Joe Christopher Revisited

This time we revisit an earlier subject, former Mets outfielder Joe Christopher.

We covered a previously unrecorded transaction sending him to Richmond here.

Now we are going way back to the start of his career.

Christopher's Baseball-Reference page lists his first transaction as:

Before 1955 Season: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent.

But we have found an article that contradicts that. Christopher started his pro career in the Orioles organization, in Phoenix, a Class C team for them at the time. Partway through the 1955 season he goes to the Pirates system. Turns out he was involved in a trade that included former major leaguer Earl Smith.

From the Arizona Republic of July 12, 1955:

"Earl Smith, slugging outfielder from last year's champion Stars, was returned to Phoenix yester day along with Howard Padgett.

But it was no bargain basement deal for the Stars, who had to sell Outfielders Joe Christopher and Gene Stair to Lincoln, Neb of the Western League in order to complete the deal."

Lincoln was a Pirates Class A team, and except for a stint in Mexico City, Christopher stayed in the Pirate chain until his major league debut.

The deal was not on Smith's Baseball-Reference page.

Still have to find a few deals involving Christopher, so we will keep looking. 

Christopher pic from eBay.

Smith stolen from BaseballHappenings.net

Lou Lombardo, Ken Trinkle and Pete Milne

Sometimes I just pick a random team and random players from same team and run with it. This time I picked the 1948 New York Giants.

Lou Lombardo pitched for the Giants for just that one season as a 19-year-old. He started in the business as a 15-year-old! After a couple ineffective appearances, that was it for Lou in the majors and he was shipped back to the minors, and then to the Tigers' system in 1949. This isn't documented on his Baseball-Reference page, but I found the deal here, in the Toledo Blade of May 7, 1949:

“Mud Hens General Manager Bob Evans’ plans to bolster his club’s wobbly mound staff received another shot in the arm today as he announced the purchase of Lou Lombardo, 21-year-old southpaw, from the Minneapolis Millers.”

 

Lombardo finished his career in lower minors after that season, out of baseball at age 25.

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Ken Trinkle was a pretty good relief specialist who led the NL in appearances in 1946 and 1947 with an ERA under 4. He was dealt to the Phillies in 1949, and was sent to their minors in 1950 and 1951. 

In 1952, he goes from the Phillies' Baltimore team to Louisville in the Red Sox organization, with no deal mentioned on his Baseball-Reference page. We uncovered this from the Milwaukee Journal of June 26, 1952:

 “Gordie Mueller, one of the leading relief pitchers of the American association two years ago, has been traded by Louisville to Baltimore for pitcher Ken Trinkle, 32 year old right hander, formerly with the New York Giants.”

Both Trinkle and Mueller (who played for the Red Sox in 1950) ended their careers in 1952.

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Pete Milne, an outfielder, served a few years in the Cleveland low minors before going to the Giants, spending parts of three seasons in the majors. 

In AAA he was a very good hitter; and the Giants sent him to independent Oakland in the PCL for the 1952 season in a trade not mentioned on his Baseball-Reference page.

I found the deal here, in the Kansas City Times of Dec. 5, 1951:

“The Oakland baseball club announced today the outright purchase of William (Pete) Milne, left-handed hitting and throwing outfielder, from Minneapolis of the American Association. The price was not disclosed.”

 

Milne played very well for the Oaks for three seasons before going to Sacramento for 1955 in a deal described here in the Lodi News-Sentinel of March 29, 1955:

“Joe Brovia, one of O’Doul’s favorite ballplayers, will be in right field instead of Pete Milne. The latter went to Sacramento in a straight swap for long-faced Joe.”

 

That article was a preview of the Oaks' 1955 season. After a poor 1955, Milne played one more year in AA Mobile before calling it a career.

"Ox" Brovia, a big homerun hitter in the PCL. would get one short trip to the majors with the Reds in 1955.

 

Lombardo from www.attheplate.com

Trinkle from  www.baseball-birthdays.com

Mueller from  www.pinterest.com

Milne from  www.amazon.com

Brovia stolen from richardleutzinger.com

Huge Early Baltimore Orioles Transaction Uncovered!

Sometimes in doing random research for the blog I run across something fairly major, and I consider this find one of those instances.

The St. Louis Browns, as we know, moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles. Baltimore had a minor league team there, the Orioles, for decades.

The Orioles purged many of the old Brownies very quickly, but a part of their history was unknown to me until I stumbled across this article from the St. Petersburg Times of Jan. 19, 1954:

“The Baltimore Orioles of the American League announced yesterday they have sold 14 players to Richmond of the International League for $50,000, including nine of the active list and 5 on the restricted list.”

“The Orioles inherited the players from the old International League Orioles.”

“The nine of the active list are pitchers Dick Starr, Ken Heintzelman, Joe Ares, and Wimpy Nardella; catcher Marty Tabacheck; infielders Russ Kerns and Eddie Kasco [sp Kasko]; outfielders Marv Rackley and Roy Weatherly. Ares and Kasco are on the national defense service list as returning serviceman.”

“The five on the restricted list are Blix Donnelly, Ray Poat, Gordon Mueller, George Byam and Butch Woit [sp Woyt]. All were out of baseball last year but were owned by the Orioles. Their contracts go to Richmond.”

The Baseball-Reference major league pages of Starr, Rackley, Kerns, Heintzelman, Weatherly, Donnelly and Poat make no mention of this deal. None of these players made it back to the majors after this, and the players on the restricted list didn't play in organized ball at all after this transaction.

However, Eddie Kasko [misspelled Kasco in the article] has this mention on his page:

Before 1954 Season: Sent from the Philadelphia Phillies to Richmond (International) in an unknown transaction. 

Baltimore was a Phillies AAA team before the Orioles moved in, so this sale explains that move. Richmond, by the way, was an expansion International League team that year, and independent that season.

A major bit of baseball history, with a minor league twist!

Kasko from comc.com