Indians trade Corey Kluber to Texas

I haven't had time yet to catch up on the San Francisco Giants hot stove yet, but this news crossed the wire today and while I'm not surprised that the always thrifty Cleveland Indians traded Corey Kluber after an injury-filled 2019, I am surprised that they acquired so little in a trade involving him.

The two-time Cy Young award (2014 and 2017) winner and two-time third-place finisher ( 2016 and 2018) struggled last season to a 2-3 record with an ERA nearly six in seven starts before his season ended after being struck by a line drive in May.
Kluber turns 34 in April and is signed for the 2020 season with the Rangers now holding a team option for 2021.

The return was surprisingly small for a pitcher that won the Cy Young just two years ago and despite the injury issues (Kluber is expected to have a full recovery and be ready for the spring) with those terrible 2019 stats, I thought Cleveland would add a little more than a reliever and yet another journeyman outfielder for Kluber.

Many in baseball are high on pitcher Emmanuel Clase, who pitched for Down East (High A) and Frisco (AA) before a callup to the Rangers where he would make 21 appearances with a record of 2-3 with a save to pair with an ERA of 2.31.
Clase struck out 21 in 23 innings with Texas and is reported to throw a cutter at 101 MPH with some comparing it to that of Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera.
That is a very high level to reach and although the K-IP ratio is impressive, you would think with the reported stuff that Clase has the strikeouts would be even higher.
Clase turns 22 before spring training and if you assume that Clase is a safe bet to continue his performance, which is never an easy assumption to make when you consider relievers, Cleveland will have six years of a controllable cost-fixed asset.
I have also read of Clase possibly having the ability to stretch out and eventually becoming a starter.
Clase did make one start for the Rangers last season, but pitched one inning as the "opener".

As if the Indians didn't have enough light-hitting outfielders, they added another in this trade as the Indians received outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. as the other part of the trade.
DeShields hit  .249 with four homers and 32 RBI in 357 at-bats to go along with 24 steals last season for Texas.
DeShields is a plus defender, but when you look at the Indians outfielders currently on the roster, they are filled with similar players such as Greg Allen, Tyler Naquin, and the returning Bradley Zimmer.
I'm just not seeing the need for DeShields unless the plan is to move one of the other outfielders or even flip DeShields in a trade.

On the overall, one has to like the upside of Emmanuel Clase and the contract helps as well.
However, relievers are so difficult to count on from season to season and with DeShields being only a journeyman type, the Indians are putting all their hopes on Clase as their return for Corey Kluber.
The return doesn't seem enough for me (Clase is fine, but I would have preferred a minor leaguer with a chance to develop than another outfielder)  and it seems like Cleveland was (once again) in salary dump mode.
Still, Kluber comes with many questions and we could look back at the trade with Clase as a top reliever as an excellent return for an aging pitcher.

Grading the trade now, I give the slight edge to Texas, but there is a chance that the Indians could swing the trade their way, so it's not a lopsided trade.

Back next time with the Browns disappointing effort in Arizona.

Forgotten Superstars: Toby Harrah

I've written before about my favorite player growing up with the occasional note that I found online, and I've even written about his trade to the Indians that changed my baseball allegiance forever, but I've never devoted a Forgotten Superstars segment to Toby Harrah.

Harrah was my favorite player for no particular reason, really.
My dad had been a Washington Senators and stayed with the team when they moved to Texas to become the Rangers, and even though he would eventually shift to the Orioles as he grew tired of waiting for a baseball return to the District (Ironically, he's never warmed up to the Nationals). When I was picking baseball teams, I selected the teams that he rooted for (Which didn't happen after that, except for the Maryland Terrapins)  in the Rangers and Pirates.

Harrah was originally drafted by the Phillies. But the Washington Senators were drafted away in the minor league draft, similar to the Rule Five draft today, after his first season.

Harrah made his major league debut with the Senators late in the 1969 season, used mostly as a pinch-runner with only one plate appearance, before winning the starting shortstop position for Washington in their final season in 1971.
Harrah would be the final active player to have played for the Washington Senators when he retired after the 1986 season. Still, his rookie season as a Senator was nothing to indicate stardom as Harrah hit just .230 with only one homer in 127 games with 23 errors defensively.

The 1972 move to Texas didn't improve Harrah's numbers appreciably, but a strong first half and the MLB rule to have one player from each team allowed Harrah to make his first of four All-Star teams. For the 1972 season, Harrah's average rose somewhat to .259 and doubled his power numbers to two homers, but in 1973, Harrah's career showed his first signs of being more than an average player as he hit ten homers along with keeping his average in the same area (.260) for the 57 win Rangers in the only season that Whitey Herzog managed in Texas.

It was 1974 that saw Harrah's breakout season as the surprising Rangers under Billy Martin improved their record by thirty games from the previous season (54 to 84 victories), and Harrah was a key player in the upturn as he again finished with a .260 batting average, but hit twenty homers with 74 RBI.
Harrah's time playing under Martin helped him develop as a player, but Harrah was also established as a favorite of Martin's, and seemingly every off-season was filled with rumors and various attempts by Martin's next team in New York trying to acquire Harrah to play shortstop for the Yankees.

It's funny, had the Yankees obtained Harrah, they would have never received the famous 1978 playoff homer from Bucky Dent, or if there is a parallel universe somewhere that has Red Sox fans cursing the name Toby Bleeping Harrah!

Harrah continued to improve his game in 1975 with a career-high in RBI (93) and jumping in batting average to. 293 in making his second All-Star team and would be voted to his only starting All-Star spot in 1976 despite a small slide in statistics to .260 with 15 homers.
Yes, for those of you scoring at home, Toby Harrah's batting average was exactly .260 for three out of four seasons!

In 1977, the Rangers moved Harrah from shortstop to third base, and Harrah responded with his career-high in homers with 27 and led the league in walks with 109.
Harrah's eye at the plate was underrated, but from 1975 to 1985, Toby never struck out more often than he walked, and he was an underrated base stealer as well, as he swiped 27 bases in the second of his three 20/20 seasons (also 75 and 79) in 1977.
Harrah didn't make the All-Star team despite the improved numbers due to the competition at third base in the AL at the time, but despite hitting. 263, this was likely his best overall season as a Ranger with his top Texas OPS number as well at .872.

The 1978 Rangers were favored in some quarters to win the AL West as owner Brad Corbett traded for Al Oliver, Bobby Bonds, and Jon Matlack as well as signing free agent Richie Zisk, but even with 87 wins, the Rangers never seemed to jell and finished five games behind Kansas City as crusty veteran manager Billy Hunter battled with his team all season with Hunter being fired on the season's next to last day.

Toby must have struggled with Hunter as he delivered his career-worst season as well (.222, 12, and 59 with only a career-high 31 stolen bases standing out on the stat sheet), although I've never read a particular problem between the two, only the general problems with Hunter and the team.

I've always wondered how Hunter sat his starting third baseman for both games of a 1978 doubleheader, yet he was healthy enough to pinch-run for his only appearance on my tenth birthday, which my present was tickets to see the Rangers in Baltimore.

The disappointing season for the Rangers meant another shakeup was in store, and the Rangers made several moves that included moving Bobby Bonds after one season and the two most popular Rangers, Mike Hargrove and Toby Harrah.
The three were moved in three different trades, but by June 1979, all three were with the Indians (Hargrove was traded to the Padres over the winter before a June trade to Cleveland).

I've written before about the trade that unofficially sent then ten-year-old Shawn to the Indians as well, with the Rangers adding Buddy Bell in the one-for-one trade.
There has been a small myth that the Rangers "won" the trade, but I'd argue that the trade was pretty even.
Bell was the better fielder and the better hitter for average; Harrah was the superior power hitter (Bell finished with only six more career homers, despite playing two more seasons) and was more of a threat to steal a base.

If Texas had an edge, it was that they had Bell for eight years (.293, 87, 499 RBI, and .782 OPS) compared to Harrah's tenure in Cleveland, which lasted five years (.281, 70, 324 RBI, and .799 OPS), but on average, the two are very even.

The Indians in the '70s and '80s were always a team looking for an identity.
One year, they would build around power, another speed, and in others, pitching.

The Wahoo's would also zig-zag between veteran teams and youth so after the Indians had tried to work with youth for the past few years entering 1979, they were attempting to bring in some veterans to lift the team to respectability and despite finishing sixth in the best division in baseball, they were respectable at 81-80 as had they been in the western division, they would have finished fifth, but a half-game (due to a rainout that was not replayed) out of fourth and only a game in a half behind third-place Texas.

Harrah helped those 1979 Indians, an average team long forgotten by all but the most diehard Cleveland fans, to that record with the final of his 20/20 seasons, hitting homers and steals right on the nose with 20 in each column.

Harrah's numbers dropped in 1980 (.267 and 11 homers) and his average improved in the strike season of 1981(.291 and 5 longballs), but his career season was on tap as in 1982, Harrah made his fourth and final All-Star team as he hit above .300 (.304) for the only time in his career, smacked 25 homers (second highest in his career), knocked in 78 runs from the second spot in the batting order, stole 17 bases, finished with a career-high of .888 and played all 162 games- all at the age of 33.

That was his last big season as in 1983, Toby's stats took a fall (.266 and nine homers), and missed a month of the season, so the time was right for the Indians to move him and finally, after all those years, the Yankees got their man as Harrah was sent to Gotham for reliever George Frazier, outfielder Otis "My Man!" Nixon and minor leaguer Guy Elson.

The Yankees would be disappointed as Harrah hit just .217 and one home run in only 88 games, as it seemed Harrah didn't care for playing in New York and at the age of 36, looked to be through as the Yankees returned Harrah to Texas for outfielder Billy Sample.
Harrah was moved to second base and played pretty well in 1985 (.270, 9, and an OPS of .820) in 126 games, but he would retire after a weak 1986 season at the age of 37, hitting only .218 with seven homers in 95 games.
Harrah would be elected to the Rangers Hall of Fame in  2009.

Harrah would later manage the Rangers for 76 games in the 1992 season to a record of 32-44, which was disappointing considering he replaced Bobby Valentine, who was canned after a 45-41 start.
Harrah would never manage in the big leagues again, but he would manage in the minors and coach with a few teams in the majors, including the Indians with former teammate Mike Hargrove managing and the Rockies with the player that his name is most attached to as the bench boss- Buddy Bell.

Toby Harrah isn't often thought about as a Hall of Fame-level player,  but by some sabremetricians, Harrah's career is more highly thought of, as Baseball Prospectus ranks him as the 25th best third baseman ever, ahead of some Hall of Famers and rated near the top of Wins Above Replacement Players or WAR, five times in his career.

Toby Harrah had a pretty solid career, was my favorite player, and the latest addition to our Forgotten Superstars Universe.

Pirates leap into deadline!

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked to be sellers a few weeks back if you looked forward to the trade deadline, but then something happened in Pittsburgh- the Pirates ripped off eleven wins in a row, leaped back into the wild-card race with a Bob Beamonesque leap and Neal Huntington suddenly had a decision to make- sell and basically tell his fan base that the franchise had decided to punt the season from the green flag, stand pat with a suddenly hot team or make some moves and try to make the postseason.

To my surprise, Huntington made not just one, but two moves and they were big ones for the Pirates, costing them several good prospects that might have Pirates fans looking at these trades for years as either the day the Pirates added some arms that turned them into contenders for a few years or the day the team overreacted to a win streak and dealt players that should have thrived in Pittsburgh.

Starting with the larger of the two trades (the second of the pair), the Pirates landed perhaps the biggest arm to change teams at the deadline as Pittsburgh added righthander Chris Archer from Tampa Bay for outfielder Austin Meadows, right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and a player to be named later.
That's quite a package of cost-controlled young talent to send away for an often financially challenged franchise, but let's look at what Pittsburgh acquired first before the lost prospects in Chris Archer.

The soon to be 30 year old Archer (turns 30 in September) has been the best pitcher on a bad team over the last few seasons (53 wins since 2013), has been durable (no trips to the DL since his 2013 call-up) and hasn't notched an ERA higher than his current 4.31, so this is a quality starter to slot into the rotation for the Buccos.
Add to that, Archer's very team friendly contract that has him under control for 2019  (7.5 million) at a minimum with two team option years for 2020 and 21 at a very affordable (9 and 11 million) cost as well and you can see why the Pirates paid what they paid in prospects.

However, there are a few caveats on Chris Archer.
The largest of these is that Archer never took the expected leap to the next level after 2014 and 15 seasons that would have seen him firmly in the Cy Young race on even an average team and his numbers although still good, are declining slightly.
It could be that Tampa dealt Archer just as he is at his highest value and just before Archer could be starting a steep decline.
Archer's strikeouts numbers are down a bit (a strikeout and a half per nine innings from last year) and his hits per nine innings are up one from last season and those make me at least wonder a bit about Archer.
Still, Archer is still about as safe as you can trade for at this stage and even if he gives the Pirates what he has given to the Rays this season for three and a half seasons, that's still enough to be in the upper half of the Pirate rotation and if he gives you what the 2015 Archer is capable of, the Pirates have a clear number one starter.

Here's the issue for the Pirates though- you don't get a pitcher like this for free and they sure didn't this time.
Tyler Glasnow has the type of arm that makes scouts drool and as he flew through the minors, Glasnow was thought to give the Pirates a contention window with three big righthanders with power arms with Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon, but for one small problem- every time that Glasnow was given a chance with the Pirates, he had problems finding the strike zone.
The Pirates placed him in their bullpen and despite the walks remaining high (34 in 34 appearances), the strikeouts were as well ( 72 in those 34 appearances) and to me to have an arm like this that hasn't turned 23 (He will later this month) that you seem to have given up on as a starter is incredibly short-sighted.
Perhaps the Pirates figured they had run out of answers for Glasnow's questions or that their staff couldn't get through to Glasnow or who knows what other thoughts that they have, but all I will write is this- when you have a 6'8 fireballer with that kind of stuff and you give up on him this soon- you had better hope you are right because those arms don't come along as a homegrown product every day.

Austin Meadows was thought to be the next starting young outfielder and was the natural long-term replacement for Andrew McCutchen.
McCutchen's trade to the Giants was thought to have opened the door for Meadows, but when the team traded with Tampa Bay to add veteran Corey Dickerson, that door closed until Meadows was given a shot in May and responded with a torrid first month in the bigs hitting over .400 with four homers in his first 13 games.
Meadows cooled off in his next forty games, but still seemed to be in their long-term plans between the veteran Dickerson and the erratic Gregory Polanco, but Tampa had to have wanted the cost-controlled Meadows in this deal to make it work.
I've always liked Meadows bat, but he has had problems staying healthy and with the way that Meadows had dropped off after his start, the Pirates had to have wondered at least a little.
Meadows was the best outfield prospect in the system as far as talent and was the nearest to the parent club as well, so this was not a player that the Pirates could easily trade away.
The departure of Meadows also puts a lot of heat on the Pirates to re-sign Corey Dickerson in the off-season, despite an arbitration number that might make a Dickerson re-signing oppressive, this trade almost makes that a must do rather than we'll see consideration.


The player to be named will be interesting as well.
Will it be a third higher level prospect ( O'Neil Cruz at low West Virginia is the best prospect position wise or pitcher Mitch Keller at AAA Indianapolis, which I would think is unlikely), a b-level player that is at Bradenton or Altoona or a lottery ticket from the lower end of the system?
Glasnow was added to the Tampa roster and Meadows was assigned to the Rays AAA affiliate in Durham after the deal,
This trade will be evaluated for years and many Pirates fans will be following Tampa box scores for quite a while.

Editor's Note; The PTBNL was pitcher Shane Baz, the Pirates 2017 first round selection,

The first trade saw the Pirates add to their bullpen with a trade with the Texas Rangers as they added closer Keone Kela, favorite of former TRS fan Brad Adams (If two people read this and ask, I'll write about the Kela story that I have to tell) and owner of 24 saves in 25 chances for the Arlington's in exchange for minor league lefty Taylor Hearn and a player to be named later.
The 25-year-old Kela pitched well for the Rangers in 2017 and 18, can close or fill a setup role and can even pitch in a semi-long role in a rare situation that calls for it.
Kela will be arbitration eligible, but the Pirates again have added a pitcher that gives them some control over his rights for a while.

The part that hurts is losing former Hagerstown Sun lefthander Taylor Hearn, who was having a breakout season at AA Altoona.
Hearn has an ERA of 3.12 in twenty starts, struck out 115 in 109 innings and held opposing hitters to under a .200 batting average.
Add that to a lefty that sits in the mid-90's and you have a southpaw that didn't seem to be far away from the big leagues.
This might be another pitcher that the Pirates might have wished hadn't gotten away.
Hearn was assigned to the Rangers AA squad in Frisco after the trade.

Give the Pirates credit, they saw an opening and for once- went for it.
For a team that is almost always questioned about finances, you have to give them credit for doing what they are usually criticized for not doing- giving themselves a chance to win.
However, you can argue (and time will answer this question) that the Pirates might have overreacted to a winning streak that put them in sight of a playoff spot (and that's really what the streak did put them in the running) and might have cost themselves as many as five young players that make the big leagues for a mirage of a playoff run.
They are valid questions to ask and I don't think that the answer is an easy one, mainly because I've been critical for the Pirates not being buyers when in the position to make sense to do so.
Still, looking at all things fairly, I lean to the side of not making the deal for Chris Archer.
Here's why- you didn't think that you were going to contend, which is why you moved Gerrit Cole for young players (Michael Feliz, Joe Musgrove, and Colin Moran) that were expected to make the parent club, yet weren't expected to make instant impacts on the lineups.
The team (in my opinion) traded better prospects for Archer than they received for Cole and yet the trade for Cole put the surprise contender in need for a pitcher.
Archer will be under team control longer than Cole, so that plays a part in those deals, but still, if you don't trade Cole, the need for Archer is not as great and so it goes down the line.
Now you lose players with the potential to help you down the road for what could be a mirage of a few weeks in one season and the risk is massive, particularly if Tyler Glasnow figures things out in Florida.
I understand the reasons why but consider me more than concerned about the end results of these trades.

Giants dump salary-With a fascinating story!!!

The San Francisco Giants have been trying to contend in 2018, but at the same time, the team has been trying to reduce salary a bit to attempt to avoid payment for exceeding the limit for the luxury tax.

There is no other way to explain the Giants trade with the Texas Rangers, where reliever Cory Gearrin and outfielder Austin Jackson were headed along with minor league pitcher Jason Bahr for either a minor leaguer to be named or cash.

Neither Gearrin or Jackson was having an especially big year (Gearrin's ERA was over four in 35 games and Jackson was hitting just .242 without a homer) and the team saved over four million with Jackson (signed thru 2019) and another million and a half from Gearrin by sending them away.

Teams don't help others for free and Texas added an interesting prospect in Jason Bahr.who led the SAL in strikeouts at Augusta (88) before being called up to San Jose where he allowed only three runs in three starts.
The fifth-round pick from Central Florida in 2017 was assigned to the Rangers high A affiliate in Kinston NC-the Down East Wood Ducks...

San Francisco called up two players to fill the vacated two roster spots as outfielder Steven Duggar and reliever Ray Black arrived from AAA Sacramento.
Duggar is a plus defender and was hitting .272 in Sacramento, while the 28-year-old Black struck out 38 batters in 21 AAA innings.
Both played in Sunday's game against St.Louis with Duggar's double giving him his initial big league hit, while Black allowed three runs in a third of an inning to welcome him to the majors.
And there is where we write a story about Ray Black.
Let's say a fascinating story with full credit to the Folksmen.

Ray Black throws hard.
HARD- as in clocked at 104 MPH hard.
Look at Black's strikeout numbers and one can see that, but until he began to harness his control and cut back his walks as he did in 2017, Black was going to be looked at as more novelty act than bullpen asset.


We move back to our first trip to Charleston WV in 2016 when we saw the Augusta Greenjackets in town against the West Virginia Power.
As we needed to this season, to see the Greenjackets we needed to hit the road because Augusta doesn't visit Hagerstown.
I wrote back then about the famous West Virginia "Toastman" Rod Blackstone and his heckling.
The Toastman's routine has become somewhat famous through the minors and he has even been placed in a few of Topps minor league sets.
Fred and Michael Landucci were at our hotel, checking out the next day and our hotel was next to the hotel that Augusta was staying.
Their bus driver was waiting outside and we struck up a conversation about the previous night's game (a game so good that Fred and I still talk about it) with him.
The lack of hitting came up and the bus driver started talking about Rod Blackstone and his ability to distract players or as the driver put it " That F'ing Toastman knows how to get inside these kids head".
The driver told us about Blackstone getting to the players because he doesn't curse or do anything nasty, he simply drives them nuts by telling the truth about their stats, signing bonus, draft status or background- "Its hard to ignore someone that's telling the truth".


But then came the really interesting part- "but one guy pushed back on the Toastman".
Of course, we then needed to know the story and it features the power-armed Ray Black- as in the previously mentioned 104 MPH fastball Ray Black.

The driver said that Black had claimed that he wouldn't tolerate the Toastman experience and he didn't as he was brought into the game as a reliever and watched as Blackstone began his reciting of various facts for Black.
This is where the story gets interesting- The driver claimed that in his warmups that Black rocked back and gunned his best fastball "and you know that Black throws very hard" at Blackstone at the netting.
"The net bulged back, Toastman's eyes grew WIDE OPEN and he almost got nailed!"

I found this story very interesting and remembered for our trip to Charleston in 2017 and asked Rod if this indeed happened- his response was that he didn't remember it occurring.
I thought that perhaps the driver had been either telling a story or exaggerating one as sometimes a fable is far more fun to listen to than the actual truth.
Maybe Black did throw a wild pitch and then commented as we all do as "almost getting him" etc?

Fast forward a few weeks after this, I'm in Harrisburg for the Richmond Flying Squirrels and who comes walking by to their bullpen but Ray Black.
I have to ask him about this and I do so with Black answering with a sheepish grin and a "so where did you hear about this?".
I told him that the Augusta bus driver told us this story and Black replied so "bus drivers name ( I cannot say that I remember his name) still remembers that".
We talked for a few minutes about Augusta, the Greenjackets then-home, Charleston and of course, the Toastman before Black had to go back to work.
It didn't seem like a story that Black was bragging or embellishing and he was very matter of fact about it, which lent some credence to me that at least a portion of the story was factual.

The entire thing made me a Ray Black fan and he seemed like a cool guy when we talked about the story, so I was very happy to see him get a shot at the big time at the age of 28.
No matter if the story was as described or not, it was still a good tale and it is fabled such as those that make minor league baseball what it is- Fun...

I'll just trade Matt Moore!

PATRICK GORSKI-USA TODAY SPORTS

The title of this is an inside joke, but the San Francisco Giants traded Matt Moore and some international bonus pool dollars to the Texas Rangers for two minor league pitchers in a trade that was about saving money to get under the luxury tax than the prospects being returned to the Giants.

Matt Moore posted arguably the worst numbers of any starter last season 6-15 with a 5.52 ERA in 31 starts and it got worse with a WHIP of over 1.5 and hits
Wolff per nine innings ratio. of over ten.
Considering that Moore was being paid nine million next season from a club that finished with the worst record in the National League last season, needs to make some moves to come even close to being a wild card contender and is pushing being a multiple offender of the luxury tax, it wasn't a difficult choice to select Moore to be to the guy to move.
The issue became was this- Who would take him and what would they give for him?

The team willing to gamble on a Moore revitalization was the Texas Rangers and they sent two minor leaguer pitchers in Sam Wolff and Israel Cruz.
The 26 year old Wolff was a 6th rounder by the Rangers in 2013 and looked to be on his way after his first two years of pro ball as high as High A Myrtle Beach before missing 2015 with a torn Achilles.
Wolff split last year between AA Frisco and AAA Round Rock and pitched well as a reliever and his 2.34 ERA at AAA in 24 appearances might make him a dark horse to make the Giants bullpen at some time during the 2018 season.

As for the 20 year old Cruz, he's a long shot lottery ticket, who has yet to pitch for any team higher than the complex leagues with little success to show for it other than an interesting 42 strikeouts in 32 innings last season.

The main job was to move Moore off the payroll no matter the return and if Wolff or Cruz give any type of return at all then that is just an added bonus.
The Giants need some more moves to make any type of improvement, hopefully this is the first of many.
Back soon with Saunders vs Lemieux.

Toby Harrah for Buddy Bell

The winter meetings after the 1978 season watched two teams trade solid third basemen coming off disappointing seasons.
Both players were popular with their fan base yet few were screaming about the deal from either side.
Neither team improved a ton after the trade,but it was not due to either player,who both made All-Star team in their new cities.
The Toby Harrah for Buddy Bell swap was not one for the ages,but it was one that changed the sports life of one ten year old for good.

I was a Texas Rangers fan mainly because my dad had been a fan of the Washington Senators before they moved to Texas and remained so (he eventually would convert to the Orioles) and Toby Harrah was my favorite player.
Harrah had his worst season of his career in 1978 and had been rumored to be on the trade block after losing playing time under manager Billy Hunter,who was fired before the last game of the season.
My tenth birthday present was a doubleheader (remember those?) visit by the Rangers to Baltimore-actually on my birthday! (Who could have planned that!)
Harrah made one pinch running appearance in the two games,which allowed me to holler loudly once and then Harrah would not play further in order for Kurt Bevacqua (of the bubble gum blowing title and King of the Hill fame) to play both games at third base.
That should have been a red flag on the Hunter-Harrah relationship.
Looking back,one wonders why the need to trade Harrah,if the issues had been related to the fired Hunter,but the Rangers might have thought they needed better glovework and Bell was the better player with the leather of the two.

I had chosen Toby Harrah as my favorite player when I started rooting for the Rangers,so as a ten year old-I was furious!
Nothing against Bell,who I liked,but I was not happy.
During the same winter meetings,the Rangers traded Mike Hargrove to San Diego (Ironically,midway through the 79 season,Hargrove would be reunited with Harrah in Cleveland),so I was especially unhappy.
Two months earlier,Texas had traded another Shawn favorite in Bobby Bonds to you guessed it-the Indians,so considering the two trades,adding to the Ohio personal connection for me and that in a two month span,my three favorite Rangers were no longer so,this ten year old was finished.
The deal was finished,my loyalty was transferred from the Rangers to the Indians.

As soon as this monumental decision was made,I instantly began to bug my dad to take me to massive Cleveland Municipal Stadium on our next trip to Ohio to visit family.
Dad did so taking my grandparents and my favorite aunt and uncle,Becky and Terry for a colossal battle between the Indians and the Kansas City Royals,which amazingly the Indians won in a .500 season that saw them finish in sixth in the powerhouse American League Eastern Division.
Three things that I remember most on that day-A leaping grab by shortstop Tom Veryzer to end the game,Bobby Bonds spoke to me "Hey there,man" and that it seemed like no one was there in the huge stadium (attendance numbers-barely over 9,000 in a 74,000+ stadium for baseball).

I never held the trade against Bell,I actually became a bigger Bell fan,which made me getting to meet Buddy last season in Frederick a big deal to me.
I've never met Toby Harrah,who currently is a roving hitting instructor in the Tigers system.
Of all the players that I have sent cards to in the mail,Toby Harrah is not one of them.
Why? I just never wanted my favorite player of my youth to perhaps not sign them,although Harrah has a good reputation for signing through the mail.

Buddy Bell would spend seven seasons in Texas before finishing his career with the Reds and a brief cameo in Texas with both the Astros and Rangers.
Toby Harrah would spend the next five seasons in Cleveland before being traded to the Yankees,where he spent one season and then finishing his career with the Rangers with a two year return to Texas.
The fifteen year old Shawn was a different person naturally than the ten year old version and the Indians were cemented as my team.
I've written before that I love the Pirates,but the Indians are special to me.
I just prefer National League baseball.

In the end,it was a pretty even trade,each team received back what they gave-a very good third baseman.
Bell was the better average hitter and a little better with the glove.
Harrah hit for more power and was the faster player.
Both players were productive in their new cities,neither team should have been disappointed.
One for one,good player for good player and one fan's rooting future was set forever.....

Dock Ellis and my 10th Birthday

Former Pirate (among others) pitcher Dock Ellis passed away on Friday of a liver ailment in Los Angeles.
Ellis was noted for many things in the 70's-his wearing hair curlers in pre-game warmups, his claiming to pitch a 1970 no-hitter while on LSD, his long home run that he allowed to Reggie Jackson in the 1971 All-Star game, and his controversial 1976 book -In the Country of Baseball.

Ellis was 138-119 over his career, mostly spent in Pittsburgh with stops in New York with the 1976 American League Champion Yankees and the Texas Rangers, along with cameo appearances with the Mets and Athletics.
Dock Ellis was 19-9 for the 1971 World Champion Pirates in the best season of his career, and compiled six double-digit win seasons in a row in Pittsburgh with the Pirates.
Rest in peace, Dock, and best wishes to his family.

But for all that, Dock Ellis will be remembered by me for one thing first.
He was the first big leaguer to sign an autograph for me at a big league park.
In 1978, I celebrated my 10th birthday in Baltimore with a doubleheader between the Orioles and my favorite team, the Texas Rangers (That would change over the winter, but that is another story for another day).
My dad took me and a friend to the old Memorial Stadium for the two-game set. (Click here for Game 1 Box Score and here for Game 2) And I was hollering for my favorite player, Toby Harrah, but the position players were otherwise occupied and unavailable.

Harrah would make one appearance in the twinbill as a pinch runner, I recall me going crazy for the cameo.
I always wondered why a normal starter sat for both games of the DH but was well enough to pinch run...
Maybe Ranger skipper Billy Hunter wanted to shut the screaming ten-year-old behind the Ranger dugout up?? (Nah).

In between games, Ellis walked by me, saw my newly purchased Ranger batting helmet, and spoke to me first about how much he liked it.
Back then, hats, shirts, etc, were not all over the place unless it was for the local team.
If you wanted non-Oriole stuff, you had to go to the stadium and find it.

Anyway, Ellis signed my program and called over the late Paul Lindblad and had him sign it as well, which gave me a memory of a lifetime.
That program is still around here somewhere. If I ever get a scanner, I will scan it down the road.
That day was one of the fondest memories I ever had of spending time with my father.
My dad and I have never really spent a large amount of time together, but that day ranked right up there with one of the best days of my life at home.

A final note on that day was this exchange between the friend and my father.
Friend: Who's that guy in the outfield?
Dad: Andres Mora (young Oriole outfielder)
Friend: Who?
Dad: Andres Mora
Friend: Who?
Dad: Andres Mora (beginning to be annoyed)
Friend: Who?
Dad: Andres Mora (Steam beginning to escape)
Friend: Oh, Carlos Garcia (no such player on either team)
Dad:(Wondering why he did this)
That has been a story in my family since that day, and why an obscure outfielder who did next to nothing is still remembered for it.

The Pirates announced their farm system staff for the upcoming season.
Frank Kremblas comes over from the Brewers organization to take over Indianapolis, and new hire Matt Walbeck will be the skipper at Altoona.

Former Lakewood Blue Claws manager P.J. Forbes will man the helm for the Lynchburg Hillcats, and Gary Green will return at Low A with the new affiliate in West Virginia.
Newcomer Gary Robinson will manage the State College Spikes.

For the autograph hounds out there, the only former big leaguer who is new to the Pirate organization is the new pitching coach at Lynchburg, Wally Whitehurst.
Whitehurst will have plenty of cards from the early '90s to dig up from his days as a Met and Padre.

The Pirates also replaced Lanny Frattare last week with the hiring of Tim Neverett from the Colorado Rockies.
I am not really familiar with Neverett's work, but he couldn't be worse than Greg Brown, now could he???

Finally, Harrisburg will be delivering on those promised renovations in a two-year program that will see some finished for the 2009 opener and the remainder for the 2010 opener.
One of the improvements is adding a souvenir store that will replace the current NASCAR-like trailer.
I liked Harrisburg's park, and the improvement should add even more to the experience.

Until the next few posts that will cover Devil-Flyers, today's football games, and eventually, my trip to see the Lowell Devils. 

Photo Credits
Hair Curlers; Unknown
Ellis; Topps