Toronto Bounces Ed McGhee After One At-Bat

Ed McGhee was an outfielder for the White Sox, Philadelphia A's and the ChiSox again in the early fifties, He was pretty solid in the minors but never could quite land a regular job up top.

He came up first with the Sox in 1950 then was back in the minors for awhile. Trips to other teams' organizations were loans and he stayed in control of Chicago.

His last major league action was with the White Sox in 1955, and he was sent to AA Memphis early in the season. His Baseball Reference minor league page has him with one at-bat for independent Toronto in 1956, followed by the rest of the season in Charleston, Detroit's AAA team.

How did he get to Toronto? The Terre Haute Tribune of Oct. 9, 1955 has the deal...

"MEMPHIS CHICKS SELL ED McGHEE TO TORONTO - MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 8.- The Memphis Chicks today announced the sale of centerfielder Ed McGhee to Toronto of the International League.  McGhee, who had trials with the Chicago White Sox and the old Philadelphia Athletics, hit .263 for the Chicks last season."

Whatever the Toronto team plans were for McGhee, they were awfully quick to bounce him out of town. He got exactly one pinch-hit at-bat for the Maple Leafs before he was sent to the Tigers' Charleston squad...from the Ottawa Citizen of Tuesday May 15, 1956...

“Toronto Maple Leafs of the International Baseball League Monday night announced the sale of outfielder Ed McGhee to Charleston of the American Association.”

McGhee would stay in Detroit's minors thru the end of his career.

What did Charleston see, or Toronto NOT see, in that one pinch-hit appearance?

McGhee pic swiped from

marketplace.beckett.com

 

 
 

More of the Travels of Roy Hawes

In the last entry we looked at one deal involving Roy Hawes and promised more. We got 'em.

In that trade Roy Hawes was sent to Miami in 1956...but he only stayed for 5 games before heading to Charleston in the Detroit system.

The Lincoln Star of July 31, 1956 has this story:

"CHARLESTON. W. Va., - Purchase of outfielder Roy Hawes from Miami of the International  League was announced Monday (ed.-July 30, 1956) by the Charleston Senators.  Hawes, 27-year-old lefthander, batted .311 with Louisville of the American Assn. before being traded recently to Miami.”

Hawes stayed with Charleston through the start of the 1957 season, when he went to the Braves' system. That deal is outlined here in  this Mason City Globe Gazette article from May 11, 1957:

“DETROIT (UP) -- The Detroit Tigers added left handed strength to the bullpen Friday by bringing up southpaw Lou Sleater from their Charleston farm club and releasing Pete Wojey outright to Charleston. The Tigers obtained Sleater Monday in a minor league trade that sent outfielder Roy Hawes' to Milwaukee's Wichita club.”

The "Monday" in question would be May 6, 1957. Lou Sleater's Baseball Reference major league page has the following listed for this deal:

April 11, 1957: Released by the Milwaukee Braves. 

April 20, 1957: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.)

So that looks off by quite a bit. 

Hawes went to the Dodgers' system in 1958, but I have not been able to track that one down yet.

I DID find this nugget from the Miami News of Jan. 30, 1957 , an article talking about how tough it was for the Marlins to get their roster together for that season, quoting Marlins GM Eddie Stumpf:

“Detroit owes us a Triple-A player off the deal in which they bought outfielder Roy Hawes from us last summer…”

So maybe add a PTBNL to that deal, but I couldn't find where anyone was sent to complete it. 

Hawes from ebay, Sleater from

www.vintagecardprices.com