December 31, 1974: The Yankees Hook a Catfish

December 31, 1974: The era of baseball free agency begins, as the Yankees "hook a Catfish."

James Augustus Hunter was signed out of Perquimans High School in North Carolina by the Kansas City Athletics on June 8, 1964. Team owner Charles O. Finley thought "Jim Hunter" was too ordinary a name, and that he needed a nickname. Charlie asked "Jimmy" (as he was always known to his family) what he liked to do. Jim said he liked to hunt and fish, a common pair of passions for baseball players from rural areas in those days.

So Finley made up a story about how, when he was a boy, Jimmy caught a whole bunch of catfish, and that he had been nicknamed "Catfish Hunter" -- or, sometimes, just "Cat" -- from then on. Of course, no one had ever called him "Catfish" -- or "Cat" -- until June 8, 1964.

Hunter made his debut with the A's in 1965. In 1966, he made the 1st of what turned out to be 8 All-Star Games. The A's moved to Oakland in 1968. That season, Catfish pitched a perfect game. He helped them win the American League Western Division in 1971, and the World Series in 1972, 1973 and 1974. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 1974, leading in both wins (he went 25-12) and ERA. That year, despite Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer and Nolan Ryan all being in their prime, he was the best pitcher in baseball.

Charlie Finley was so cheap! (How cheap was he?) He was so cheap, he let the best pitcher in baseball get away because he refused to fulfill a part of the man's contract. The contract that Catfish signed for 1974 was for 2 years -- unusual under the still-holding reserve clause -- for $200,000, or $100,000 per year, which, while no longer a record, was still a benchmark for ballplayers.

But not all of that was salary: The contract stipulated that, in 1974 and again in 1975, Finley would make a $50,000 payment to a life insurance annuity. Since Finley had become rich selling insurance, he should have not only understood this, but respected this.

But after the 1974 season, Finley found out he had to pay $25,000 in taxes, due immediately. (Worth about $148,000 in 2022 money.) So he refused to pay the annuity. Catfish, who had been trying to secure his family's post-baseball future, was normally a very even-tempered man, which helped him a lot while pitching. Over this, though, he hit the roof, and appealed to Peter Seitz, Major League Baseball's arbitrator for contract disputes.

On December 16, 1974, foreshadowing the decision he would make a year later, killing the reserve clause, Seitz ruled in Catfish's favor: He was now a free agent, and the 24 teams then in Major League Baseball were all permitted to bid for his services for 1975 and beyond.

Suddenly, the small town of Hertford, in the Inner Banks of North Carolina, a small town of about 2,000 people, 60 miles south of the Class AAA city of Norfolk, Virginia, became the center of the baseball world. Every team, except the San Francisco Giants, bid for Catfish.

The winning bid came from the New York Yankees. Although team owner George Steinbrenner was suspended from operating the team until the 1976 season, general manager Gabe Paul had his permission to offer Catfish $3.35 million over 5 years -- $670,000 per season, a record at the time. (In today's money, about $3.98 million per year. How quaint that now sounds.)

Catfish actually refused 2 higher bids: From the San Diego Padres, because he was tired of being on the opposite coast from home; and from the Kansas City Royals, because he wanted to play on real grass, and Royals Stadium had artificial turf. (In 1993, that stadium was given both real grass and a new name, Kauffman Stadium, both of which it still has.)

To put the figure in perspective: The player who was paid the most for the 1974 season was Hank Aaron, MLB's new all-time home run leader: $240,000. (About $1.42 million in 2022 money.) Catfish's contract had broken the barriers of $250,000 (a quarter of a million), $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 (half a million) and $600,000.

Catfish struggled at first in 1975, losing his 1st 3 games. In fact, his debut, on April 8, 1975, was also Frank Robinson's 1st game as baseball's 1st black manager, and he hit a home run off Catfish to give the Cleveland Indians the win. But Catfish settled down, and went 23-12. It was his 5th straight season of at least 21 wins.

But all that pitching began to wear on his arm. He went just 17-15 in 1976, still helping the Yankees win the Pennant. He was injured for much of the 1977 and 1978 seasons, but a procedure on his shoulder allowed him to win 6 straight games down the stretch in 1978. After being hit hard in Game 2 of the 1977 World Series, but the Yankees won the Series anyway, Catfish won the clinching Game 6 of the 1978 World Series.

After the 1979 season, the 5th and last year of his contract, Catfish retired. He had always intended to, but his bad shoulder took the decision out of his hands. His final record was 224-166. After that season, the Houston Astros signed Ryan to the 1st contract to break the $1 million-per-season barrier.

Jim "Catfish" Hunter was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. Charlie Finley has never been elected. Then again, neither have George Steinbrenner, Gabe Paul and Peter Seitz.

Catfish died in 1999, like Lou Gehrig from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease now named for Gehrig.

For the 2023 season, the New York Mets will pay Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, 2 pitchers whose statistics will make them sure Hall-of-Famers if they don't do anything stupid like Pete Rose did, record salaries of $43,333,333 each. In 1974, that would have been $7.1 million, or 10.6 times Catfish Hunter's former record salary.

*

December 31, 1974 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in midweek. No college football bowl games were played that day. No NBA games were played. One game was played in the American Basketball Association: The San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 140-105 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. Despite that high score, the leading scorer for the Spurs was George Gervin: "The Iceman" scored 27.

Two games were played in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings beat the California Golden Seals, 4-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

And 2 games were played in the World Hockey Association. The Chicago Cougars beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-3 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. And a 1-1 tie was played between the Phoenix Roadrunners and the Michigan Stags, at Cobo Hall in Detroit.

December 26, 1919: The Yankees Purchase Babe Ruth

Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert,

manager Miller Huggins, and slugger Babe Ruth

December 26, 1919: The New York Yankees purchase the contract of outfielder George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox. It is the most famous transaction in the history of North American professional sports -- or, if you're a Red Sox fan, the most infamous.

Let's take a step back, to properly set it up: On July 30, 1919, Harry Frazee, owner of the Red Sox, traded pitcher Carl Mays to the Yankees for pitchers Bob McGraw and Allen Russell (neither of whom ever did much for either club) and $40,000. There was a hell of a to-do about this, as Mays had left, or "jumped" the Sox and gone home, and was suspended. At the time, the rules said you couldn't trade a suspended player.

This trade pretty much split the American League: Frazee, Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert, and Chicago White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey were on one side; on the other were AL founder and President Ban Johnson and the owners of the other 5 clubs. They were the brothers John and Ben Shibe and Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics, former Yankee manager Clark Griffith of the Washington Senators, Frank Navin and Walter Briggs of the Detroit Tigers, Phil Ball of the St. Louis Browns, and Sunny Jim Dunn of the Cleveland Indians.

The National Commission, which oversaw baseball in those days, ruled in favor of Frazee and Ruppert, and Mays became the 1st major player to go from Frazee's Sox to Ruppert's Yanks. There would be more. (Mays' role in the death of Cleveland Indians player Ray Chapman is a story for another time.)

As a result of the Mays contretemps, Frazee, Ruppert, and Comiskey, now known as "the Insurrectos," could pretty much now only make deals with each other, as the other AL owners, "the Loyal Five," wanted nothing to do with them.

Due to circumstances that Frazee should have been able to control, but didn't, he had to get rid of Babe Ruth, who, in 1918 and '19, had gone from being baseball's best lefthanded pitcher to being the biggest power hitter in the game, but also the biggest headache. He was already a carouser, and he was demanding that his salary be doubled from $10,000 to $20,000 for the 1920 season.

So Frazee sold the Babe to the Yankees, mainly because Ruppert was willing to pay $125,000 for Ruth's contract; while the other possibility, the White Sox, were run by Comiskey, a notorious cheapskate. (His parsimony led to a problem with that year's World Series, as you may be aware.)

So if you're a Red Sox fan, don't blame Frazee for what happened: He didn't have much choice, unless he wanted the press and the public to think Ruth was running the team.

The deal was announced on January 5, 1920. People in Boston weren't happy about it. But nobody could have foreseen what would result from it. Ruth revolutionized the game with the Yankees, turning the home run from a rare thing into a common occurrence. And there would be more deals between Ruppert and Frazee, as Mays would be joined on the Yankee pitching staff by former Sox Waite Hoyt, "Bullet Joe" Bush and "Sad Sam" Jones.

From 1918 to the present... Yankees 27, Red Sox 0. Without cheating, anyway.

UPDATE: The Red Sox have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918 World Champions: Manager Bill Carrigan, shortstop Everett Scott, 3rd baseman Larry Gardner, left fielder Duffy Lewis, center fielder Tris Speaker, right fielder Harry Hooper, and pitchers Smoky Joe Wood, Dutch Leonard, Herb Pennock and Babe Ruth.

But from the 1920s, they have inducted only outfielder Ira Flagstead and pitcher Red Ruffing -- and, in Ruffing's case, it's only because he's in the main Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and that for what he did later, after he was... traded to the Yankees. From the 1930s: Team owner Tom Yawkey, general manager Eddie Collins, shortstop and manager Joe Cronin, catcher Rick Ferrell, and pitchers Lefty Grove and Wes Ferrell. That should give you an idea of how bad the Sox were from the 1919 sale of Ruth until Yawkey bought the team in 1933.

*

December 26, 1919 was a Friday. It was the off-season for baseball, The NFL and the NBA did not yet exist. The NHL did, but it held no games that day.

In Western Canada, there was 1 game in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. The Victoria Cougars beat the Seattle Metropolitans, 2-1, at the Patrick Arena, built by the hockey-playing brothers Lester and Frank Patrick, in Victoria, the capital of the Province of British Columbia. 

This was no mean feat, as the Metros had won the PCHA title and reached the Stanley Cup Final in the previous season, against the NHL Champion Montreal Canadiens, but it was called off due to the Spanish Flu epidemic. In 1917, they had beaten the Canadiens to become the 1st American-based team to win the Stanley Cup. They would go on to win the PCHA title again in 1920, but lose the Stanley Cup Final to the Ottawa Senators, and fold in 1924.

The Cougars would win the West Coast Hockey League title in 1925, and beat the Canadiens, making them the last team from outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup. They moved to the Western Hockey League, and won their title in 1926, but lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Montreal Maroons. Along with their league, they folded, but the bulk of their players were signed for a new team in the NHL. While not officially true, it can legitimately said that the Victoria Cougars still exist today, as the Detroit Red Wings.

In Britain, December 26 is known as Boxing Day, and England's Football League plays on the day, usually nearby rivals, to make it easier for people to travel. In this era, there tended to be what Americans would call a split doubleheader: Two teams facing each other at one's ground on Christmas Day, and at the other's ground the next day.

For North London team Arsenal, it wasn't a nearby team on this occasion. On the 25th, they lost to Derby County, 2-1 at The Baseball Ground, so named because Derbyshire was one of the few parts of the British Isles where baseball caught on, but only briefly. By this point, the stadium had been redeveloped so that playing baseball there was just about impossible, and you had a stadium which, like the Polo Grounds in New York, was named for a sport that was not being played there. On the 26th, Arsenal and Derby played at Highbury, and Arsenal won, 1-0.

December 20, 1921: Bullet Joe Bush and Sad Sam Jones

Bullet Joe Bush

December 20, 1921: The New York Yankees trade shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, and pitchers Harry "Rip" Collins, Bill Piercy and Jack Quinn, to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers "Bullet" Joe Bush and "Sad" Sam Jones, and shortstop Everett Scott.

Peckinpaugh helped the Washington Senators win their 1st 2 Pennants. Quinn would pitch until he was 50, helping Connie Mack establish the next Philadelphia Athletics dynasty in the late 1920s. And Collins would be the starting catcher on the St. Louis Cardinals' 1931 World Series winners.

Even with all of that, the Yankees won this trade going away. They got 2 fantastic pitchers to go along with Hoyt and Bob Shawkey, the latter a key purchase from Mack in 1915 rather than a trade acquisition. Bush went 26-7 in 1922, and would have been an easy choice for the Cy Young Award. He went 19-15 in 1923, to help the Yankees win the World Series for the 1st time.

Jones was just 13-13 in 1922, but went 21-8 in 1923, and would have won that year's Cy Young Award. Scott was also key, and should be remembered as a solid fielder and a good contact hitter, not just as the man who held the record for most consecutive games played prior to Lou Gehrig, 1,308.

Sad Sam Jones

For 1923, the Yankees would acquire Herb Pennock from the Red Sox. It wasn't getting Babe Ruth from the Sox that wrecked the Sox and built the Yankees: It was getting an entire starting rotation that, had there been an All-Star Game at the time, would have been perennial All-Stars: Bush, Jones, Pennock, Waite Hoyt and Carl Mays, all in trades with the Red Sox between mid-1919 and the 1922-23 off-season.

*

December 20, 1921 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football season had just ended. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And, although the NHL season had begun 3 days earlier, there were no games scheduled for this day. So there were no scores on this historic day.

December 16, 2003: The Yankees Acquire Javier Vázquez -- the 1st Time

December 16, 2003: The New York Yankees traded Nick Johnson, Randy Choate and Juan Rivera to the Montreal Expos for Javier Vázquez. At first, this didn't look like a bad deal. Rivera was a nothing player. Choate was so bad out of the bullpen, I called him "Randy Choke." And Johnson was constantly injured and unable to live up to his promise. Vázquez went 14-10 for the Yankees in 2004, and made the All-Star Team.

But he gave up home runs. Some people thought he should have started Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS instead of Kevin Brown -- whom the Yankees had acquired 3 days before Vázquez. Torre brought him in to relieve Brown when down 3-0. Instead, Vázquez gave up a grand slam to Johnny Damon that essentially ended the chance at a comeback, the game, the season, and the Curse of the Bambino. After that, he was nicknamed "Home Run Javy."

Before he could appear for the Yankees again, on January 11, 2005, he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks with Dioner Navarro, Brad Halsey and cash for Randy Johnson. Johnson gave the Yankees the 2 most useless 17-win seasons any pitcher has ever had, choking in Game 3 of the AL Division Series in both 2005 and 2006, and then leaving. Navarro and Halsey never amounted to much, but Vázquez settled down a bit, bouncing around, at one point being traded for former Yankee Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez.

On December 22, 2009, the Yankees traded Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn, Arodys Vizcaíno and cash to the Atlanta Braves for Vázquez and Boone Logan. You don't need to consider Dunn or Vizcaíno. Just note that Melky, for all his difficulties (including getting caught using PEDs), would have been a big help to the Yankees from 2010 through 2017, while Logan might have been the worst reliever in Yankee history, and Vázquez went 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA in 2010.

His contract having run out at the end of the season, the Yankees didn't lift a finger to re-sign him, and he pitched 1 more season with the Marlins, and retired. He was 165-160 for his career. He had 4 good seasons, and only 1 really bad one, his rookie year with the Expos, 1998. His other 9 seasons, including his 2 with the Yankees, 2004 and 2010, were mediocre.

But that last trade, giving up the Melkman for Home Run Javy and Logan's Litany of Losing, oy vey.

*

December 16, 2003 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Golden State Warriors, 104-86 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Utah Jazz, 91-87 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington. Larry Hughes led all scorers on the night with 38 points.

* The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks, 97-79 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Dwyane Wade scored 32 points.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Sacramento Kings, 105-100 at the Great American Pyramid in Memphis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Orlando Magic, 102-88 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Houston Rockets, 92-75 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the New Orleans Hornets, 116-94 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 92-91 in overtime at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-99 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the San Jose Sharks, 2-1 at Madison Square Garden. Petr Nedvěd scored the winning goal with 2:35 left in overtime.

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-2 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* And the Washington Capitals and the Colorado Avalanche played to a 2-2 tie at the Pepsi Center. Yes, it played host to an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day.

December 16, 1953. The Yankees Trade Vic Power

Vic Power at Yankee Stadium -- after the trade

December 16, 1953. The New York Yankees trade Vic Power, Don Bollweg, Jim Finigan, Johnny Gray, Bill Renna and Jim Robertson to the Philadelphia Athletics for Loren Babe, Harry Byrd, Tom Hamilton, Carmen Mauro and Eddie Robinson.

Byrd was a decent pitcher, who simply didn't get run support with the A's. But he didn't do much for the Yankees. Other than him, the only name in this trade that you really need to know is Vic Power. Or, legally, Victor Pellot, which is what he always called himself.

Born in 1927 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico as Victor Felipe Pellot Pove (first name, middle name, father's family name, mother's family name, as is common in Spanish-speaking places), Power was a sensational fielder at 1st base, and in the 1952 season batted .331 with 40 doubles, 17 triples, 16 home runs and 109 RBIs for the Yankees' top farm team, the Kansas City Blues, playing in Blues Stadium, which eventually became Kansas City Municipal Stadium, and was always a pitcher's park.

In 1953, Power batted .349 for the Blues, winning the American Association batting title, with 39 doubles, 10 triples, 16 homers and 93 RBIs. At the time of the trade, he was already 27 years old.

And still, the Yankees hadn't yet brought him up to the majors. This at a time when the Yanks' starting 1st baseman was Joe Collins. He was a good player, but Power was probably already better.

(For comparison's sake: Mickey Mantle was 24 when he won the Triple Crown in 1956; Reggie Jackson, not yet a Yankee, was 23 when he hit 47 home runs in 1969; and Aaron Judge was 25 when he hit 52 home runs in 2017.)

So why would the Yankees trade Vic Power for 5 guys who amounted to nothing in Pinstripes? The official reason was that he was "too flashy" or a "hot dog," for the way he fielded at 1st base. It wasn't "the Yankee way."

Turned out that the real reason was that general manager George Weiss was a bigot, and didn't want black players on the Yankees. To make matters worse, Power was dating a white woman at the time. This was the final straw. How "uppity," as was said at the time of black men who acted out of line with what white men in positions of power demand. Off you go, to the House of Mack.

The A's had already been integrated for 5 years, and Power broke into their starting lineup right away in 1954, and became a star after their move to Kansas City, where he'd starred in Triple-A, and later with the Cleveland Indians.

He won 7 straight Gold Gloves, batted over .300 3 times, led the AL in triples in 1958 with 10, and made 4 All-Star teams. In 12 big-league seasons, he batted .284, collected 1,716 hits, including 290 doubles, 49 triples and 126 homers. And, in the media, he never seemed to be all that controversial after leaving the Yankees.

After his retirement, he went back to Puerto Rico and became a youth baseball coach, living until 2005, dying of cancer at age 78.

Late in life, as the number of Hispanic players in the majors grew, and interest in their forebears did the same, he gave some interviews in English, and did not seem particularly bitter about his treatment by the Yankees.

Was the decision to trade him justified? In any way? Well, in 1954, the Yankees did get a new starting 1st baseman, Bill "Moose" Skowron, and he was terrific for them until 1962, playing the position superbly, and hitting with more power than any righthanded Yankee would between Joe DiMaggio and Dave Winfield.

And, a year later, in 1955, tired of the mounting criticism from civil rights groups, Yankee owners Dan Topping and Del Webb overruled Weiss, and promoted outfielder/catcher Elston Howard to become the 1st black Yankee. He was 26.

Unlike Power, he was quiet, unflashy, already married to a woman of his own race, and did his job well, and was thus "worthy of the Yankee uniform." He became the 1st black Most Valuable Player award winner in the American League -- in 1963, after the National League had already had black MVPs Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella (3 times), Willie Mays (the 1st of 2 he would win), Don Newcombe, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks (twice), Frank Robinson and Maury Wills.

Based on the successes of Skowron and Howard, it can be argued from a competitive standpoint -- if not from a moral one -- that the Yankees lost nothing by trading Power away. Still, they should have gotten something more for him than 5 who's-he's.

And I wonder how much good it would have done in the community to have a terrific player who was not only black, but Hispanic. But Weiss thought it would upset the Yankee fan base, which he considered to be white commuters from Westchester, Connecticut and North Jersey. If only he had known that the real base was working-class Irish and Italians, guys who wore T-shirts, jeans and boots to work, and only wore suits for weddings and funerals. You know: Just like the fans at the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field.

Power, despite playing less than 4 full seasons with the Indians, was named one of the team's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. Howard is honored with a Plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park. But Weiss has no Monument Park Plaque, although he is, unlike the other two, in the Hall of Fame.

*

December 16, 1953 was a Wednesday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Boston Celtics beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 91-74 at the Boston Garden. And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the Milwaukee Hawks, 69-63 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

One game was played in the NHL: The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the old Madison Square Garden. Ron Murphy scored the winning goal with 3:41 left in regulation.

December 15, 1920: The Yankees Trade For Waite Hoyt

December 15, 1920: The New York Yankees trade 2nd baseman Del Pratt, catcher Herold "Muddy" Ruel, pitcher Hank Thormahlen and right fielder Sammy Vick to the Boston Red Sox for pitchers Waite Hoyt and Harry Harper, catcher Wally Schang and infielder Mike McNally.

Pratt gave the Sox a .300 season, and Ruel later helped the Washington Senators win their 1st 2 Pennants, including 1924 when they edged the Yankees. But Hoyt, a Brooklyn native, became the 1st real Yankee ace since Jack Chesbro in the founding Highlanders era, helping the Yankees win their 1st 6 Pennants. Schang was the catcher on the 1st 3 of those.

McNally was an afterthought. So was Harper, but he went on to have an interesting political career. As a Republican in New Jersey, he ran successfully for Sheriff of Bergen County, and unsuccessfully for the State Assembly and Congress. He also served in the Cabinets of Governors Walter Edge and Alfred E. Driscoll.

Hoyt went 237-182 for his career, including 157-98 for the Yankees. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He later became a broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds. He and his Yankee manager, Miller Huggins, a Cincinnati native who had played for the Reds, are both buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.

*

December 15, 1920 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL season hadn't started yet. So there were no scores on this historic day.

 

December 13, 2007: The Mitchell Report Is Released

December 13, 2007: The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball is released the public. Since the leader of the investigation was George J. Mitchell, the document becomes popularly known as The Mitchell Report.

Mitchell had a distinguished career in politics. He was a U.S. Attorney in his native Maine, and a Judge of the U.S. District Court. When his mentor, Senator Ed Muskie, resigned in 1980 to become U.S. Secretary of State, Mitchell ran for his seat, and won it, being elected to a full term in 1982 and re-elected in 1988. At that point, his Democratic colleagues elected him to be the Senate Majority Leader, a post he held for the rest of his term. He did not run again in 1994.

Instead, being of Irish descent, he accepted a post as U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, and was among the negotiators of the Good Friday Accord that ended "The Troubles" in 1998. His ancestral homeland was grateful, and he was appointed the Chancellor of the Queen's University in the Northern Irish capital of Belfast. Officially, he held this post for nearly 10 years, from 1999 to 2009, even as he served as Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission in November and December of 2002.

In 2006, in the wake of Congressional hearings the year before that tainted the reputations of several current and former players, Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig asked Mitchell to lead an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by players.

After 20 months of investigations, Mitchell released a report running 409 pages, and including the names of 89 former and (then) current players, claiming evidence of use of steroids or other substances prohibited by MLB. Among them were former Yankees Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and David Justice; and some stars from other teams, including Barry Bonds, who already held the records for most home runs in a season and most home runs in a career.

This was just a few weeks after the Boston Red Sox had won their 2nd World Series in 4 seasons. And it did not escape the notice of some people in the media that Mitchell was a member of the board of directors of the Fenway Sports Group, owners of the Red Sox. But the report mostly let the Red Sox off the hook. It was as if Mitchell was trying to say, "The Red Sox are clean, and their recent victories were won fairly. But the Yankees, the team that Red Sox fans hate the most, won their recent Pennants and World Series unfairly."

It was a dark moment for Yankee Fans. Just 3 years and change earlier, they could legitimately say that their last title was in 2000, and Boston's last was in 1918. Now, it was generally accepted by baseball people, official and unofficial alike that the Red Sox had won 2 of the last 4 World Championships, while the Yankees hadn't "really" won one since 1978.

On July 30, 2009, The New York Times reported that 104 players had failed steroid tests in 2003, and that 2 of them were David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the 2 biggest hitters on those Boston title teams. Just like that, the Sox' 2004 and 2007 titles were exposed as frauds.

What's more, The Mitchell Report was also exposed as a fraud, because it said nothing about Ortiz and Ramirez. Mitchell, already a behind-the-scenes political operative when Richard Nixon was digging himself a deeper hole in the Watergate scandal, should have known: It's not the crime that really gets you, it's the cover-up. He had accused, with evidence that held up better with some players than with others, but had covered up the "crimes" of players for his own team.

It is a tremendous stain on the career of a great public servant. And it destroyed The Mitchell Report's credibility completely.

*

December 13, 2007 was a Thursday. And, wouldn't you know it, New England beat New York that night. The New England Patriots beat the New York Jets, 20-10 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. Speaking of cheating: This was the year that the Patriots had been exposed in the "Spygate" scandal.

I have to give Bill Belichick credit for one thing: He didn't lie about it. Whereas the Red Sox and their fans still insist that everything they've won since 2004 is legit, Belichick basically said, "Yeah, I cheated. What the hell ya gonna do about it, huh?"

There were 2 games played in the NBA that night. The Washington Wizards beat the Miami Heat, 104-91 at the American Airlines Arena (now named the Kaseya Center) in Miami. And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 102-97 at the Staples Center (now named the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

There were 10 games played in the NHL that night:

* Here's one where the New York Tri-State Area beat New England: The New Jersey Devils beat the Boston Bruins, 3-1 at what's now named the TD Garden in Boston. The Scarlet & Black got a goal from Brian Gionta, and 2 from Jamie Langenbrunner.

* The New York Islanders beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 at the Nassau Coliseum. (The New York Rangers were not scheduled.)

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at the Wachovia Center (now named the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh (then known as the Mellon Arena, before reverting to its original name).

* The Calgary Flames beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 9-6 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Sommet Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Edmonton Oilers bear the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 in a shootout at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Florida Panthers beat the St. Louis Blues, 1-0 at the ScotTrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 at the HP Pavilion (now the SAP Center) in San Jose, California. 

December 13, 2003: The Yankees Trade Jeff Weaver for Kevin Brown

December 13, 2003: The Yankees trade Jeff Weaver – 2 months 2 late -- and 2 other pitchers, Yhency Brazobán and Brandon Weeden, for a better pitcher. Or so we thought. It was Kevin Brown.

Neither Brazobán nor Weeden had yet reached the major leagues. Weeden never did. Brazobán soon did so, but was not especially distinguished. And Weaver... somehow won a World Series ring with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. That still ticks me off. (Not that the Cardinals won that Series, but that Weaver was a part of it.)

Kevin Brown was a very good pitcher. In 1992, he went 21-12 for the Texas Rangers. In 1996, with the Florida Marlins, he went 17-11, and led the National League with an ERA of 1.89 and a WHIP of 0.944. In 1997, he went 16-8, and helped the Marlins win the World Series. In 1998, he went 18-7, and helped the San Diego Padres win the Pennant.

On December 12, 1998, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him to a 7-year contract worth $105 million, the 1st contract in North American major league sports worth more than $100 million. At first, it seemed like it would pay off: He went 18-9 in 1999, and in 2000, went 13-6 and led the NL with a 2.58 ERA. He battled injury after that, but still went 10-4 in 2001. In 2003, he went 14-9 with a 2.39 ERA, and made an All-Star Game for the 6th time. He had a career record of 197-131. He was approaching Hall of Fame worthiness.

Sounds like the Yankees made a good acquisition. Except he would be turning 39 during Spring Training 2004. And he was not a big-game pitcher. Although the Marlins won the 1997 World Series, Brown had lost Games 2 and 6. In the 1998 World Series, he started Game 1 against the Yankees, and while he wasn't the losing pitcher, the Yankees did win; and he was the losing pitcher in Game 4.

In 2004, he posted a 10–6 record with a 4.09 ERA. On September 3, after being removed from a game he lost to the Baltimore Orioles, he punched a concrete column in frustration, breaking his hand. He returned to the rotation on September 26, and lost his last 2 regular-season starts: He didn't get out of the 1st inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, and lost to away to the Toronto Blue Jays.

During that season's Playoffs, Brown pitched well in the American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins. But, with little choice, manager Joe Torre started Brown in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series against the Red Sox. He gave up a 2-run home run to David Ortiz in the 1st inning, left with the bases loaded in the 2nd, and was charged with all 3 runs that Johnny Damon drove in ahead of him when he subsequently hit a grand slam off Javier Vázquez -- whom the Yankees had acquired 3 days after Brown, as if that trade hadn't been bad enough. Brown had authored the worst start in Yankee postseason history -- emotionally, if not statistically.

Brown struggled with injury through 2005, and finished it 4-7 with a 6.50 ERA. The Yankees did not lift a finger to sign him to a new contract -- though many Yankee Fans lifted some fingers for him -- and he retired, with a career record of 211-144, a 3.28 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.222.

He became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. He has never come close to election.

*

December 13, 2003 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. There were no college football games that day, and the NFL played the next day. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets, 95-88 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 110-63 at the Memphis Pyramid.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-102 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-98 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland. Paul Pierce led all scorers on the night with 41 points.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Indiana Pacers, 86-75 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat their arch-rivals, the Houston Rockets, 86-73 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns, 106-91 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 112-108 at the Moda Center in Portland. Kobe Bryant scored 35 points in defeat.

And there were 12 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The New York Islanders beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-0 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals, 5-1 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-2 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Florida Panthers and the Nashville Predators played to a tie, 2-2 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-2 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then named) in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the Savvis Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* The Colorado Avalanche and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 1-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 2-0 at the HP Pavilion at San Jose (now the SAP Center).

* And the Chicago Blackhawks, the Dallas Stars, the Vancouver Canucks, the Edmonton Oilers, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Arizona Coyotes were not scheduled.

December 12, 1933: The 2nd Athletics Fire Sale

Jimmie Foxx (left) and Connie Mack

September 28, 1932: Connie Mack begins the breakup his of his Philadelphia Athletics. The 1st time he'd done so, in 1914-15, it was because he couldn't keep up with the salaries being offered by the Federal League teams. This time, it was personal.

In 1925, the A's went 88-64, and were only 8 1/2 games behind the 1st-place Washington Senators. But the rise of the "Murderers' Row" Yankees delayed Philadelphia's return to greatness. In 1929, they began a run of 3 seasons in which they won 313 games, and game within a Game 7 loss in 1931 of winning 3 straight World Series.

But Mack lost all of his non-baseball holdings in the stock market Crash of 1929. He couldn't fund the A's with any other income. So, after the 1932 season, despite a strong 94-60 record (but 13 games behind the Pennant-winning Yankees), he began to sell of his 2nd generation of stars.

On September 28, 1932, he sent left fielder Al Simmons, 3rd baseman Jimmy Dykes, and center fielder Mule Haas are all sold to the Chicago White Sox, for $100,000. Simmons would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Dykes and Haas would have been perennial All-Stars had the All-Star Game been founded before 1933.

But the big day was...

December 12, 1933: When Mack made 3 separate moves:

* Pitchers Lefty Grove and Rube Walberg, and 2nd baseman Max Bishop, are traded to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Kline and Rabbit Warstler and $125,000. Along with Carl Hubbell, Grove was 1 of the 2 best lefthanded pitchers in the game, and would go to the Hall of Fame. Walberg was the 3rd starter on the A's, behind Grove and George Earnshaw, but would have been the ace on many teams.

Key to this deal was the fact that Tom Yawkey had recently turned 30 and come into his inheritance, and had bought the Red Sox, and could afford to spend whatever he wanted to build a championship team. He did try, but the Yankees' dynasty that was restarted in 1936 thwarted his early efforts.

Grove's 199 wins during the 1930s made him the winningest pitcher of the decade.

* Catcher Mickey Cochrane was traded to the Detroit Tigers for Johnny Pasek and $100,000. The Tigers subsequently named Cochrane player-manager, and won the next 2 American League Pennants.

* Finally, before the ink was dry on the previous 2 trades, Mack traded Pasek and Earnshaw to the White Sox for Charlie Berry and $100,000. So, in 1 day, Mack sold off his 3 best pitchers.

On December 10, 1935, 1st baseman Jimmie Foxx and pitcher Johnny Marcum were traded to the Red Sox for Gordon Rhodes, George Savino and $150,000. Foxx was the best righthanded slugger in the game, and would go to the Hall of Fame. Marcum was the Mackmen's best pitcher following the '33 fire sale, and Mack dumped him, anyway.

The A's went from 94-60 in 1932 to 79-72 in 1933, to 68-82 in 1934, to 58-91 in 1935, and to 53-100 in 1936. To make matters worse, Tom Shibe died in 1936, and Jack Shibe the next year. The deaths of these sons of Ben Shibe, with whom Mack founded the A's in 1901, pretty much left Mack, 74 years old at the time, in full control of the A's, and his control of his mental faculties began to diminish.

The A's never recovered. In 1950, Mack's sons, who seemed to agree on nothing else, ganged up in the senile 87-year-old man, and finally removed him from control, if not ownership, and the manager's job after his 50th season in charge. The Mack family ended up selling the team in 1954, to a buyer who moved them to Kansas City.

They failed there as well, and Charlie Finley bought them in 1960, moving them to Oakland in 1968. After 5 straight AL Western Division titles, 1971-75, including 3 straight World Series wins, 1972-74, he broke them up, and the team crashed. New owner Walter Haas rebuilt them in the early 1980s, but the pitching collapsed, preventing a new dynasty. The A's rebuilt again, and won 3 straight Pennants, 1988-90, but after another Division title in 1992, were broken up again.

The pattern held: By 2000, the "Moneyball" regime built a team that reached the Playoffs 5 times in 7 years, but won no Pennants. They sold off, rebuilt, and made 3 straight Playoffs, 2012-14. They couldn't afford to keep it going, sold off, rebuilt, and made 3 straight Playoffs, 2018-20. They couldn't afford to keep it going, and sold off. In 2022, the A's lost 102 games, their most since the Finley fire sale bottomed out at 108 in 1979.

Rumors of the A's moving again have been renewed, since they haven't been able to get a deal to replace the Oakland Coliseum. If they do move, how long will it be before they win again? And, if so, how long before they have a 9th fire sale?

One thing is for sure: The A's are not moving back to Philadelphia, where the Phillies, having won the 2022 NL Pennant, are overwhelmingly popular. The Delaware Valley is certainly big enough to support one winning Major League Baseball team, but not two MLB teams, regardless of performance. But, wherever they go, or if they stay, at some point, the A's will go back to their Philadelphia roots, by breaking it all down and starting all over again.

In 1949, Ogden Nash, my grandmother's favorite poet, wrote "Line-Up for Yesterday" for Sport magazine, an alphabetical list of star players. For the letter Q, Nash had to cheat a little, and wrote:

Q is for Don Quixote

Cornelius Mack;

Neither Yankees nor years

Can halt his attack.

He also had to cheat a little for the letter X:

X is the first

of two x's in Foxx

Who was right behind Ruth

with his powerful soxx.

*

December 12, 1933 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NFL was going to play its 1st official Championship Game the following Sunday, and the Chicago Bears won it, 23-21 over the New York Giants.

There were 4 games played in the NHL that night:

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Boston Garden. This was the game in which Eddie Shore hit Ace Bailey over the head with his stick, ending his career. I have a separate entry for that event.

* The New York Americans beat the New York Rangers, 3-0 at the old Madison Square Garden, which was still fairly new at the time. The company that ran the Garden owned the Rangers, and the Amerks were tenants, so any win the tenants had over the landlords was considered big.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators played to a 1-1 tie at the Ottawa Auditorium.

December 11, 2021: New York City FC Win the MLS Cup

December 11, 2021: New York City Football Club win the MLS Cup.

With the New York Tri-State Area having at least 2 teams in the other sports, and just the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer, there was room for a 2nd team. A revived New York Cosmos never got their act together to get admitted to MLS. So NYCFC was founded in 2013, and began play in 2015.

They played most of their home games at the new Yankee Stadium, due to the New York Yankees holding a 20 percent ownership stake. The remaining 80 percent is owned by City Football Group, owned by Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, brother of the President and de factor monarch and dictator of the United Arab Emirates.

City Football Group also owns Manchester City Football Club, which has dominated England's Premier League since 2012; Melbourne City FC, the Australian team formerly known as Melbourne Heart, so they, metaphorically, "cut the heart out of the club"; and teams in France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, India, China and Japan.

The UAE is a country whose official policy discriminates against women, Jews and gays, making them anathema to many in the mainly-liberal Tri-State Area. Their own fans don't care. They point out their slogan, "Five Boroughs, One City," and remind Red Bull fans that they play in New Jersey (in Red Bull Arena in Harrison, Hudson County), not in the City.

This came back to bite City fans, known to Red Bull fans as "The Smurfs" due to their blue jerseys, when, not controlling their own venue, they had to move "home games" due to the Yankees controlling scheduling at Yankee Stadium. They were able to move some games to the New York Mets' Citi Field. But they've had to play 2 games at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut, 116 miles from Midtown Manhattan. Red Bull fans have called City "East Hartford FC."

The low point for Red Bull fans, until the 2021 MLS Cup Final, was their own team's management opening Red Bull Arena up to NYCFC for "home games." The high point was on May 21, 2016, when the Red Bulls went into Yankee Stadium and beat City, 7-0. Despite the Red Bulls being a charter MLS team that had never won an MLS Cup, losing its only Final in 2008, they could still, with much legitimacy, claim, "New York is Red."

That changed in the 2021 Playoffs. The Red Bulls reached the Playoffs in their 2nd season, 2016, for the 1st of 4 straight trips to the MLS Cup Quarterfinals. They got knocked out in the 1st Round in 2020. But in 2021, they beat Atlanta United in the 1st Round, beat the New England Revolution away on penalty kicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and beat the Philadelphia Union away in the Conference Finals.

They faced the Portland Timbers, at Providence Park in Portland. The 1st half was a bit dull, until Valentin Castellanos putting NYCFC on the board in the 41st minute. They thought they had the game won, until stoppage time: In the 94th minute, Felipe Mora equalized for the Timbers.

There was no scoring in extra time, and the game went to penalties. City goalkeeper Sean Johnson saved penalties from Mora and Diego Valeri. Alexander Callens sent the winning penalty kick home.

New York City FC were the Champions of Major League Soccer. It was the 1st top-flight league title for a New York-based soccer team since the original Cosmos won Soccer Bowl '82, 39 years earlier. And it was the 1st league title for a New York-based team in any sport since the New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI, nearly 10 years earlier.

New York was now Blue. It was the most humiliating moment in the long, humiliation-riddled history of the New York Red Bulls, and they didn't even play.

*

December 11, 2021 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. There was 1 college football game played that day, the Army-Navy Game. Navy beat Army, 17-13 at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, 102-93 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Washington Wizards, 123-98 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls, 118-92 at the FTX Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Houston Rockets, 113-106 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 127-112 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Nikola Jokić led all scorers on the night with 35 points, and also had 17 rebounds.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Sacramento Kings, 117-103 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Orlando Magic, 106-104 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And there were 12 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-2 at the UBS Arena.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0 at the Corel Centre in Ottawa.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 in a shootout at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Anaheim Ducks, 1-0 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-3 at the Gila River Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Calgary Flames, 4-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Dallas Stars, 2-1 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings, the Vancouver Canucks, the Colorado Avalanche, the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, the Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Golden Knights were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Hampshire team Southampton, 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

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.

*

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).

December 11, 1959: The Yankees Trade for Roger Maris

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?

*

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.

December 11, 1927: The 1st MLB-NFL Double

Earl Potteiger

December 11, 1927: The New York Giants football team completes its season with a record of 11 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. This is good for 1st place in the National Football League. In just their 3rd season, they are NFL Champions.

Since the New York Yankees had won the World Series the preceding October 8, this makes New York the 1st city to have World Champions in 2 different sports.

Giants head coach Earl Potteiger, also a halfback on the team, could count on 

future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Fullback Joe Guyon, and tackles Steve Owen, Cal Hubbard and Pete Henry. Owen would coach the Giants to wins in the NFL Championship Game in 1934 and 1938; while losing it in 1933, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1944 and 1946. Hubbard would win 3 more titles with the Green Bay Packers, and be named to the NFL's 50th, 75th and 100th Anniversary All-time Teams. The '27 Giants also included tackle Century Milstead (so named because he was born on January 1, 1901), a member of the College Football Hall of Fame; and guard Al Nesser, probably the best of the 6 Nesser brothers (plus a brother-in-law, a son and a son-in-law) to play in the early NFL.

And Henry "Hinkey" Haines was an outfielder when the Yankees won the 1923 World Series, and a halfback with the 1927 Giants, making him, to this day, the only man to play for a World Series winner and an NFL Champion. (Deion Sanders came close, winning 2 Super Bowls but losing 2 World Series.)

The Giants started slowly: They won 8-0 away to the Providence Steam Roller (no S on the end), played the Cleveland Bulldogs to a 0-0 tie away, beat the Pottsville Maroons away 19-0, and losing to the Bulldogs 6-0 at the Polo Grounds. Part of that was having to open the season on the road, as the baseball Giants had priority at the ballpark.

But this meant that, after the game in Pottsville, all but 1 of their games would be in New York City. On back-to-back days, they beat the Frankford Yellow Jackets, first 13-0 in Philadelphia, then 27-0 at the Polo Grounds.

They beat the Maroons 16-0, the Duluth Eskimos 21-0, the Steam Roller 25-0, the Chicago Cardinals 28-7, the Chicago Bears 13-7, and closed with a home-and-home series against the baseball version of the New York Yankees, who would have featured the great running back Red Grange, but he injured his knee earlier in the season. The Giants won 14-0 at the Polo Grounds, and 13-0 at Yankee Stadium. After nearly going out of business after their inaugural season of 1925, saved by the huge crowd that the Chicago Bears, then with Grange, brought in, the Giants were "World Champions."

On 11 occasions, the same city has been home to the champions of Major League Baseball and the NFL at the same time. New York has done it 5 of those times:

1. December 11, 1927 to December 16, 1928, the New York Yankees and the New York Giants. From April 14 onward, this included a 3rd team, the New York Rangers.

2. December 15, 1935 to October 6, 1936, the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Lions. From April 11 onward, this included a 3rd team, the Detroit Red Wings.

3. December 11, 1938 to December 10, 1939, the New York Yankees and the New York Giants.

4. December 30, 1956 to October 10, 1957, the New York Yankees and the New York Giants.

5. October 16, 1969 to January 11, 1970, the New York Jets and the New York Mets. This was the 1st time the football title was won before the baseball title. The New York Knicks won the NBA Championship on May 8, 1970, but that was after the Jets were succeeded as World Champions.

6. January 17 to October 17, 1971, the Baltimore Colts and the Baltimore Orioles. The Baltimore Bullets almost made it 3, but they lost the NBA Finals.

7. October 17, 1979 to October 21, 1980, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

8. January 25 to October 25, 1987, the New York Mets and the New York Giants.

9. October 28, 1989 to October 20, 1990, the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Athletics.

10. October 27, 2004 to October 26, 2005, the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox. They almost had 3, but while the Red Sox won the 2007 World Series and the Boston Celtics the 2008 NBA Championship, the Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants.

11. February 3 to October 30, 2019, the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. This time, the Red Sox won the title first.

Why not the 1920 Akron Pros with the Cleveland Indians? After all, downtown Akron is closer to downtown Cleveland than Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, current home of the San Francisco 49ers, is to downtown San Francisco. Well, at the time, the concept of "metropolitan areas" wasn't really a thing. This also rules out the 1928 Providence Steam Roller and the 1929 Boston Bruins as being a "double." Under today's circumstances, we would count both of these confluences. That distance is further than San Francisco and Santa Clara.

The Giants have now won 8 NFL Championships, more than any team except the Green Bay Packers (13) and the Chicago Bears (9). In addition to the single-division NFL of 1927, they won the NFL Championship Game in 1934, 1938 and 1956; Super Bowl XXI in 1987; Super Bowl XXV in 1991; Super Bowl XLII in 2008; and Super Bowl XLVI in 2012.

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December 11, 1927 was a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 2 games played in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the New York Rangers, 2-0 at the old Madison Square Garden, which was then new. And the Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Cougars, 2-1 in overtime at the brand-new Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Cougars became the Falcons in 1930, and the Red Wings in 1932.