All time great baseball trades?

[brian1961]

A favorite trade of mine was the occasion early in the 1966 season when the Cubs traded a pair of major veteran pitchers, Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl, plus John Herrnstein, to the Philadelphia Phillies, for Adolfo Phillips and a young relief pitcher, one Ferguson Jenkins.

I was watching the Cubs game where Fergie made his debut. Relieving the starter, Jenkins did right well, and manager Leo Durocher let the kid bat, and KER-BLAMO!---a home run at Wrigley Field! Some genius on the Cubs converted Fergie to a starting pitcher .....

Adolfo Phillips was erratic, but when he was hot, he was red-hot. In 1967 I recall he hit 5 home runs in a doubleheader against the Mets at Wrigley. We all loved Dolph; it's too bad he didn't keep it up, but Leo was a tough one on sensitive players in a slump.

As for Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl, it was truly the right call. Those twirlers had been terrific in their time, but their time was coming to an end. That's one trade the Chicago Cubs got right.

---Brian Powell