More deals that probably should not have been made.
The Cubs had a good year in 1958 and had the reigning league MVP in Ernie Banks. They were second in the NL in runs that year, but third-worst in runs allowed.
So, pitching is the need, right? Did they go out and trade for pitching? The answer, as you likely already guessed, was “No.”
January 23: Acquired Earl Averill and Morrie Martin from the Indians for Jim Bolger and John Briggs
Averill, as we learned in the last installment, was the not-quite-as-talented son of Hall of Famer Earl Averill Sr.
Morrie Martin was a pitcher who’d had some decent years with the A’s and White Sox but… as the 1959 season dawned, he was 36. Why would you even bother trading for a guy like this? He pitched in three games with a 19.29 ERA and spent the rest of the year and 1960 toiling for Cubs minor league teams.
Bolger, a spare-part outfielder, had batted .244/.286/.322 in 260 games for the Cubs in 1955 and 1957-58. He played in only eight games for Cleveland before they dumped him on the Phillies. Briggs posted a 4.70 ERA in 26 games (17 starts) for the Cubs from 1956-58. He didn’t last long in Cleveland, either; they sent him to the A’s in 1960.
Let’s call this a trade that did nothing for either team.
March 9: Acquired Bob Smith from the Red Sox for Chuck Tanner
Yes, THAT Chuck Tanner, the guy who eventually managed the White Sox and Pirates for many years in the 1970s and 1980s.
Smith, a pitcher, pitched in exactly one game for the Cubs before being sent away in the next deal in this article.
Tanner spent most of the year playing for the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Minneapolis before being sent to Cleveland in September.
This is another trade that produced zero MLB value for the teams involved.
May 4: Acquired Randy Jackson from the Indians for Bob Smith
This was a curious deal. Jackson had played for the Cubs from 1950-55 and was their regular third baseman for the last five of those years, making two All-Star teams, before he was shipped to the Dodgers in a deal we’ll cover later in this series.
Jackson’s tenure with the Dodgers was marred by injuries and by the time he came back to the Cubs he was 33 and a backup. He played in 41 games, and his only homer for the Cubs that year, a three-run job, briefly gave them a 5-4 lead over the Cardinals in a game they lost 8-7. The pitcher he hit that final career home run off of was… Ernie Broglio.
Smith had -0.4 bWAR for Cleveland after the deal and Jackson 0.2 bWAR for the Cubs, so we’ll give this one to the Cubs.
May 12: Acquired Seth Morehead from the Phillies for Taylor Phillips
This trade of middling pitchers gave slightly more value (0.6 bWAR) to the Cubs than the Phillies (0.2 bWAR).
They might as well have not bothered.
May 19: Acquired Irv Noren from the Cardinals for Chick King
King, an outfielder, had gone 2-for-11 in 15 games for the Cubs in 1958 and 1959.
Noren was a pretty good outfielder — years before. He had a long career, mostly with the Senators and Yankees, and had played in three World Series in New York, as well as being an All-Star with the Yankees in 1954.
He played pretty well for the Cubs, batting .321/.384/.462 with four home runs and two stolen bases in 65 games, and I mention the steals only because that was tied with Ernie Banks for second-most on the team. Tony Taylor led the Cubs with 23 steals in 1959, another reason they should never have traded him.
Anyway, Noren’s year was good for 2.1 bWAR, not bad for a bit less than half a season. But in 1960 he went just 1-for-11 in 15 games and was released.
Give this one to the Cubs for that ‘59 performance.
November 21: Acquired Dick Gernert from the Red Sox for Jim Marshall and Dave Hillman
Gernert, a first baseman/outfielder, played in just 52 games for the Cubs before the Tigers acquired him for cash considerations. He’d been a pretty good player in Boston for several seasons, including getting MVP votes in 1952, but somehow when guys like this came to the Cubs they just magically stopped hitting.
Hillman had 1.9 bWAR for Boston in two years there, but Marshall never played for the Red Sox. They traded him to the Giants before the 1960 season started. The 1950’s were an era like this; guys often got traded multiple times in an offseason. Eventually, of course, Marshall would return to the Cubs as a coach and managed the team from 1974-76. He also played three years in Japan, 1963-65.
This is another deal that did little for either team.
December 1: Acquired Al Schroll from the Red Sox for Bobby Thomson
Thomson, of course, was famed for the “Shot Heard Round the World” in the 1951 pennant playoff between the Giants and Dodgers, and he had several good years there before coming to the Cubs, where he had a good year in 1958 (.283./351/.466 with 21 home runs), not so good in ‘59. He didn’t do much in Boston, only 40 games, then three games in Baltimore before he retired after 1960.
So did the Cubs win this deal? Nope. Schroll pitched in just two games for the Cubs with a 10.13 ERA, and in 1961 the Twins acquired him for cash considerations.
Yet another Cubs trade that had almost no impact for either team.
December 6: Acquired Frank Thomas from the Reds for Bill Henry, Lou Jackson and Lee Walls.
Well… nope.
Thomas had a good year for the Cubs in 1960, to be sure, and Walls was never more than a bit player the rest of his career (he’d had a big year for the Cubs in ‘58, 24 HR, 4.4 bWAR, an All-Star nod). Jackson never played for the Reds and didn’t make it back to the majors until 1964, when he had eight at-bats for the Orioles.
Why do I say “nope”? Because Henry went on to have a long career as an excellent reliever, mostly for the Reds and Giants. He made the NL All-Star team in 1960, at a time when few relievers were so honored, and pitched for the Reds in the World Series in 1961. The Cubs could have used a solid lefty reliever like Henry for most of the 1960s.
Bad trade, overall, and the Cubs get a D for 1959, largely because of that last deal.