Johnny Lewis, Billy Sorrell and John Sullivan

Johnny Lewis was a moderately successful outfielder with the Cardinals and Mets in the sixties. Near the end of his career, he was sent to the Mets' minor leagues, Jacksonville. However, he suddenly goes to Philadelphia's San Diego AAA team for 1968, his last active year. Lets find out how and why.

The Panama City News-Herald of Feb. 28, 1968 has the following:

"The Mets also completed a minor deal made earlier this week that sent catcher John Sullivan to Philadelphia's San Diego farm club. New York's Jacksonville farm optioned outfielder Johnny Lewis to San Diego in return for outfielder Bill Sorrell."

 John Sullivan's Baseball Reference Page has:

 "February 19, 1968: Purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies from the New York Mets."

and Billy Sorrell's Baseball Reference page has:  

" March, 1968: Purchased by the New York Mets from the Philadelphia Phillies."

So we can now correct this for all three players:

February 19, 1968 The New York Mets traded John Sullivan and a player to be named later to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named later.  February 27, 1968 The New York Mets sent Johnny Lewis to the Philadelphia Phillies for Billy Sorrell to complete the trade.

Lewis and Sullivan from 1967topps.blogspot.com
Sorrell from topps1971.blogspot.com
Check out those blogs!

Wrapping Up Dennis Saunders

Inspired by the most recent Topps 1971 blog, I looked up the career of pitcher Dennis Saunders, who had a short major league stop with the Tigers before finishing in the Mets and Twins organizations.

He started the 1971 season in AAA Toledo before heading to Tidewater and the Mets' organization and then to Memphis and AA. How did he get there? We consult the Traverse City Record-Eagle of May 12, 1971...

"Right-handed pitcher Dennis Saunders, previously on option to Detroit's Toledo farm Club, was sold to Tidewater of the International League Tuesday. The Mets' top farm team obtained Saunders after he cleared major league waivers unclaimed."

That would make the sale to the Mets on May 11, 1971.

Saunders would last just one year in the Mets group, and would head to spring training with the big club for 1972. According to the Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph of March 30, 1972, he didn't make the cut...

"The New York Mets reached the major league's 25-man limit Wednesday by returning 10 players to the minor leagues, including three members of the 1971 team....The Mets also sold pitcher Dennis Saunders to Tacoma, a Minnesota Twins' minor league team in the Pacific Coast League..."

That would make the sale to the Twins on March 29, 1972.

So we get to put the full dressing on the unknown transactions for Dennis Saunders!

Pic from the Topps 1971 blog!

Jack Warner Says No, Heads Off to Buffalo

Looks like we have found another transaction, this involving the Cubs and Mets organizations in 1965.

Bill Wakefield had an 'okay' season for the Mets in 1964, but found himself in AAA at the start of 1965. Starting at Buffalo, he suddenly shows up at Salt Lake City, a Cubs AAA affiliate, with no reason listed why.

Checking The Salt Lake Tribune from July 11, 1965 we find the following:

"Soothing the sting somewhat and filling the void in their first starting assignments were ' Bill Connors, up from Dallas- Fort Worth, and Bill Wakefield, a product of the New York Mets - organization."

and...

" Wakefield pitched a six-hitter against Arkansas Thursday. The latter, here from Buffalo in exchange for Jack Warner who refused to come..."

AHA! Checking with Jack Warner finds him going to Buffalo in 1965! So we have a trade of Warner to the Mets for Wakefield.

Seems Warner was sent out in 1965 from the big club as the Cubs recalled Billy Hoeft: Chicago Tribune of June 30, 1965.

So his refusal to report resulted in a trade to the Mets.

Wakefield and Warner pictures from their Topps cards.

Ron Locke Transaction Found! Also, Gerry Arrigo!

Success!

In looking around Baseball-Reference.com, I noticed that pitcher Ron Locke spent his entire career in the Mets organization...except for 1966. He takes a bit of a journey to the Reds and Phillies minor leagues before returning to the Mets for several years.

Smelling a transaction, we hit the Google search and came up with the following article from the Montreal Gazette of May 24, 1966:

article

Which states Locke went from Jacksonville (NY AAA team) to Buffalo (Reds AAA team) the day before as part of a deal involving Gerry Arrigo! Score!

The Retrosheet transaction lists the Arrigo move to the Mets as:

"Sold by Cincinnati Reds to New York Mets (May 20, 1966)."

So we now know that Locke was a part of that deal.

Now we look for his trip to Macon that year, and his return to the Mets in 1967.

Locke and Arrigo taken from the www.ootpdevelopments.com  
website.