Ott was a young outfielder the Cubs brass thought would step into the role left by the trade of Lou Brock to the Cardinals. From the Lake Charles American of June 16, 1964...
"Brock, a speedy 24-year-old flychaser who bats left-handed, is in his fourth season in the majors. He hit .258 last season with nine homers and 37 runs batted in. He was hitting at a .257 clip for the Cubs with two homers and 14 runs driven in. The Cubs said one of the reasons they let the promising Brock go was the quick improvement shown by Billy Ott, called up from Salt Lake City."
Ott would only play in 32 major league games, hitting .164 with one homerun.
Earl Robinson was a pretty dang good major league player who somehow didn't get much chance to stick in the majors with the Dodgers and Orioles. In 147 major league games he hit .268, with an OPS+ of 109 and some power....not bad at all!
After their last shots in the majors in 1964, both Ott and Robinson found themselves in AAA for their respective ballclubs....then were traded for each other....the Valley Morning Star for April 5, 1965...
"(in an article about the Orioles trade of Mike McCormick) The Orioles also sent outfielder Earl Robinson, who is on
their Rochester farm club roster, to Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League
in exchange for outfielder Billy Ott, who they assigned to Rochester."
Ott and Robinson would each spend their last seasons at Rochester and Salt Lake City, respectively.
This trade is not on either Ott's or Robinson's Baseball-Reference major league pages.
It is unfair to place any of the blame for the bad Brock trade on Billy Ott, as the Cubs were plainly unhappy with Brock for some reason. They, according to a May 26, 1964 Chicago Tribune article, were trying to get Ray Sadecki from the Cards, which would have been better in hindsight.
Robinson in a Dodger spring training uni from
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