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Twenty-Nine Years

Edgy DC
Jun 15 2006 10:09 AM

New York Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Pat Zachry and Dan Norman on June 15, 1977.
One good way to look at this is to dial back 37 years instead.

New York Mets traded Kevin Collins, Steve Renko, Dave Colon and Bill Carden to the Montreal Expos for Donn Clendenon on June 15, 1969.

Yancy Street Gang
Jun 15 2006 10:11 AM

Twenty-three years ago was pretty nice, too.


New York Mets traded Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Keith Hernandez on June 15, 1983.

Willets Point
Jun 15 2006 10:28 AM

When and why was the trade deadline extended to the end of July? I personally think the trade deadline should be around the 81st game which is usually in early July, but that just MHO.

Edgy DC
Jun 15 2006 10:32 AM

The trade deadline has moved several times. I think it's been as late as the end of August, when rosters are (supposedly) frozen for post-season eligibility

Time was when there were separate deadlines for inter-league deals and intra-league deals.

Yancy Street Gang
Jun 15 2006 10:36 AM

I think the June 15 deadline was for deals within the same league. Deals between leagues had an earlier deadline, but I can't recall the details. Were they limited to the offseason?

We had a thread a while back where we tried to zero in on when the deadline changed from June 15 to July 31. As we know, in 1983 it was still June 15. By 1989, when the Mets got Frank Viola, it was July 31. So the change occurred somewhere in between. I can't recall if we actually were able to pinpoint the change.

seawolf17
Jun 15 2006 10:36 AM

You know? I looked at the calendar this morning and couldn't figure out why this date meant something. Now I know why. Thanks.

Willets Point
Jun 15 2006 10:36 AM

I also know there was a time when trades weren't/couldn't be made between leagues.

MFS62
Jun 15 2006 10:36 AM

Willets Point wrote:
When and why was the trade deadline extended to the end of July? I personally think the trade deadline should be around the 81st game which is usually in early July, but that just MHO.


I was just going to post something about this when I saw your post, WP.
I don't recall when it was changed, but I'd bet it has something to do with the lower pro-rated amount the team receiving a high salaried "pennant run" player would have to pay. When in doubt, follow the money.

EDIT: Yes, WP. I recall when trading players between leagues, waivers on the players had to be obtained.

Later

Yancy Street Gang
Jun 15 2006 10:39 AM

Here's the thread that started last year on June 15. It actually stayed active all the way into November:

http://www.getalifealready.com/cpf/archives/f1_t231.shtml

RealityChuck
Jun 15 2006 10:52 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote:
I think the June 15 deadline was for deals within the same league. Deals between leagues had an earlier deadline, but I can't recall the details. Were they limited to the offseason?
Essentially. There was an interleague trade period starting after the last game of the WS, and lasting through the winter GM meeting in December. There was a second one during spring training. I don't recall the dates -- probably opening day was the deadline -- but there were few big trades (they were mostly to drop players you didn't want to keep).

At one time in the 60s, there was an 26-man roster for the first month of the season.

Note that interleague deals were allowed until the final trade deadline, but all players had to clear league waivers, so they were usually straight sales of has-beens.

MFS62
Jun 15 2006 10:55 AM

Thanks for posting that link. I missed reading the specific reply it at the time, but I was at the "Tim Harkness 14th inning homer off Jim Brewer" game.

The fact that Harkness, a lefty hitting first baseman who was often platooned, even got a hit off lefty Brewer, was amazing on first glance. Brewer was one of the most effective relievers in that era.

But Brewer's best pitch was a screwball, which breaks in to a lefty batter.
As I recall, Harkness really nailed it, driving it into the right center stands, a shot of well over 425 feet.

Harkness was an example of LA putting one over on the rest of the teams. They would bring him in late in games for (I think) Ron Fairly, a very good defensive first baseman. So the word got out that Harkness must have been a spectacular fielder. As it turns out, he was just "pretty good". And he wasn't that good a hitter for a first baseman either. But on that day, Tim was our hero.

Later