Baseball's most memorable trades

by Fred Eisenhammer

Babe Ruth, perhaps the greatest slugger ever, was sold by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $100,000 in 1919. The Yankees built a dynasty around Ruth; on the other hand, the "cursed" Red Sox have yet to win another World Series title. A few years after winning the National League's Most Valuable Player award in 1961, Cincinnati's Frank Robinson was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles in 1965 for three no-name players. The next year, the future Hall-of-Famer captured the elusive Triple Crown and became the only player ever to capture the MVP in both leagues. The Ruth and Robinson "steals" are two of the 25 most memorable big league trades explored in this work. Using newspaper stories, wire service accounts, interviews with the principals, and other reference sources, the authors analyze the impact of such trades on the teams involved and on the overall game. The careers of the players involved are also compared.