Ivytalk wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 8:06 am
Gil Dobie wrote: ↑Wed May 13, 2020 7:52 am
A couple of wife swappers too.
Yep, How could I forget Kekich and Peterson? Two career mediocrities grabbing headlines the only way they knew how.
That actually worked out great for the Yankees. Big George was so ticked off about that, that he ordered Gabe Paul to get rid of both of them ASAP.
Kekich got dumped to Cleveland. He had little trade value.
But Gabe Paul wanted to extract something back for Peterson, who had had a number of top seasons. So he offered Peterson to Cleveland even-up for Chris Chambliss. Chambliss had been ROY of the year in 1971 but he was not living up to expectations. Paul thought Chambliss might put up better numbers in YS and its short right-field porch.
Knowing how desperate Paul was to move Peterson, though, the Indians insisted that the Yankees include THREE of their top pitching prospects, Fred Beene, Tom Buskey and Steve Kline. Paul said no, but Big George didn't care. He just wanted Peterson gone. So Paul went back and asked for two pitchers back. The Indians offered Dick Tidrow, who had been a prospect at one time but who was considered a washout at 27; and veteran journeyman Cecil Upshaw, then late in an undistinguished career.
Paul hated the deal but pulled the trigger at George's insistence.
The deal was sharply criticized at the time, and called a heist in favor of Cleveland. But all three of the bright pitching prospects sent to Cleveland never achieved any sustained big league success. Chambliss found his legs in New York and became a very consistent, productive ballplayer. Tidrow became a key part of the Yankee bullpen. Both were significant pieces of the Yankees' late 1970s dynasty.
That wife-swap sort of worked out for the Yankees in the end.