December 11, 1959: The New York Yankees trade right fielder Hank Bauer, pitcher Don Larsen, outfielder Norm Siebern, and 1st baseman Marv Throneberry to the Kansas City Athletics. In exchange, the Yankees get right fielder Roger Maris, infielder Joe DeMaestri and 1st baseman Kent Hadley.
This was one of several trades the Yankees made with the A's from their 1955 arrival in Kansas City until 1960, when team owner Arnold Johnson died and the team was bought by Charles O. Finley, who stopped the original Yankee "shuttle." Anytime the A's got a player the Yankees thought was good, the Yankees would send the A's a veteran player they didn't need anymore, and get the prospect. Some players would go back and forth between the teams, including pitcher Ralph Terry and outfielder Bob Cerv.
It got to the point where people, remembering that the Kansas City Blues had been the Yankees' top farm team before the A's left Philadelphia, said that Kansas City was still a Yankee farm team.
Bauer helped the Yankees win 9 Pennants in 11 years, played 2 more years for the A's, and retired. Siebern became an All-Star for the A's, and then again for the Baltimore Orioles, where Bauer was his manager. (Bauer managed the Orioles to their 1st Pennant and World Series win in 1966, but, by then, Siebern was gone.) Larsen, the man who pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series, got to the San Francisco Giants, and helped them win the 1962 National League Pennant, even pitching against the Yankees in the World Series.
Throneberry was the Yankees' top prospect. But he didn't do much in Kansas City, and then not much in Baltimore. Early in the 1962 season, the Orioles traded him to the New York Mets. While the short right field fence at the Polo Grounds allowed him to hit 17 home runs, showing what used to be known as "oafish clout," his fielding at 1st base was legendarily bad, on the same level (if not as a slugger) with that of Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart.
Hadley played the 1960 season with the Yankees, got sent down to the minors, and then played a few seasons in Japan. DeMaestri was a decent reserve infielder on the early 1960s Pennant winners. But those 5 Pennants, including the 1961 and '62 World Series, wouldn't have been won without Maris.
He became the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1960. He won the MVP again the next year, setting a new single-season home run record, the famous "61 in '61," despite seemingly everybody hoping that he wouldn't break Ruth's record of 60 in 1927, and that teammate Mickey Mantle would. In addition, Maris might have been the best-fielding right fielder in Yankee history. Perhaps no player in Yankee history was treated worse, by fans, by team management, and by the sportswriters. And few deserved it less. He didn't have Hall of Fame career statistics, but he was a Hall of Fame person.
Would Brian Cashman, general manager of the Yankees since 1998, make this trade? Never in a million years. Maris was a lefty, and Throneberry was the crown jewel of the Yankee farm system, having already made a bit of a contribution to their 1958 World Championship season. Who knew his name would become a byword for baseball ineptitude?
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December 11, 1959 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. No games were scheduled in the NHL.
There were 2 games in the NBA. The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 152-121 at the old Madison Square Garden. Richie Guerin scored 57 points for the Knicks. This would be a team record until Christmas Day 1984, when Bernard King scored 60. That record lasted for 29 years and 1 month, before Carmelo Anthony scored 62 in a 2014 game. (UPDATE: Julius Randle scored 57 in a 2023 game.)
And the Boston Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks, 122-99 at the Boston Garden.
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