Remember1969: Who Won? Deals of History - 1967

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who won?

November 1966 through October 1967

We are back to a single year with thirteen trades between fall 1966 and fall 1967. 

Notes:   We are now pre-dating my Mets fandom as I started following the team in 1969.   There are a lot of players on this list that I never heard of, and some for very good reason - they never played in the majors.   

The first trade is interesting in that I believe it is the only time in Mets history that they traded the same two players together that they received together in an earlier trade.    New York obtained Klimchock and Bowman together in a July 1965 trade with the Braves.   I had never heard of either of them until this week when I was putting the list together.   

(1)  New York Mets traded Lou Klimchock and Ernie Bowman to the Cleveland Indians for Floyd Weaver  (Oct 12, 1966)

(2)  New York Mets traded Ron Hunt and Jim Hickman to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith.  (Nov 29, 1966)

(3)  New York Mets traded Dennis Ribant and Gary Kolb to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Don Cardwell and Don Bosch  (Dec 06, 1966)

(4)  New York Mets traded Derrell Griffith to the Houston Astros for Sandy Alomar  (Mar 24, 1967)

(5)  New York Mets traded Ed Bressoud and Danny Napoleon to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jerry Buchek, Art Mahaffey and Tony Martinez  (Apr 01, 1967)

 

(6)  New York Mets traded Larry Elliot to the Kansas City Athletics for Ed Charles  (May 10, 1967)

 

(7)  New York Mets traded Jack Hamilton to the California Angels for Nick Willhite  (Jun 10, 1967)

 

(8)  New York Mets traded John Stephenson and Rob Gardner to the Chicago Cubs for BobHendley  (Jun 12, 1967)

 

(9)  New York Mets traded Al Yates to the Boston Red Sox for Dennis Bennett  (Jun 24, 1967)

 

(10)  New York Mets traded Chuck Hiller to the Philadelphia Phillies for Phil Linz  (Jul 11, 1967)

 

(11)  New York Mets traded Jack Lamabe to the St. Louis Cardinals for Al Jackson (Jul 16, 1967)

 

(12)  New York Mets traded Ken Boyer and Sandy Alomar to the Chicago White Sox for J.C. Martin and Bill Southworth  (Jul 22, 1967)

 

(13)  New York Mets traded Hawk Taylor to the California Angels for Don Wallace  (Jul 24, 1967)

Trivia:   Sandy Alomar went on to a 15 year career, but the when the Mets traded for him he was a 23 year old infielder that couldn't hit.   His Mets career ended with a robust hitting line of 0 for 22 with a run scored (and no walks).   Yup, 22 plate appearances and a .000 OPS or -100 OPS+.      His run scored was after he was inserted as a pinch runner.  

Lou Klimchock somehow played in 12 different years in the Major Leagues and completed his career with a -2.6 WAR.     That must be hard to do, although it was probably easier in the sixties. 

I first learned that Jack Lamade and Hawk Taylor were baseball players recently while sorting through some newly acquired 1968 baseball cards.    Neither was on the Mets for their '68 card and because the names were unusual I remembered them when I was typing up this segment.   There might be more in the early Mets years that I learn about from baseball cards.   

Ron Hunt was known for getting hit by pitch.  He was hit 41 times while he played with the Mets, but he didn't really play in traffic until he got to Montreal.   With the Expos, he was plunked 110 time in his 4 years there, including 50 in 1971.    Hunt ended up with more Hit By Pitch than doubles in his career, and accumulated 32.7 WAR doing it.  

It turns out Don Cardwell had a better career than I ever knew.   I knew he was part of the 1969 staff, but he had quite a long career and ended with 16.7 WAR.   He led the NL in games started with 38 in 1961 for the Cubs.  

Ed Charles went out the right way - not many players retire a World Champions, but Charles' last career at-bat was in the 1969 World Series. 

Rob Gardner was one of out 'local' guys, from Binghamton, NY.   There have only been a few players from this upstate area to play in the majors and Gardner was the first one I remember when I started following the game in 1969.    

Seems like Bill Southworth is a good place to end this today.  Southworth accumulated +0.2 WAR in his career consisting of 7 at bats and 2 hits, including a homer.    All of his MLB at bats were before he turned 19 years old.