Remember1969: Who Won? Deals through history - 1963 and 1964

 

Mets Trades through the years:  Who won?

Entering the last week of March and opening day 2022 right around the corner seems like a good place to wrap up this series.   This post will cover 1963 and 1964 and Thursday's finale will cover the first six trades in Mets history for the 1962 season.  

November 1963 through October 1964

 

Notes:   Roger Craig finished his Mets to year career with a 15-46 record and a 4.14 ERA.   I wonder what kind of a record a 4.14 ERA would have gotten him had he pitched for the '62-'63 Yankees?   He finished his career with a 12-14 record after this trade.   

(1)  New York Mets traded Roger Craig to the St. Louis Cardinals for George Altman and Bill Wakefield  (Nov 04, 1963)

 (2)  New York Mets traded Chico Fernandez and Bobby Catton to the Chicago White Sox for Charley Smith  (Apr 23, 1964)

(3)  New York Mets traded Jay Hook and Adrian Garrett to the Milwaukee Braves for Roy McMillan  (May 8, 1964)

(4)  New York Mets traded Frank Thomas to the Philadelphia Phillies for Gary Kroll and Wayne Graham  (Aug 07, 1964)

(5)  New York Mets traded Frank Lary to the Milwaukee Braves for Dennis Ribant  (Aug 08, 1964)

Trivia:   It's amazing what a 29-62 career record will do for a guy's WAR.  You'd think that anybody that stuck around the bigs long enough to accrue 91 decisions should have a positive WAR, but Jay Hook could quite muster it, finishing with -0.9 WAR for his efforts. 

Who knew that Wayne Garrett had a big brother that also played in the organization?   Adrian never made the big club with the Mets, but later played with a couple teams hitting only .185.  

Roy McMillan had a pretty good career, but like a lot of other players the Mets have obtained through the years, they hooked him for the last couple years when he was well into his 30s.  He did have a decent year as the starting shortstop in 1965 in his 35 year old season. 

Frank Lary had a very fine 11 years with the Tigers with almost 30 career WAR before coming to the Mets at the tail end of his run.  

Frank Thomas was one of the better hitters of the early Mets and was the answer to Mets trivia question "Who was the first player the Mets obtained in a trade?"

November 1962 through October 1963

Notes:  Bob Miller is one of the most common baseball names.  This guy's career spanned 17 years with two service terms with the Mets.   They traded him after he finished 1-12 in 1962 (who didn't?) as a 23 year old.    He finished up his career 12 years later improving his Mets record to 3-14 going 2-2 in 58 games in 1974.  

Mantilla had one of the better Mets seasons in 1962 as the regular second baseman.  It makes sense that they'd trade him after a .729 OPS year.   In the next three years in Boston, he improved to .843.   The guy could hit.    Stallard was 16-37 in his two years with the Mets, Green gave them 15 hits total and Moran produced a .195 batting average over 135 games played in 1963 and 64.   Not a great trade. 

The 1963 list: 

(1)  New York Mets traded Bob Miller to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Tim Harkness and Larry Burright  (Dec 01, 1962)

(2)  New York Mets traded Felix Mantilla to the Boston Red Sox for Tracy Stallard, Pumpsie Green and Al Moran  (Dec 11, 1962)

(3)  New York Mets traded Larry Foss to the Milwaukee Braves for Chico Fernandez  (May 08, 1963)

(4)  New York Mets traded Charlie Neal and Sammy Taylor to the Cincinnati Reds for Jesse Gonder  (Jul 01, 1963)

(5)  New York Mets traded Jacke Davis to the St. Louis Cardinals for Duke Carmel  (Jul 29, 1963)

(6)  New York Mets traded Ken MacKenzie to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ed Bauta  (Aug 5, 1963)

Trivia:   There actually should be a seventh trade listed in 1963 as I was looking at the page for Jacke Davis just to see how he was obtained by the Mets and it simply indicates 'Sent  from the San Francisco Giants to the New York Mets in an unknown transaction sometime in May 1963, actual date unknown'.  He never played for the Mets.