In the spirit of the season, here’s a rundown of some of the more notable transactions occurring on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Possibly the most important Christmas signing occurred in 1964 when the woeful Kansas City A’s began putting together the pieces of a future dynasty, acquiring an undrafted 18 year-old pitcher with the unlikely name of Rollie Fingers. That 1964 season also saw the A’s debuts of Dave Duncan and Blue Moon Odom, two other teenagers who would figure prominently in the first of Oakland’s three 1970s championship seasons.
The A’s made another big Christmas signing in 1992, re-upping free agent slugger Mark McGwire, a fixture on Oakland’s 1988-90 pennant winning teams. Alas, McGwire missed considerable playing time over his next five seasons, but when he was in the lineup Big Mac was a force, slashing .291/.433/.665 over that period and launching homers at a rate of one every 11.8 PA, including a league-leading 52 in 1996, and 34 the next season before a deadline deal trade to the Cardinals.
The defending world champion Braves tried to solidify their top standing when they traded for outfielder Sherry Magee in 1914. Magee’s 46.5 WAR over the preceding decade ranked second in the NL, (far) behind only the incomparable Honus Wagner. Though Magee was only 30 and coming off a season leading the senior circuit in hits, slugging and RBI, his decline phase came on rapidly, slashing just .262/.331/.358 in three seasons with the Braves, quite a drop from his .299/.371/.447 line for the Phillies.
The Red Sox were another defending world champion looking to secure its future prospects when they resigned free agent catcher Jason Varitek in 2004. Coming off a career best season at age 32, Varitek almost matched it the next year before his decline phase set in. Still, he would catch 90+ games each year until his age 37 season, a run that included a second world championship campaign in 2007.
Yet another defending world champion reeled in a big name star (albeit with a little tarnish on him after a sub-par season the year before) when the Yankees acquired left-hander David Wells in 1996. Wells would play four seasons in New York, two of them pennant campaigns, including a World Series title in 1998. New York’s dominance and Yankee Stadium’s decided home field advantage for lefties allowed Wells to parlay an okay 114 ERA+ into a gaudy 68-28 record (.708) for the Bombers.
The Browns departed from form and also went shopping for a name pitcher in his mid-thirties when the usually cash-strapped franchise found $20,000 to purchase Johnny Allen from the Indians in 1940. Unlike Wells, though, Allen was basically done and St. Louis waived him midway through the 1941 season after the one-time ace posted a 2-5 record with a 6.58 ERA. Allen got picked up by the Dodgers and finished his career with limited innings as an NL swingman.
Going the less expensive route to upgrade their talent were the Reds, a season removed from their 1919 world championship when they acquired Bubbles Hargrave in 1920 from the St. Paul Saints of the American Association. Hargrave had been out of the majors for five years but the astute Reds noted he was coming off two .300 seasons as the Saints’ everyday catcher. Hargrave was never an everyday player in Cincinnati but contributed 300+ PA for seven straight seasons (1922-28), including a league batting title with a .353 average in 1926, and a .314/.377/.461 slash in more than 2500 PA for the Reds.
The Dodgers were coming off an NLCS appearance when they resigned free agent third baseman Juan Uribe in 2013. The stocky third sacker responded by turning in pretty much a carbon copy of his career best season of the year before as LA repeated its NL West title. Uribe became the tenth third baseman to record 8 WAR aged 34-35 and just the fourth to do so averaging better than 0.9 WAR per 100 PA.
The Brewers went shopping in 2006 and bagged Cardinals’ ace Jeff Suppan, coming off three stellar seasons in St. Louis, two of them pennant campaigns, including a world championship that season. Suppan could manage only 84 ERA+ in 3+ seasons in Milwaukee, though the 2008 team did make a post-season appearance (the first for the Brewers in 26 years) with Suppan playing the role of veteran mentor to four twenty-something starters.
The Rangers had traded during the 1995 season to reacquire Bobby Witt, then resigned him as a free agent that Christmas. In his first stint with Texas, Witt was a hard thrower who was also very wild, leading the AL three times in walks and twice in wild pitches. In his return engagement, Witt wasn’t quite the flame thrower he had been in his younger days, but had a lot better control, albeit still north of four BB/9 as the Rangers took the AL West crown in 1996 to claim the franchise’s first post-season appearance in its 36th season.
I’ll close with Happy Townsend, known to HHS readers as the pitcher with a .293 career W-L%, worst by over 30 points among all pitchers with 100+ decisions since 1901. Townsend had already compiled those 100 decisions with a sub-.300 career W-L% when the Senators finally gave up on the youngster, still only 26 as the 1905 season ended. Thus, it is probably a bit surprising to learn that Townsend was traded twice that off-season, both times in a straight up swap for a three time 19-game winner. First to jump at Townsend was Detroit, offering up former Dodger ace Frank Kitson, followed on Christmas Eve 1905 by the Naps who parted with erstwhile Phillie ace Red Donahue (who actually had four 19 win seasons, including three with 20+ victories). To be fair, Kitson and Donahue were pretty much done, each playing his final season as a regular the next year (as did Townsend, in limited innings). Donahue at least went out in style, as he remains the only AL pitcher to close out his career with a 200 IP season of 12+ wins and ERA under 3.00 (the only other AL pitcher to wind up his career with a 200 IP season with ERA under 3.00 was Donahue contemporary George Winter who managed only a 5-19 record for the Red Sox and Tigers in 1908).
Merry Christmas everyone!
