sp - don sutton
c - steve yeager
1b - steve garvey
2b - davey lopes
3b - ron cey
ss - bill russell
lf - dusty baker
cf - rick monday
rf - reggie smith
rp - charlie hough/terry forster
back then, the dodgers' general manager was al campanis. he's one of the few baseball gm's to be featured on cardboard, by the way (this is a 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts card)
campanis subscribed to branch rickey's theory that it is better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late, and thanks to the dodgers' bountiful farm system, there was usually someone ready to take up the slack once a player was dealt away should the return package have been lacking. campanis also once traded away his own son!
anyway, wrigley wax recently ran a series of posts regarding the 'trade links' of several former cubs players, and i thought i would do what any self-respecting blogger would do and steal that idea for my own posts. unfortunately, while campanis made a lot of deals, most of the team of my youth was kept until their usefulness in trades was diminished or free agency beckoned. let's see about what i will call the 'trade legacies' of the team of my youth.
let's start with don sutton, seen here on a 1969 mlb photo stamp.
sutton was a product of the dodger farm system, and following the 1980 season (a season in which he led the national league in era) he signed a free agent deal with the astros. dead end.
steve yeager was also a product of the dodger farm system. he was traded to the seattle mariners in december of 1985 for ed vande berg, as hinted at on their respective 1986 o-pee-chee cards.
vande berg was released by the dodgers a year later. not much of a legacy.
steve garvey, yet another dodger home grown talent, took his skills south to san diego as a free agent following the 1982 season. dead end.
davey lopes, still another dodger organization developed player, was traded after the 1981 world series to make room for steve sax. here's his 1982 o-pee-chee card showing him 'traded to a's'.
however, the dodgers received a minor leaguer named kelvin hudson who was out of the organization by 1984 and not by trade as far as i can tell.
ron cey, like all the players discussed above, came up through the dodger organization, and like garvey, left after the 1982 season. however, cey was traded to the cubs for a minor leaguers dan cataline and vance lovelace. this is cey's 1983 o-pee-chee card showing the damage done to the dodgers' hot corner.
lovelace eventually made it to the majors with the angels, although they acquired him from the dodgers via the rule v draft, and cataline peaked a double-a and was not, as far as i can see, ever traded out of the dodger organization. i believe lovelace is currently the dodgers' vp of player personnel.
bill russell was drafted by the dodgers, developed by the dodgers, and he retired as a dodger. the dean of dead ends, as far as trade legacies go.
the outfield is a little more interesting even though none of the three primary outfielders were traded by campanis.
dusty baker was acquired via trade. the dodgers sent lee lacy, tom paciorek, jerry royster, and jimmy wynn to the braves for baker and ed goodson in november of 1975. unfortunately for the purposes of this post, baker left the dodgers via free agency prior to the 1984 season. another dead end.
rick monday was also acquired via trade. in january of 1977, the dodgers received monday and mike garman from the cubs in exchange for bill buckner, ivan dejesus, and minor leaguer jeff albert. monday was released by the dodgers during the 1984 season, effectively ending his career. dead end.
reggie smith came to the dodgers in a trade with the cardinals. in june of 1976, the dodgers sent joe ferguson and two minor leaguers (bob detherage and freddie tisdale) to saint louis for smith, who remained with the dodgers until after the 1981 world series when he left as a free agent. detherage is an interesting case, however. if you will pardon the tangent, he was drafted by the dodgers in 1972. after he was traded to the cardinals, the redbirds sent him (along with ferguson) to the astros in november of 1976 for larry dierker and jerry davanon. in 1977, he was the player to be named later in a deal that the astros made with the dodgers late in the season involving danny walton and alex taveras. detherage remained in the dodgers' system until sometime in the 1978 season when he was released. he did all this without making it to the big leagues, although he finally received a call-up from the 1980 kansas city royals.
back to the trade legacy at hand, charlie hough was a dodger draftee who pitched his way up in the organization until he had his contract purchased by the rangers during the 1980 season. as for terry forster, he signed with the dodgers as a free agent after the 1977 season, and left as a free agent five years later. nothing to see here.
the most interesting trades involving members of the team of my youth might be the rick rhoden for jerry reuss deal, or the bob welch (and others) for jesse orosco, jay howell, and alfredo griffin, or even the glenn burke for bill north deal. unfortunately, all of those players acquired by the dodgers were either released by the team or left via free agency. yes, free agency killed the trade legacies!
so, this idea didn't really pan out for me. i have a similar idea regarding legacies that won't dead end - i'll roll out one of those posts soon.
