November 1, 1979: The Yankees Attempt to Rebuild After Thurman Munson

Rick Cerone

November 1, 1979: In separate deals‚ the New York Yankees acquire outfielder Ruppert Jones from the Seattle Mariners, and catcher Rick Cerone (a native of nearby Newark, New Jersey) and pitcher Tom Underwood from the Toronto Blue Jays.

(The acquisition of Cerone complicates things, because the team would later have a public-relations director named Rick Cerrone. They were not related, but looked like they could have been, especially after Cerone the catcher got older and shaved his mustache.)

The Yankees gave up 8 players for those 3. Going to the Jays were popular 1st baseman Chris Chambliss‚ highly-touted shortstop prospect Dámaso Garcia‚ highly-touted outfield prospect Ted Wilborn, and young pitcher Paul Mirabella. Going to the Mariners were catcher Jerry Narron, aging outfielder Juan Beníquez‚ young pitcher Jim Beattie, pitching prospect Rick Anderson.

This could have been a great pair of trades for the Yankees, as Cerone filled in admirably as catcher in the wake of the death of Thurman Munson, which forced Narron to be the starter for the last 2 months of the 1979 season; and he and Underwood were key in winning the American League Eastern Division in 1980 and the Pennant in 1981.

But Jones, named the Mariners' 1st-ever All-Star in their expansion season of 1977, and essentially acquired to replace the traded Mickey Rivers, hurt his shoulder and sustained a concussion from crashing into the outfield wall in Oakland on August 25, 1980, and was never the same player.

The Yankees traded him to the San Diego Padres during the next season's Spring Training, gaining center fielder Jerry Mumphrey, who helped win the 1981 Pennant. Jones made his 2nd All-Star Game in 1982, but his injuries persisted, and he played his last game in 1987, shortly before his 33rd birthday. He ended up making more money as an insurance salesman than he did as a baseball player.

The M's and the Jays didn't even do that well in the trades. None of the players they got from the Yankees did much. Chambliss did absolutely nothing for the Jays, through no fault of his own: They traded him, almost immediately, to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Barry Bonnell. Once an All-Star, Bonnell was terrible in Toronto, while Chambliss helped the Braves win the National League Western Division title in 1982, and nearly did so again in 1983.

Ironically, it was his tenure with the Braves, not the Yankees, that did the most to make him a major league coach: The Braves' manager at that time was Joe Torre.

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November 1, 1979 was a Thursday. Future baseball star Covelli Loyce "Coco" Crisp was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 2 games played in the NBA. The New York Knicks beat the Utah Jazz, 134-118 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was only the 10th game, and the 5th home game, that the Jazz had played since moving from New Orleans.

And the Cleveland Cavaliers beat their geographic rivals, the Detroit Pistons, 127-125 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Ingelwood, California.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.