QOTD: Challenge Trades

Sunday, January 13 2008 @ 11:02 PM EST

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

So the Glaus-for-Rolen deal has dominated the pages and polls of Da Box for a day or more now, and it has been, correctly, labeled a true "challenge" trade.

Challenge trades are straight-up, one-for-one deals, usually involving two guys who play the same position. The first such trade I can remember is the legendary My-Bobby-For-Yours deal of 1974 when the Giants sent Bonds to the Bronx for Murcer. The most legendary such deal is one that actually never happened, when (legend has it) the owners of the Red Sox and Yankees got their drink on and agreed to deal Joe DiMaggio for Ted Williams before both backed out the next, more sober day.

So here are your questions for the day ...

First, what are the most significant "Challenge Trades" that dot your baseball memory? (Note: Alomar and Carter for McGriff and Fernandez doesn't technically qualify, since it was neither one-for-one nor did they all play the same positions.)

And second, with months or years or (as in my case above with the Bobby-for-Bobby deal) decades of retrospect, who won that challenge?

In retrospect, many challenge deals aren't so big after all ... Bonds and Murcer both played acceptablly well in their new uniforms, but it's not like either went to the Hall of Fame or even won a ring for their new employers.

Murcer lasted two years (and one All-Star selection) in Candlestick and was sent off to the Cubs for Bill Madlock, while Bonds was in the Bronx for just one year (also as an All-Star) before being flipped to Cali for Ed Figueroa and Mickey Rivers. Those two guys DID help the Yankees win a couple of rings, so by that score, the Yankees win the "challenge" Anyhow, that's the way MY scorecard reads.

Over to you, Bauxites. That's your challenge, as it were ... who won the biggest challenge trades you can remember?

14 comments

https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080113230234733