Any idea which trade in baseball history involved the most HOFers???

[FrankWakefield]

I don't know which trade involved the most Hall of Fame members...

I do know that this one had quite a few.

December 8, 1899.

Tom Messitt, Fred Clarke, Mike Kelley, Rube Waddell, Honus Wagner, Chief Zimmer, Deacon Phillippe, Claude Ritchey, Tommy Leach, Tacks Latimer, Bert Cunningham, and Jack Wadsworth, all to the Pirates for Jack Chesbro, George Fox, Art Madison, John O'Brien, and $25,000. That was a lot of money in the day.

5 members of the Hall, Chesbro, Clarke, Kelley, Waddell, and Wagner.

Here are a few cards, depicting a few of those guys. I like the T210 red border Old Mill card of Tom Messitt, who played 3 games in the majors, all in 1899 for Louisville of the National League.

[spec]

Mike (King) Kelly the HOFer died in 1894. This was Michael J. Kelley, a one-year major leaguer who wound up running the Minneapolis Millers in the 20s-30s and appears on some cards as such.
Actually, this wasn't a trade by modern standards. It was roster maneuvering as part of the consolidation of the Louisville and Pittsburg franchises for the 1900 season.

[tedzan]

Hi Frank

Interesting stuff. And perhaps, the Kelley you cited is HOFer Joseph James Kelley ?
Who played for Pittsburgh briefly during the 1890's.

Best regards,

TED Z

[FrankWakefield]

Spec, I agree with the first part and am corrected.

I disagree with the 'roster consolidation' euphemism. I well understand that Louisville was in the process of departing the National League, and what was going on. But you have 2 different franchises, players' contracts being reassigned, money moving... that's a trade. Baseball Reference . Com uses the term trade.

And yes, Ted, I see that he's the fellow that managed at St. Paul and at Minneapolis. He managed in the minors for 30 years.


So 4 Hall of Famers:: Wagner, Clarke, Waddell, and Chesbro

[spec]

Chesbro was shuffled back to the Pittsburg roster before the 1900 season began and Louisville owner Barney Dreyfuss, another HOFer, wound up owning the Pirates franchise largely as a result of this deal. Decide for yourself whether this meets your definition of "trade."

[Vintagedegu]

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