The Transactions Page

Getting information on player movement has always been rather irritating to me. Some trades and signings come as a complete surprise, and others do not. The internet has made instant notification a lot more prevalent than back in the day. There was no Yardbarker or MLBTR, with reports from baseball insiders linking teams to different players. I think one of the reasons so many Dodger fans were totally frustrated with the lack of action this offseason is simply because the rumor mill had them linked to every single premium free agent out there. And they signed none of them.

I was somewhat stunned and perturbed, I might add, when they simply let Cody Bellinger walk. I still think he is going to rebound and have a monster season. Maybe the change will be a huge benefit for him. I found out about it on Twitter. A mere seconds after it was announced. When I first started following baseball, I would have had to read it in the papers the next day. With that in mind, I went on baseball reference back to the 1958 Dodgers page. I wanted to see just how much the construction of a baseball team has changed since then.

Of course, when the Dodgers initially moved to Los Angeles, they were heavily reliant on scouting. There was no draft. So, the team was built on amateur free-agent signings and trades. I also thought it would be interesting to see which players had been with the Dodgers only to be sent elsewhere. For example, how many here knew that Maury Wills, who was signed by the Dodgers back in 1951 when he was 18, was traded away once and lost in the draft before becoming their SS in 1959?

All true. On October 13th, 1958, Maury was sent to the Detroit Tigers on a conditional deal. Usually meaning, they will agree to compensation later. On April 2nd, 1959, he was returned to LA on a conditional deal. At least, that is what the transactions page says. He had been drafted by the Reds from the Dodgers in December of 1956. He was returned in what was called an unknown transaction before the start of the 1958 season. Unless you have read the transactions page, you would never know that because I have never seen it in his bio.

Anyway, I went back and looked to see which players were Dodgers for albeit a brief time and then were moved. Some trades I found very interesting. How many of you remember Chico Fernandez? Chico had an unspectacular career. He was a good glove, weak bat SS who came up to the majors with Brooklyn in 1956. Before the 1957 season, he was traded to the Phillies for five players and $75,000 dollars. One of the players, Elmer Valo, was a 37-year-old veteran. Three others would make it to the big leagues at one time or another. Tim Harkness, Ron Negray, and Ben Foster. The Phils kept Chico for three seasons before dealing him to the Tigers. Five players for a journeyman shortstop. Today it takes a superstar to net that kind of return. Chico played in the majors for eight years.

In December of 1958, the Dodgers traded another shortstop to the Phillies and got three players back. Sparky Anderson went to Philadelphia for Johnny Klippstein, Rip Repulski, and Art Fowler. Choo Choo Coleman was a Dodger for a short time. He later would be one of the Mets’ picks in the expansion draft. Back in those days, most of the major moves were made at the winter meetings. The deadline was in June. Not nearly as many trades were made back then since only two teams would eventually meet in the World Series. Vying for a playoff spot was not an option. So, blockbuster deals at the deadline were rare.

On June 15th, 1959, the Dodgers swung a deal that would have an impact on their Championship run. They traded third baseman Dick Gray to the Cardinals for Lloyd Merritt and Chuck Essegian. Essegian would hit two homers in the Dodgers’ win over the White Sox in the World Series. Also, there were not as many deals just before the September 1 cut-off for players to be eligible for the postseason back then. Another 1959 trade of interest happened in October when they sent first baseman Jim Gentile to the Orioles for two players and 50 grand. Neither player would ever suit up for LA, but Gentile played four years with the O’s and slugged 124 homers. At the time, though, LA was loaded with first basemen. Hodges, Larker, Bilko. Fairly, and Howard had just signed, and they both played 1st at one time or another.

It was very fortuitous that Wills was returned to them at the beginning of the 1959 season. Zimmer got off to an absolutely horrible start, and Pee Wee retired after 1958. By July, Wills was the starting SS and would remain as such through the 1966 season. Not sure how many of you remember Joe Altobelli. In April of 1960, they traded for Altobelli, a first baseman-outfielder. He never played a game for LA, but he did go on to manage for 5 1/2 years in the bigs. Won a division title with the Giants in 1979.

A trade I really disliked happened in May of 1961. They sent Charlie Smith and Don Demeter to the Phillies for Turk Farrell and Joe Koppe. Koppe never played a game for the Dodgers, but he had a nice career with the Angels. He was not much of a hitter, but he was a solid gloveman. They also traded in 1961 for former Giant Daryl Spencer. Bobby Lillis and Carl Warwick went to St. Louis in that deal.

Probably the most significant thing that happened after the 1961 season was baseball expansion. Two teams were added in each league. The Dodgers lost six players in the draft, Hodges and Craig, to the Mets. Farrell, Larker, Jim Golden, and Bob Aspromonte to the Houston Colt-45’s. I still like that name better than Astros. In a trade that I could not understand at all late in 1961, they sent starting second baseman Charlie Neal, pitcher Willard Hunter and 100 thousand dollars to the Mets for OF Lee Walls. Walls had hit .304 with 24 homers in 1958, but he was never close to that again. He played three seasons in LA, was used mostly as a PH, and wasn’t really that good at it.

GM Buzzie Bavasi was slowly unloading the players who had been with the team in Brooklyn. By 1963, there were only a couple left. The only position players were Roseboro and Gilliam. Koufax and Drysdale, Podres and Roebuck on the pitching side. That was it. Bavasi also, almost every year, picked up some veteran who was past his prime to fill part-time roles. Guys like Marv Breeding, Moose Skowron, and Andy Carey. He made a trade in December of 1963 that would impact the Dodgers for 12 years when he traded Dick Scott to the Cubs for Cuno Barragan and Jim Brewer.

The other way you would find out about moves back then was The Sporting News. Now local TV broadcasts would cover the Dodgers and the Angels. But if something happened on another team, you rarely heard about it unless it was a blockbuster trade. Like when Frank Robinson went from the Reds to the Orioles. That was big news. I read the Sporting News every week. One of my teachers, who was in the Red Sox system when he was young, would pass it on to me each week.

Today, you have so much more information. It is easy to see how your favorite team is being put together. MLB.TV, ESPN, and almost every major city has its own local sports channel. In LA, it is Sportsnet LA that carries the Dodger games. Here in Colorado, we have Altitude Sports. Rockies, Nuggets, and Avalanche broadcast games there. The Broncos have some sort of deal with NBC when they are not on the national broadcast. Today you can see the Dodgers every night if you have the right service. Back in the beginning, we got 11 games a year. Only the road games from SF. And the occasional game of the week on NBC with Curt Gowdy.

But deep down inside, I miss those days perusing the transactions page. It brings back a much simpler way of life.