Otis was a center fielder. The Mets had Tommie Agee in center. They didn't need another center fielder. Johnson was a pitcher. The Mets had plenty of pitching. What they did need, perennially, was a 3rd baseman. So they traded Otis, 22 and with 168 major league plate appearances under his belt, and Johnson (who you don't need to consider) for Foy, a 26-year-old New York native with power and speed, who'd helped the Boston Red Sox win the 1967 American League Pennant.
On paper, this looked like a great trade. But baseball is not played on paper, it's played on grass. Or plastic.
In Kansas City, Otis became a 5-time All-Star, a 3-time Gold Glove winner, a 2-time .300 hitter, an AL leader in doubles twice and in stolen bases once, and a 4-time postseason performer. In New York, Foy decreased his hitting, and increased a drug problem that the Mets didn't know about before the trade. After the 1970 season, they left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. .jpg/220px-Joe_Foy_(cropped).jpg)
He was taken by the Washington Senators, whose 1971 edition was one of the most dysfunctional teams in baseball history, with Foy, Denny McLain and Curt Flood all playing well below their previously established standards. Foy played his last game for them, or any other team, on May 27. He was sent down to the minors, and released on July 16. He never played in the major leagues again. He eventually beat his addictions, but the damage was done: He died of a heart attack in 1989, only 46 years old.
Johnson only pitched 1 season for the Royals. They traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and helped them win the 1971 World Series.
If the Boston Red Sox had finished the job in the 1986 World Series, as they very nearly did -- or the Houston Astros had done so in the National League Championship Series, and 1 more run in Game 6 would have meant the Mets would have faced Mike Scott in the Astrodome in a Game 7 -- we would now be talking about a 53-year title drought for the Mets, and The Curse of Amos Otis.
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December 3, 1969 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games played in the NBA:
* The Boston Celtics beat the Baltimore Bullets, 113-105 at the Boston Garden.
* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 118-117 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 36 points.
* The San Diego Rockets beat the Chicago Bulls, 146-131 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Don Kojis led all pro basketball players on the night with 40 points.
* And the Detroit Pistons beat the San Francisco Warriors, 106-102 at the Cow Palace, outside San Francisco in Daly City, California.
There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets beat the Los Angeles Stars, 108-97 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
* The Washington Capitols beat the Denver Rockets, 99-87 at the Washington Coliseum.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Floridians, 126-117 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.
* And the Kentucky Colonels beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 123-109 at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas.
And there were 5 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 3-3 at what was then being called the New Madison Square Garden Center.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 5-5 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Oakland Seals, 3-1 at the St. Louis Arena.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins were not scheduled.
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