Top 10 Trades of the 1960s
One of the biggest differences between today’s baseball and the baseball of the 1960s can be found when the big trades happen.
These days, the biggest trades seem to happen right before the trade deadline in late July, when pennant contenders stock up on whatever extra punches or pitches they think they might need to get them over the top. Likewise, teams already fading from the race are likely to dump their most attractive properties by the end of July, particularly if impending free agency means a player will probably move anyway.
That wasn’t the case in the 1960s. That was the last full decade when players were tied to teams indefinitely without the option of free agency. The biggest trades typically happened during the winter and affected the teams involved for a season or more, not just a couple of months.
There were several major trades during the 1960s. Here are the 10 biggest, based on their immediate and long-term impact on the teams involved and how they helped shape the pennant races that resulted. In some cases, these trades also had a major impact on the players’ careers, and in some cases extended beyond the 1960s.
1. Baltimore Orioles Acquire Frank Robinson: For some reason, the Cincinnati Reds had been disenchanted with this future Hall of Famer, just 4 years after he won the National League MVP award in 1961. During those 4 years, Frank Robinson hit a combined .303 with an average of 30 home runs and 109 RBIs per season. However, the Reds felt Robbie was on the downside of his career and were happy to have three established pitchers, Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson, from the Baltimore Orioles. All the Orioles got in return was the 1966 Triple Crown winner and AL MVP, the first player to win an MVP in each league. The Orioles also won the World Series that year.
2. St. Louis Cardinals acquire Lou Brock: This was probably the most lopsided trade of the 1960s. (After all, Milt Pappas went 30-29 over 2 seasons for the Reds. The Cardinals sent to 2 former 20 game winners, Ernie Broglio and Bobby Shantz, along with outfielder Doug Clemens, to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jack Spring and Paul Toth and an outfielder named Lou Brock.Broglio and Shantz won a total of 8 games for the Cubs. Clemens hit .279 with 12 RBIs in 54 games. Brock led the Cardinals to the World Series. In 103 games, he hit .348 and scored 84 runs, with 9 triples, 12 home runs, 44 RBIs and 33 stolen bases In the World Series against the New York Yankees, Brock was instrumental in helping St. Louis win the championship, hitting .300 with 5 RBIs and 9 hits in 7 games, including 2 doubles and a home run.
3. The Chicago Cubs acquire Ferguson Jenkins. It looked like a steal for the Phillies. Philadelphia delivered two outfielders with more bench chips than career hits, and a promising young pitcher (43 wins in 4 minor league seasons), but gained 2 proven major league starters, Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl, who won a combined 27 games in 1965. Over the next 3 years, that pair of pitchers went 47-53 for the Phillies. In those same 3 years, Philadelphia turnaround pitcher Ferguson Jenkins won 46 games for the Cubs on his way to winning 284 in a Hall of Fame career. Beginning in 1967, Jenkins won 20 or more games for the Cubs in 6 consecutive seasons. He is the only pitcher with more than 2,000 strikeouts in his career as a Cub.
4. Philadelphia Phillies acquire Jim Bunning: It was essentially a 2-player trade looking to bounce back from a sub-par 1963. To add Don Demeter’s bat to their outfield, the Detroit Tigers parted ways with right-handed pitcher Jim Bunning, who had won 110 games in the previous 7 seasons but won only 12 in 1963. Demeter’s 1962 season with Philadelphia proved to be a racing season that he never came close to matching. Bunning became the Phillies’ ace, winning 74 games over the next 4 seasons and becoming the first pitcher in the 20th century to win more than 100 games in each league.
5. Chicago White Sox acquire Hoyt Wilhelm: He was 29 when he won 15 games, all in relief, as a rookie for the New York Giants in 1952. At the end of the 1962 season, 39-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm (7 – 10 that season with a 1.94 ERA) was traded by the Baltimore Orioles (along with outfielder Dave Nicholson and infielders Ron Hansen and Pete Ward) to the Chicago White Sox for shortstop Luis Aparicio and outfielder Al Smith. How much more could Wilhelm have left in the tank? The answer turned out to be enough. In the next 6 seasons with the White Sox, Wilhelm appeared in 361 games, winning 41 and saving 98, with a combined ERA of 1.92. Wilhelm’s career lasted until 1972, when he retired as the all-time leader in appearances (1,070), relief wins (143), and saves (227).
6. Chicago White Sox acquire Tommy John: He was one of the top pitching prospects in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system. But in his first 2 seasons with the Tribe, Tommy John won just 2 of 13 decisions. Cleveland packaged John with outfielder Tommie Agee and catcher John Romano in a three-team deal that sent the trio to the Chicago White Sox and ultimately brought slugger Rocky Colavito back to Cleveland. John won 14 games for the White Sox in each of the next 2 seasons and led the American League in shutouts in both 1965 and 1966. Overall, in a 26-year career, John pitched 7 seasons for the White Sox, winning 82 games. His career total of 288 wins is the most of any pitcher of the 20th century not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
7. San Francisco Giants Acquire Billy Pierce: From 1949 to 1961, Billy Pierce was the left-handed ace on the Chicago White Sox staff and one of the best left-handers in the American League. He won 20 games twice, led the league with a 1.97 ERA in 1955, and led the league in complete games from 1956 to 1958. The next 3 years saw a decline in wins and an increase in ERA, so after In the 1961 season, the White Sox sent Pierce and Don Larsen to the San Francisco Giants for a minor league outfielder and pitchers Eddie Fisher and Dom Zanni. Pierce rebounded with a 16-6 season that was instrumental in helping the Giants to the 1962 National League pennant. In the 3-game playoff with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pierce won Game 1 by shutting out the Dodgers ( and beating Sandy Koufax) 8-0. He returned 2 days later to pitch a shutout ninth inning, salvaging the win for the guy he was traded for…Don Larsen.
8. St. Louis Cardinals Acquire Orlando Cepeda: During the first half of the 1960s, San Francisco Giants first baseman Orlando Cepeda was one of the best players in baseball. He was the league’s Rookie of the Year in 1958, hitting .312 with 25 home runs, 96 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. In 1961, Cepeda led the league in home runs (46) and RBIs (142) while hitting .311. From 1960 through 1964, Cepeda hit a combined .307 average, averaging 34 home runs and 109 RBI per season. Then a persistent knee injury reduced his playing time and his power numbers, and in 1966 the Giants traded Cepeda to the St. Louis Cardinals. Finally healthy in 1967, Cepeda made the most of the shrewd treatment of the Cardenales. He earned the National League MVP Award as the pennant-winning Cardinal’s offensive leader, hitting .325 with 25 home runs and a league-leading 111 RBI.
9. San Francisco Giants Acquire Mike McCormick: In 1960, Mike McCormick, a pitcher for the fifth-ranked San Francisco Giants, won 15 games and led the National League with a 2.70 ERA. He fell to 13-16 in 1961, and during the Giants’ pennant-winning 1962 season, arm problems made McCormick the forgotten man on a solid pitching roster. He finished that year 5-5 with a 5.38 ERA in just 15 starts. He was traded to the Baltimore Orioles and then to the Washington Senators. Prior to the 1967 season, the Giants re-acquired McCormick, who promptly led the league with a 22-10 record. He pitched 5 shutouts and posted a 2.85 ERA, becoming the NL’s first Cy Young pitcher. (Before 1967, only one Cy Young Award was given to the best pitcher in Major League Baseball.)
10. Minnesota Twins acquire Jim Perry: Gaylord’s older brother broke into the majors in 1959 with the Cleveland Indians, going 12-10 with a 2.65 ERA as a starter and reliever. Jim Perry led the American League in wins (18, tied with Chuck Estrada of the Baltimore Orioles), starts (36), and shutouts (4) in 1960. Over the next 2 years, pitching for a weak Cleveland team, Perry he reached 22-29, and was traded to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher Jack Kralick. Perry spent the next 5 years with the Twins going back and forth between the bullpen and the starting rotation. During the Twins’ pennant-winning season in 1965, Perry went 12-7 with a 2.63 ERA, including 7 straight wins down the stretch, all for a team that, earlier in the year, had put him on waivers. When Billy Martin made Perry his number one starter in 1969, he responded by going 20-6 with a 2.82 ERA, leading the Twins to a division championship. He surpassed that performance in 1970 with a 24-12 season that earned him the American League Cy Young Award.
