Thursday, May 14, 2015

The Loaning of Ken Hamlin

Sometimes you just randomly pick a player on Baseball Reference and you come up with a story.

Ken Hamlin was an infielder during the sixties, mostly spent in the Washington Senators organization. In looking at his minor league career, he spent the 1963 season at Rochester of the Baltimore organization.

There was no transaction listed associated with that move, so it was off to the detecting.

I found this:

"On A Silver Diamond"

A neat series on the Rochester Red Wings that takes you season-by-season. This includes this passage:

" in mid-spring, when Ken Hamlin was assigned to Rochester by the Washington Senators as payment for a “look” at pitcher Tom Baker." (NOT DR. WHO!)

So! We look at Tom Baker's Baseball Reference page,  where we find these:
  
January 19, 1963: Sent to the Washington Senators by the Baltimore Orioles as part of a conditional deal.
 March 26, 1963: Returned by the Washington Senators to the Baltimore Orioles as part of a conditional deal.

Now we know, that deal was loaning Hamlin to Rochester. Hamlin played for Rochester the entire season then returned to the Senators. Baker was sold to the Cubs a couple months later, where he had a couple games in the majors.

So we find the details of the transaction! Just as good as an unknown...is completing an incomplete.

 Tom Baker on the Cubs from http://www.cubsanappreciation.yolasite.com/the-cubs-a-through-z-project.php
Ken Hamlin from Topps.com

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