December 11, 1975: A Big Day of Yankee Trades

Mickey Rivers

December 11, 1975: The New York Yankees trade right fielder Bobby Bonds to the California Angels for center fielder Mickey Rivers and pitcher Ed Figueroa.

The Yankees also trade George "Doc" Medich to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2nd baseman Willie Randolph and pitchers Ken Brett and Dock Ellis. (Unlike Medich, "Dock" was his actual birth name.)

Early in the 1977 season, the Yankees traded Ellis, outfielder Larry Murray and infielder Marty Perez to the Oakland Athletics for pitcher Mike Torrez. Right before that season, they sent outfielder Oscar Gamble, pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, pitcher Bob Polinsky and $250,000 to the Chicago White Sox for shortstop Russell "Bucky" Dent.

Just before George Steinbrenner bought the team, but after he had begun negotiations, so he probably gave his okay to it, the Yankees sent catcher John Ellis, 3rd baseman Jerry Kenney, and outfielders Charlie Spikes and Rusty Torres to Cleveland for 3rd baseman Graig Nettles and catcher Jerry Moses. A year after that, the Yankees sent pitcher Lindy McDaniel to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Lou Piniella.

While the White Sox got a Cy Young season out of Hoyt, and McDaniel helped make the Royal pitching staff one of the best in baseball (more due to his teaching than to his pitching, as he was near the end of his career), each and every one of these trades was genius for Yankee GM Gabe Paul (especially since he was the Indian GM for the Nettles trade, knowing he was going to the Yankees, in what was clearly a conflict of interest).

Specifically about the Rivers & Figueroa for Bonds trade: With the San Francisco Giants, the team for whom his son Barry would later become a legend, Bobby Bonds was one of the best players in the game, a rare combination of good power and great speed. Steinbrenner couldn't resist, and sent the beloved Bobby Murcer to Candlestick Park to get him. (Murcer would be reacquired in 1979.)

Bonds was a classic Brian Cashman player: Batted righthanded, had a lot of power, struck out too much (at the time, he had seasons of 189 and 187 strikeouts, then MLB records), took risky chances on the bases that hurt often enough to make people think the times it paid off weren't worth it, and had his season curtailed by injury. He had good stats for the Yankees in 1975, but didn't really fit in. It wasn't a question of should he be traded, but for what.

Figueroa joined a rotation that already had the 1st big free agent signing, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, and Ellis. It would soon have prospect Ron Guidry. Figgy was key for the 1976 Pennant and the 1977 World Series. In 1978, he became the 1st Puerto Rican-born pitcher to win 20 games in a season. He remains the only one.

Ed Figueroa

At the time of the trade, the Yankees were managed by Billy Martin. Rivers was Billy's kind of player: A contact hitter with a little power, great speed, smarter on the bases than Bonds, and a good fielder. He was a little flaky, but he was the ideal leadoff hitter for the late 1970s Yankees.

Randolph was a Martin-type player, too: A 2nd baseman like Martin had been, got on base, ran well, good defense. He would remain their starting 2nd baseman for 13 years, and would receive a Plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park.

Willie Randolph

The Yankees would need a June 15 deadline day trade to secure the American League Pennant in 1976, but lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. A few more deals were made, and they won the World Series in 1977 and 1978.

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December 11, 1975 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 109-95 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Washington Bullets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 117-109 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Buffalo Sabres, 122-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Phoenix Suns, 110-106 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 101-89 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association: 

* The New York Nets beat the Indiana Pacers, 124-123 in overtime at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Billy Knight (no relation to Bobby) scored 36 points in defeat.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Virginia Squires, 111-100 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat their traditional rivals, the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Boston Garden. Steve Vickers and Wayne Dillon each scored 2 goals for the Rangers. And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Kansas City Scouts, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

And there were 2 games played in the World Hockey Association. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Calgary Cowboys, 3-2 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. And the Indianapolis Racers and the San Diego Mariners played to a 3-3 tie at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

October 22, 1974: The Murcer-Bonds Trade

October 22, 1974: The Yankees and the San Francisco Giants swap popular star outfielders: Bobby Bonds goes to New York, and Bobby Murcer heads to San Francisco. Bonds hit 32 home runs and stole 32 bases in 1975‚ becoming only the 2nd member of "the 30-30 Club" for any of The City's baseball teams. (The 1st was Willie Mays of the 1956 Giants.)

Bonds got off to a rough start, before adjusting to the different style of pitching in the American League. He went on a tear in May. But a knee injury in Chicago on June 7 wrecked his season. He later admitted that he should have gotten surgery, missed the rest of the season, and come back stronger in 1976.

Instead, he played on, and never quite adapted to New York. After just the 1 season, he was traded to the California Angels for outfielder Mickey Rivers and pitcher Ed Figueroa. They turned out to be 2 major figures in the Yankees' revival, so Bonds' greatest value to the Yankees was as trade bait.

Today, Bonds is known 3rd for his amazing combination of power and speed, 2nd for being traded so many times, and 1st for being the father of Barry Bonds. That really isn't fair, as Bobby was a fantastic player, one of the best of the 1970s.

As for Murcer, he felt betrayed. Team owner George Steinbrenner had promised him he would be "a Yankee for life." But Steinbrenner had been suspended from operation of the team, and wasn't reinstated until 1976. So general manager Gabe Paul made the call.

Murcer loved the city of San Francisco, but hated playing in cold, windy Candlestick Park, both as a batter and as an outfielder. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1977, and he enjoyed Wrigley Field a lot more. (Sure, Wrigley also has wind issues, but it is also much more of a hitter's park.)

Still, Murcer was heartbroken to be traded by the Yankees, to whom he had given as much as anybody could in those dark years between 1964 and 1976, and swore he would never forgive them for trading him. But in 1979, Steinbrenner traded to get him back, and Bobby jumped at the chance, and he remained a part of the Yankee family, as a player until 1983, and then as a broadcaster until his death in 2008. He titled his autobiography Yankee For Life. It made sense, because, as much as he could, Steinbrenner kept his word.

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October 22, 1974 was a Tuesday. The baseball season had ended 5 days before, with the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets, 110-100 at Madison Square Garden. Bill Bradley led the Knicks with 22 points.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 125-92. John Drew scored 42 for the Hawks.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz, 134-118 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob McAdoo had 33 points and 22 rebounds. The Braves became the San Diego Clippers in 1978, and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City in 1979, becoming the Utah Jazz.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls, 92-90 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 123-121 at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. (It's now named the Hy-Vee Arena.) Elvin Hayes scored 35 points for the Bullets, who became the Washington Wizards in 1997.

The Kings stopped playing the occasional game in Omaha after this season, and became just the Kansas City Kings, then the Sacramento Kings in 1985.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 107-106 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The San Diego Conquistadors beat the Memphis Sounds, 109-106 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. Travis Grant scored 41 for the visiting "Q's."

* And the Virginia Squires beat the Spirts of St. Louis, 118-112 at the St. Louis Arena, known from 1973 to 1981 as the Checkerdome.

There were 4 games played in the National Hockey League:

* The New York Islanders beat the Atlanta Flames, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. Bob Bourne scored the winner with just 43 seconds left in regulation.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals, 3-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. This was the down period in which the Detroit team was known as the Dead Things, but the expansion Caps put together the worst season, winning-percentage-wise, in NHL history. Famously, they didn't win a game on the road until their last try, and skated around the ice with a trash can, in imitation of having won the Stanley Cup.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. The Flyers had won the Cup the season before, and would again this season -- but haven't won it since.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Houston Aeros, 7-2 at the Colisee de Quebec. In spite of this loss, the Aeros, led by a line of ageless Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty, would repeat as WHA Champions.

* The Toronto Toros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 11-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 5-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena.