WAR after this trade and Foy's career was seemingly derailed by 'coming home' to his hometown of New York City.   Apparently some drug use that he picked up from his hometown 'friends' did him in.     Foy was actually quite a productive hitter in his day, and even with the Mets in 1970 put up a .373 OBP (a quiet .373 OBP).  

Trade 3 was one light hitting back-up catcher for another who never actually played with the Mets.  

Nov 1968 through October 1969

 Notes:   Trades 1 and 2 this year were pretty nondescript, but Trade was arguably in the top 5 of all trades made in Mets history.   If a mid-season trade is defined for 'did the player greatly contribute to getting the team over the top that year' the answer is inequivocably 'Yes'.   Donn Clendenon was a major difference maker in the 1969 championship.   He also had a fine year in 1970.   Steve Renko went on to accumulate 23+ WAR in a solid pitching career.  

(1)  New York Mets traded Jack DiLauro to the Detroit Tigers for Hector Valle  (Dec 03, 1968)

(2)  New York Mets traded Greg Goossen to the Seattle Pilots for Jim Gosger  (Feb 05, 1969)

(3)  New York Mets traded Kevin Collins, Steve Renko, Jay Carden and Dave Colon to the Montreal Expos for Donn Clendenon  (Jun 15, 1969)

November 1967 through October 1968

 Notes:   All three of these trades were key to "one year later".     This was the more productive Denehy trades.   

(1)  New York Mets traded Bob Johnson to the Cincinnati Reds for Art Shamsky  (Nov 08, 1967)

(2)  New York Mets traded Bill Denehy to the Washington Senators for Gil Hodges  (Nov 27, 1967)

(3)  New York Mets traded Tommy Davis, Jack Fisher, Billy Wynne and Buddy Booker to the Chicago White Sox for Tommie Agee and Al Weis  (Dec 15, 1967)

Trivia:   The back of the 1968 Tommy Davis baseball card says "A real coup for the White Sox was their acquisition of All-Star Tommy Davis last winter".    Hmm.  He played for the Sox for just one year with a .633 OPS and then went on to bounce around the league with 7 additional teams over the next 8 years.    Agee was a vital piece of the 1969 Mets and Weis was a steady defender who hit just enough to keep playing time as a platoon partner with Ken Boswell.