Bill Edgerton gets his Pilots License: The Truth!

Bill Edgerton was a pitcher that had a couple of games in the majors in stints for the A's and Pilots.

His Baseball-Reference page has a number of unknown transactions listed for him, and I took to the archives to see if we could find some answers.

Edgerton's trip to the Pilots is listed as such:

• November 28, 1967: Drafted by the California Angels from the Oakland Athletics in the 1967 minor league draft.
• July, 1968: Sent from the California Angels to the Philadelphia Phillies in an unknown transaction.
• Before 1969 Season: Sent from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Seattle Pilots in an unknown transaction. 

And his minor league career in 1968 starts in AAA Seattle, an Angels affiliate. He goes for a time to San Diego in Philadelphia's system, then to the Pilots in 1969. If you just look at the listing of teams, then Baseball-Reference's history makes sense.

But that's not what happened.

Edgerton was on the A's Birmingham team when he was drafted in the minor league draft, listed here in the Arizona Republic of Nov. 29, 1967:

"SEATTLE Bill Edgerton, Birmingham, left-handed pitcher."

Seems simple. BUT. Edgerton was property of the Seattle team itself, NOT the Angels parent club. This is explained in this article from the July 3, 1968 Gadsden Times:

“The members of this exclusive Pilot Players Club are infielder Marv Staehle and southpaw pitcher Bill Edgerton, who have been farmed out to the Seattle Angels of the Pacific Coast League.”

“This is like lending yourself a couple of bucks because the Angels are owned by Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc., the same outfit that owns the Pilots. But the other players and Mgr. Joe Adcock are owned by the California Angels.”

Staehle had been purchased by the Pilots outright earlier.

So Edgerton was Pilot property as soon as he was drafted in 1967. He was never a part of the Angels or Phillies systems! This reminds me of the Chuck Collier blog we did  earlier.

Another Edgerton transaction listed has him going on waivers from the A's to the Indians and back again. The first transaction was a straight up sale, not a waive, according to the Feb. 17, 1965 Star-News:

“The Cleveland Indians purchased southpaw pitcher Bill Edgerton from the Kansas City Athletics.”

 

Couldn't find how he got back to the A's, and he never played for the Indians.

Edgerton from www.baseball-almanac.com

 

 

Toronto Keeps Selling Ray Crone

Ray Crone was a pretty fair pitcher for the Braves and Giants in the mid fifties. His major league career ended in 1958 when the Giants traded him to independent AAA team Toronto.

His transactive career (copyright phrase and new word ME) didn't end there as he bopped around a bit for a few years,

This Milwaukee Sentinel article from July 5, 1959 shows that Toronto found they enjoyed selling Crone so much they did it twice in a week:

"The (Birmingham) Barons have returned veteran pitcher Ray Crone to Toronto and the International League immediately sold him to the Memphis Chicks.
Crone, 27, lost two games during his one week with the Barons. The Birmingham club had purchased him conditionally from Toronto."

So, on or about June 29, 1959, Toronto sold Crone to Birmingham on a conditional deal. Birmingham returned Crone to Toronto July 5, 1959. Toronto sold Crone to Memphis July 5, 1959.

Toronto wasn't done selling Ray Crone. Somehow they get control of Crone back before the 1960 season, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel of Jan. 25, 1960...

"The Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League have bought two former major league pitchers, Ray Crone and Don Johnson, from Toronto of the International League. No price was revealed."

Oddly, Crone and Johnson were traded for each other in the Giants-Toronto deal in 1958.

This Sentinel article, though, messes up in the second graph: "(Crone) was 0-2 for Toronto last season after spending most of the season on the Giants' bench." Crone was not on the Giants at all that year.

Portland, another independent AAA team, moved Crone on to Dallas-Fort Worth and the Athletics' organization...from the Bend Bulletin of June 3, 1960...

"PORTLAND (UPI) - The Portland Beavers released and sold two veteran pitchers Thursday. The Beavers announced they have sold Ray Crone, a former major league miner with Milwaukee, to Dallas-Fort Worth of the American Association and released Bob Alexander."

Crone finished the season at Dallas, and played one more year in single-A before calling it a career.

No word on if Toronto tried selling him after he retired.

Crone card from www.tradingcarddb.com