Los Angeles Gives Denver Flowers for Fridley

Big Jim Fridley was an outfielder for the Indians, Orioles and Reds and several minor league teams in the fifties. Ben Flowers pitched for quite a few teams in the early fifties.

Between stints with Baltimore in 1954 and the Reds in 1958, Fridley was involved in a few transactions, as noted on his Baseball Reference major league page.

• May 30, 1957: Purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers from the New York Yankees. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.)
• April 10, 1958: Purchased by the Detroit Tigers from the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.)
• April 11, 1958: Purchased by the Cincinnati Redlegs from the Detroit Tigers. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.)  

That certainly looks funny and very uncharted. But thanks to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner of May 24, 1957,  we can unravel one of these transactions:

"Los Angeles announced the acquisition of outfielder Jim Fridley from Denver of the American Assn., in exchange for pitcher Ben Flowers, who was 1-4 with the Angels this year. Fridley has lit .313 for Denver this season."

Los Angeles was a Dodgers AAA team, and Denver a Yankees AAA team. Flowers' Baseball Reference major league page has no mention of the deal at all.

Haven't cracked the other two Fridley deals yet!

Next time, a debt gets paid in a previously Unknown Transaction!

Flowers from Wikipedia, Fridley from COMC.COM

 

Solving the Frank Kellert Mysteries

Frank Kellert was a first baseman in the majors with the Browns and Orioles, Dodgers and Cubs from 1953-1956. He hit .325 as a backup to Gil Hodges and pinch hitter for the Dodgers in 1955, and was 1-for-3 in that year's World Series. Sent to the Cubs the next year, he didn't perform nearly as well, and finished his career in the minors.

Kellert's Baseball Reference major league page reflects a few trades that happened while he was in the minors...

·  Before 1959 Season: Sent from the Boston Red Sox to the Cincinnati Redlegs in an unknown transaction.

·  May, 1959: Sent from the Cincinnati Redlegs to the Baltimore Orioles in an unknown transaction.

 UNKNOWN NO MORE!

Kellert had finished the 1958 season with Minneapolis in the Red Sox organization, then was sold to the Reds and Seattle.

From the Spokane Daily Chronicle of Jan 7, 1959... 

“The Seattle Rainiers baseball team today purchased shortstop Harry Malmberg and first baseman Frank Kellert from Minneapolis of the American Association.”

Malmberg spent a very short time in the majors, and this is a previously undocumented trade for him as well.

Back to Kellert, during the 1959 season, he went to Baltimore's AAA Miami team.

From the Evening Independent of May 15, 1959...

“Yesterday the club announced the purchase of first baseman Norm Zauchin and pitcher Vito Valentinetti from Washington of the American League and first baseman Frank Kellert from Seattle.”

"The club" being the Miami Marlins. The Zauchin and Valentinetti deals are previously known.

So we can close the book on the Frank Kellert Mysteries!

 Kellert pic from www.tradingcarddb.com 

Malmberg from

www.baseball-almanac.com

Ex-Dodgers Ron Negray and Bob Wilson Traded for a Whiz Kid

Rounding off Ex-Dodgers week!

We have the tale of two Ex-Dodgers, Ron Negray, who double-dipped with Brooklyn in 1952, then came back to Los Angeles in 1958.

Bob Wilson was a Negro Leagues player that languished in the Dodger system for the better part of ten seasons in the 50's...getting only a five-at-bat cup of coffee in the majors in 1958 despite putting up fine AAA numbers.

In 1959 both players start the season on the Dodgers' Montreal AAA team, but finish the year with independent Toronto...with no transactions listed. We found it...

 From the El Paso Post of June 4, 1959...

“MONTREAL, June 4. - The Montreal Royals today traded Outfielder Bob Wilson and Pitcher Ron Negray to the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Outfielder Angel Scull and Infielder Mike Goliat. No cash was involved.”

Goliat was the second baseman for the 1950 Whiz Kid NL Champion Phillies, who had been with Toronto since being sent there in 1952 by the Brownies. Angel Scull was a lifetime minor leaguer from Cuba that finished his career at age 40 in the Mexican League.

Wilson and Negray each had more stops to make before they were done, but those transactions haven't been unearthed yet.

 Bob Wilson from 1978theyearitallbegan.blogspot.com

 Ron Negray from www.tradingcarddb.com

 Mike Goliat from sports.mearsonlineauctions.com

  Angel Scull from www.collectorfocus.com

Ex-Dodger Week Continues: Don Bessent

Ex-Dodger week continues...Don Bessent had a couple fine years at the major league level with the Brooklyn Dodgers, including finishing third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1955, but he found himself back in AAA by 1959.

Other than his first couple of years in the Yankees organization, Bessent played his entire career in the Dodgers' system, until 1962, when he splits the season between Jacksonville (Cleveland's AAA) and Rochester (Baltimore's AAA).

Bessent's Baseball-Reference major league page has no mention of how he got to those teams, so we head to the newspapers.

From the Spokane Daily Chronicle of Feb. 22, 1962...

“The (Spokane) Indians announced today that Bessent, a 30-year-old right-hander, has been sold to the Class AAA Jacksonville team.”

Bessent would only play in 10 games for Jacksonville before heading to Rochester: 

From  the "On a Silver Diamond" site in an article on the 1962 season:

"Sisler continued to deal, picking up in separate deals pitcher Don Bessant(sp) and third baseman Jim Woods from Jacksonville."

There were no players sent back to Jacksonville for Bessant, so I think we can safely assume a purchase.

Bessant's career was over after that 1963 season, and his life would end tragically in 1990 from alcohol poisoning.

A double ex-Dodger post next time.

 Bessent pic stolen from

www.ootpdevelopments.com