If you’re a baseball fan, nothing gets your juices flowing for the pennant races like some good trade deadline chatter …
Who’s buying? Who’s selling? Which stars are changing teams? Will your team make a move?
And if you’re a baseball card collector, well, the delights of trade-deadline season are multiplied by all the cardboard possibilities.
I mean, remember how awesome it was to know Terry Mulholland would appear in a different uniform each spring when the new baseball cards hit store shelves?
But as exciting as the trade deadline is, it’s not the only late-July ritual that ignites diamond imagination … and debate.
That’s because Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held in Cooperstown during the last weekend of July each year, and there is always disagreement about who belongs in baseball’s Valhalla and who should have to pay admission like the rest of us scrubs.
It’s all great fun.
And sometimes … sometimes … baseball’s two hot-topic streaks collide and the unthinkable happens: a future Hall of Famer is traded!
Not long ago, I came across a Sports Illustrated article by Jay Jaffe that deals with this very topic — eventual Hall of Famers dealt before the non-waiver trade deadline (so Jeff Bagwell doesn’t make the cut, for example).
I thought it would be fun to take Jay’s list and put it a hobby twist on it.
Specifically, I wanted to look at two baseball cards for each of the HOF players: the last card issued before the trade (old team) and the first card issued after the trade (new team).
Here then, I present ten Hall of Fame baseball card makeovers, courtesy of the MLB trade deadline. Enjoy the memories!
June 15, 1964 — Lou Brock, Cubs to Cardinals
Before the trade …
Brock was the Chicago Cubs starting left fielder, but it took him parts of three Major League seasons to get there, and he wasn’t running — or hitting — like a record breaker. He did 24 steals in 1963, but that came with 12 caught-stealings, and his lifetime batting average stood at .258.
Judging by his 1964 Topps card, Brock wasn’t all that thrilled.
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The Cubs evidently weren’t, either, as they traded Brock, Jack Spring, and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens, and Bobby Shantz.
After the trade …
Brock stole 33 bases while hitting .348 with 12 home runs for the 1964 Cardinals in 103 games, finishing tenth in National League Most Valuable Player voting. He also picked up a World Series ring that October.
No wonder he looked so much happier on his 1965 Topps card.
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And, of course, Brock would go on to 3000 hits and a berth in the Hall of Fame, along with just about every stolen base record in the book … until Rickey Henderson swallowed them all up a decade-ish later.
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June 13, 1975 — Gaylord Perry, Indians to Rangers
Before the trade …
Perry won the American League Cy Young Award for the Cleveland Indians in 1972, and he manged a 21-13, 2.51 ERA campaign in 1974. That was good enough for him to get shipped from one also-ran to another — the Texas Rangers — in exchange for Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown, and Rick Waits early in 1975.
And, at 36 (maybe 35 in the pic), Perry already looked like your grandfather on his 1975 Topps card.
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After the trade …
Perry went 12-8, 3.03 the rest of the way in 1975, then spent all of 1976 and 1977 in Arlington before the Rangers traded him to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Dave Tomlin. There in the southern California sunshine, Perry won the 1978 National League Cy Young award.
He then slip-slide-Vasolined his way through another five Major League seasons to bring his win total to 314.
All along the way, he continued to look like your grandfather, just as on his 1976 Topps card.
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June 15, 1976 — Rollie Fingers, A’s to Red Sox
Before the trade …
Fingers was the premier reliever for the dynastic Oakland A’s of the 1970s, but became just another expensive pawn when Charlie O. Finley decided to tear down his monster in 1975-76.
Finley sold Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million.
Before he headed out of town, though, Fingers looked distinctly 19th century with his handlebar mustache and serif A’s jersey, as on his 1976 Topps card.
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After the trade …
Fingers cut up with his new BoSox teammates, mugged for the camera … and then headed back to Oakland when commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and voided the deal because it felt too seedy to him.
From there, Fingers continued his assault on the all-time saves record and won the 1981 American League Cy Young and MVP awards with the Milwaukee Brewers.
All along the way, he maintained his Dick Dastardly sense of style, as you can see on his 1977 Topps card:
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But Fingers never made it onto a “real” Red Sox card.
Thanks to the magical airbrush of the guys at the Baseball Card Blog, though, we have a delicious and historically accurate 1976 Topps Traded Fingers to ponder:
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