November 29, 1971: The Trade That Made the Big Red Machine

November 29, 1971: The Cincinnati Reds trade 1st baseman Lee May, 2nd baseman Tommy Helms and utility player Jimmy Stewart to the Houston Astros for 2nd baseman Joe Morgan, center fielder César Gerónimo, outfielder Ed Armbrister, utility player Denis Menke and pitcher Jack Billingham.

May was a power-hitting All-Star, and gave the Astros 3 strong seasons before they foolishly traded him to the Baltimore Orioles. Helms, a former National League Rookie of the Year, a 2-time All-Star and a 2-time Gold Glove, gave the Astros 3 decent seasons, but stopped hitting in his 4th. Stewart stopped hitting, and only played 2 more seasons in the major leagues. Still, getting May in the trade meant that the Astros were not exactly robbed.

If Morgan had gotten hurt and done nothing for the Reds, this would still have been a good trade for them. Menke didn't do much for them, but Billingham was a good starting pitcher, Gerónimo won 4 straight Gold Gloves as their center fielder and even batted .307 in 1976, and Armbrister was a key reserve, famously involved in the play that won Game 3 of the 1975 World Series.

But Morgan became perhaps the best all-around player in baseball, the sparkplug of what had already been known since the 1970 season as "The Big Red Machine." In 1972, he led the NL in walks, on-base percentage and runs scored, and helped the Reds win the Pennant. In 1975 and 1976, he helped them win the World Series, and was named the NL Most Valuable Player both times. In the top of the 9th inning of Game 7, his RBI single was the Series' winning run. He stole 689 bases in his career, 406 of them in his 8 seasons with Cincinnati. He also surpassed Helms by winning 5 straight Gold Gloves.

Unfortunately for Reds fans, their team had a cheap organization, and when his contract ran out after the 1979 season, they didn't try to re-sign him. He went back to the Astros, and helped them win the 1980 NL Western Division title. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility.

On this same day, another big trade was made: The San Francisco Giants, coming of a season in which they beat the Reds out for the NL West title, traded their best pitcher, Gaylord Perry, to the Cleveland Indians for their best pitcher, Sam McDowell.

Sam McDowell

It would be a huge mistake: "Sudden Sam" had succeeded Sandy Koufax as baseball's top strikeout artist, but his drinking was out of control, and he was out of the major leagues 3 1/2 years later, only 32 years old. He beat his problem to become one of baseball's foremost substance-abuse counselors.

Gaylord Perry

Perry won the American League's Cy Young Award in 1972, but the Indians made the trade less consequential than it could have been by letting him go too soon, probably for the same reason they traded McDowell: Salary concerns, as the Indians were always short on cash. In 1978, with the San Diego Padres, Perry won the NL's Cy Young Award, becoming the 1st man to win it in both Leagues. McDowell had been considered a possibility to join the 300 Wins and 3,000 Strikeouts Clubs, and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Perry actually did join them.

Two dumb trades in one day. Do I hear three? The Chicago Cubs traded pitcher Ken Holtzman to the Oakland Athletics for center fielder Rick Monday. Holtzman helped the A’s win 3 straight World Series, and Monday did little for the Cubs, until they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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November 29, 1971 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. No NBA, ABA or NHL games were scheduled. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Chicago Bears, 34-3 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

September 27, 1963: Houston's Baby Colts

September 27, 1963: The Houston Colt .45s, an expansion team at the end of their 2nd season, 35 games out of 1st place, try something. After all, what have they got to lose? Three more games, at most.

In their 3rd-from-last game of the season, against their fellow 1962 expansion team, the New York Mets, at Colt Stadium -- a 32,000-seat, single-decked, mosquito-infested temporary stadium with no protection from the brutal Texas Sun, used as a stopgap facility until the Astrodome can be built next-door -- manager Harry Craft tries what becomes known as the "Baby Colts" experiment. For the 1st time in major league history, and it remains the only time, Craft started a lineup made up entirely of players who had made their major league debuts that season.

Here's his starting lineup:

Shortstop, Number 29, Roland "Sonny" Jackson, 19 years, 80 days.

2nd Base, 12, Joe Morgan, 19 years, 8 days.

Center Field, 18, Jimmy Wynn, 21 years, 200 days.

1st Base, 10, Daniel "Rusty" Staub, 19 years, 179 days.

Right Field, 17, Aaron Pointer, 19 years, 160 days.

Left Field, 29, Brock Davis, 19 years, 344 days.

3rd Base, 4, Glenn Vaughan, 19 years, 223 days.

Catcher, 8, Jerry Grote, 20 years, 356 days.

Pitcher, 42, Jay Dahl, 17 years, 295 days.

So, 7 out of the 9 starters were still teenagers, and the starting pitcher wasn't even 18 years old.

In the 3rd inning, Craft relieved Dahl with Danny Coombs (Number 41; 21 years, 188 days). The next inning, he sent John Weekly (26; 26, 105) to pinch-hit for Coombs. In the 4th, he sent Joe Hoerner (44; 26, 319) out to pitch.

For the 6th, he moved Vaughan to shortstop, and sent Ernie Fazio (11; 21, 245) to 3rd base, replacing Jackson in the leadoff spot in the batting order. Later that inning, he sent Mike White (16; 24, 283) to pinch-hit for Hoerner.

In the 7th, his new pitcher was Jim Dickson (34; 25, 160), and he sent Dave Adlesh (24; 20, 74) to replace Grote as catcher. In the 8th, he sent Carl Warwick (20; 26, 212) to pinch-hit for Dickson. In the 9th, he sent Dick Drott (36) in to pitch. 

Jackson, Dahl, Coombs and Hoerner were making their major league debuts. Pointer's debut had come 5 days earlier; Morgan, Grote and White, 6 days; Vaughan, 7 days; Wynn had debuted on July 10; Dickson on July 2; Adlesh on May 12; and Staub and Davis had both debuted on April 9. Fazio and Weekly had debuted in 1962; Warwick, in 1961. Drott debuted back in 1957, and, at 27 years and 188 days, was the oldest Houston player in the game. It wasn't his 1st major league game, but it turned out to be his last.

Did it work? No: The Mets scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning, and 5 in the 3rd, on their way to a 10-3 win. The Mets even sent their own teenager into the game: Ed Kranepool, 18 years and 322 days old, was a defensive replacement for Tim Harkness at 1st base.

The next day, of the previous day's players, the only ones the Astros sent out were Vaughan, Morgan, Staub, Wynn and Fazio. And they won, 6-1. The season ended the next day, with a 13-4 Colt victory. In this one, they used Vaughan, Morgan, Wynn, Staub, Dickson, Adlesh, and another debutant, John Paciorek, who went 3-for-3, and never appeared in another game.

This game would turn out to be Dahl's only major league appearance. The native of Colton, California, outside San Bernardino, developed a back injury that made pitching impossible for the entire 1964 season. He only appeared in 11 games, all as an outfielder, for the Statesville Colts in the Western Carolinas League. In 1965, he started 7 games for the Durham Bulls of the Carolina League, then went 5-0 for the Salisbury Astros of the Western Carolina League. He seemed to be on the way back up.

On June 20, 1965, with the Colt .45s having moved into the Astrodome, next-door to Colt Stadium, and changed their name to the Houston Astros, Dahl was the winning pitcher as Salisbury beat Gastonia, 7-3. That night, the players were invited to a steak dinner at the home of the team's owner, G.M. Hamilton. Dahl and a teammate, Gary Marshall, left the dinner in Marshall's Pontiac GTO. They picked up Marshall's girlfriend, Patricia Ann Troutman, and went to see a movie.

As Marshall drove Troutman home, at 11:24 PM, he hit a patch of sand on Lincolnton Road in Salisbury, skidded for 185 feet, and crashed into a tree. Troutman died instantly. Dahl died about 3 hours later, on June 21. Marshall was blinded. He went home to Kansas, later moved to Dallas, became a minister, tending to the newly blinded, and lived until 2008.

As of September 27, 2022, Jay Dahl remains the last player under age 18 to appear in a major league game; and, at 19 years and 197 days, the youngest former major league player to die.

Some of the Baby Colts fared better. Morgan would make the Baseball Hall of Fame, winning 3 Pennants, 2 World Series and 2 National League Most Valuable Player awards with the Cincinnati Reds; come back to the Astros, and help them to 2 Playoff berths; and win another Pennant with the Philadelphia Phillies. Staub would become a star with the Astros, the Montreal Expos, the Mets, and the Detroit Tigers, collecting 2,716 hits, and become a beloved broadcaster with the Mets.

Warwick would win a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964, and Hoerner would do so in 1967. There is some appropriateness to this, as, before the Colts, the Cardinals had a farm team there, the Houston Buffaloes. Grote would be the starting catcher on the Met teams that won the 1969 World Series and, with Staub as a teammate, the 1973 Pennant. Wynn, "the Toy Cannon," would hit 291 home runs, 228 of them as an Astro, making him the franchise's all-time leader until Jeff Bagwell came along.

There was one more rookie of note for the '63 Astros: One of their broadcasters was in his 1st season in the major leagues, after 2 seasons with the Pacific Coast League's Hawaii Islanders. He would remain with the Astros through 1970, moving to the Philadelphia Phillies, and building a Hall of Fame career with them that would last for the rest of his life. His name was Harry Kalas.

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September 27, 1963 was a Friday. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Camilo Pascual used his nasty Cuban curveball to win his 21st game of the season, while Stan Williams had to leave the game due to injury after 3 innings. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-4. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3 with a walk, while Roger Maris went 2-for-4 with a solo home run.

Yogi Berra went 0-for-2 with a walk. The next day, the Yankees lost to the Twins again, 6-3. Yogi pinch-hit for pitcher Al Downing in the 9th, and lined out to 3rd base. That was his last regular-season at-bat as a Yankee, although he did have 1 more at-bat, a pinch-hit lineout in Game 3 of the World Series against the Dodgers.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk. Al Kaline, playing in his home town, got a hit as a pinch-hitter.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 11-2 and 7-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Braves, 3-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Ernie Banks did not play the Cubs in this game. Lou Brock did, going 2-for-5 with a stolen base, but nobody had any idea of what was ahead for him, and it wouldn't be with the Cubs. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4, but did not hit a home run. Eddie Mathews did.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. John Tsitouris pitched a 2-hit shutout, allowing only a triple to Gary Kolb and a single to Dick Groat. Stan Musial, retiring, did not play in this game. Tommy Harper hit a home run for the Reds, Frank Robinson went 0-for-4, and NL Rookie of the Year Pete Rose went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Roberto Clemente went 4-for-5, and Willie Stargell went 2-for-3 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels did not play. They did play the next day, with the Red Sox winning, 4-3 at Fenway Park. But they did not play the next day, the regular-season finale. Both teams played 161 games instead of 162, so it's possible that either the Friday or the Sunday game got rained out.

July 19, 1977: An All-Star Game for a Troubled New York

July 19, 1977: The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held at Yankee Stadium, the only one held in New York City between 1964 and 2008.

Three days earlier, the New York Mets had held Old-Timers' Day at Shea Stadium, and they honored the 4 great living center fielders of New York baseball: Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle of the Yankees, Willie Mays of the Giants (who, due to his last 2 seasons, was wearing a Mets uniform), and Edwin "Duke" Snider of the Dodgers.

DiMaggio had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955; Mantle, in 1974; and Mays would become eligible in 1979, and everyone presumed that he would be elected that year, and he was. Snider was eligible, but not yet in. In 1980, he was finally elected, leading songwriter Terry Cashman to write and record "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke)."

Left to right: Snider, DiMaggio, Mays, Mantle

Holding the All-Star Game in New York seemed problematic. True, the Yankees had won the American League Pennant the year before, and were contenders again. And the Stadium had just been renovated, making it capable of hosting a major event again.

But the City was in trouble. Crime seemed to be out of control. The serial killer known as the Son of Sam was on the loose. Just 6 days earlier, there had been a City-wide blackout that led to terrible looting and multiple fires. There was already a lot of burned-out, and otherwise substandard, housing and commercial property in The Bronx, the Yankees' home Borough; Harlem, former home of the Giants; and Brooklyn, former home of the Dodgers. And there seemed little that the City government could do about it, because it was still recovering from its near-bankruptcy of 2 years earlier. The incumbent Mayor, Abe Beame, wasn't even going to make the runoff for the Primary in his own Democratic Party.

But, for this night, as it so often does, sport, especially baseball, provided a distraction from it all.

DiMaggio was named Honorary Captain for the AL, and Mays was so named for the National League. (Mantle had been so honored at the 1975 All-Star Game, along with Stan Musial.) Rachel Robinson threw out the ceremonial first ball, as a nod to the 30th Anniversary of her husband, Jackie Robinson, re-integrating the sport. (Jackie had died in 1972.)

Yankees selected to play at home were Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Sparky Lyle, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, and, as manager of the defending Pennant winners, Billy Martin. The only current Met selected was John Stearns. Former Mets Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Ken Singleton were also selected. (Seaver and Singleton both became broadcasters for the Yankees.)

The game featured a lot of players who would later play in New York: For the Yankees: Rich "Goose" Gossage, Dave Winfield, Ruppert Jones, Rick Reuschel, Dave LaRoche, Butch Wynegar, Jason Thompson, Bert Campaneris and Ken Griffey Sr. For the Mets: Willie Montanez, Jerry Morales and Ellis Valentine. For both: Frank Tanana and John Candelaria.

This was also an expansion year, with the American League adding 2 teams. The 1st All-Star for the Seattle Mariners was center fielder Ruppert Jones. The 1st All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays was 1st baseman Ron Fairly, a former Los Angeles Dodgers star, who had been an All-Star for the Montreal Expos. He was the only player to be an All-Star for both Canadian-based teams before the Expos moved to Washington after the 2004 season.

Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles started for the AL. Usually, he pitched well against the Yankees. This time, pitching in Yankee Stadium did him no favors. He gave up a leadoff home run to Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds. He struck out Steve Garvey of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Then he gave up a single to Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then he gave up an RBI double to George Foster of the Reds, who ended up leading the NL with 52 home runs and winning the NL's MVP. Then Palmer gave up a home run to Greg Luzinski of the Philadelphia Phillies.

It was 4-0 NL, the AL's starting pitcher had gotten 1 out, and the game was essentially already over. Or, as Warner Wolf, then the sports anchor for Eyewitness News on New York's WABC-Channel 7, would have said, "Turn your sets off right there!"

In contrast, the NL's starter, Don Sutton of the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched 3 strong innings, allowing no runs, 1 hit and 1 walk. This was a foreshadowing of that season's World Series -- and the next season's -- when the Yankees faced the Dodgers. So was Garvey hitting a home run in the 3rd, to make it 5-0.

Seaver got a standing ovation when he came out to pitch the bottom of the 6th, wearing his gray Reds road uniform. But he didn't pitch well, allowing a leadoff single to Rod Crew of the Minnesota Twins, who flirted with a .400 average for much of the season, ending at .388, and winning the AL MVP; a walk to Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox; and a double by Richie Zisk of the Chicago White Sox, making the score 5-2.

Rarely getting the chance to face Yankees, in the 7th, Seaver faced Nettles, who reached on an error, allowing Butch Wynegar of the Twins to get into scoring position; and then Randolph singled Wynegar home, to make it 5-3.

The NL got 2 more runs in the 8th, while in the bottom of the 9th, George Scott of the Red Sox homered off Rich "Goose" Gossage of the Pirates to get the AL within 7-5. But Gossage, apparently auditioning for the Yankees, impressed team owner George Steinbrenner by getting Randolph to short and striking Munson out to end the game.

The National League won, 7-5. This is the only game in the YES Network series Yankees Classics in which current Yankees are shown to lose.

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July 19, 1977 was a Tuesday. Since no other major league sport was then in season, this was the only score on this historic day.