Don't Forget Darrell Osteen!

Darrell Osteen was a pitcher (NOT related to Claude) for the Reds and A's in the late 60's to 1970. He didn't fare very well in the majors at 1-4 with an 8.05 ERA. He found himself at AAA Iowa for the A's to start 1971, and finished the season (and his pro career) at Syracuse and the Yankees' chain.

How did he get there? No listing on his Baseball Reference major league page...

We find the answer in the Des Moines Register of May 26, 1971...

"The New York Yankees Tuesday night traded first baseman-outfielder Curt Blefary 27, to Oakland for minor league pitchers Rob Gardner and Darrell Osteen. Blefary, who has also played for Houston and Baltimore, batted .194 with one home run and two RBIs in 21 games with the Yankees. Gardner just reported to the Iowa Oaks after being demoted by the Athletics 10 days ago. He started the season with the Yankees, then went to Oakland with pitcher Ron Klimkowski in the Felipe Alou deal. Osteen had been with the Oaks all season, but had seen little action. Both he and Gardner will be assigned to Syracuse of the International League."

 AHA! This trade is listed on Ron Gardner's Baseball Reference major league page as...

"May 26, 1971: Traded by the Oakland Athletics to the New York Yankees for Curt Blefary."

Now we can add Osteen to that trade. Don't forget Darrell!

By the way, Ron Gardner was traded by the Yankees to the A's for Felipe Alou...traded back to the Yankees in this deal....then traded by the Yankees to the A's for MATTY Alou.

He was back in the Yankees' minors in 1975 (we have no transaction detail on that yet), so one can assume that he was at least OFFERED to someone for Jesus Alou.

Darrell Osteen from Topps Archives, Rob Gardner from Baseball Almanac website