Gordon Jones

Hello again! Physical woes continue to conspire against my putting up post more often, so we will go with an easy one today: Gordon Jones.

Jones was a journeyman pitcher who debuted with the Cardinals in 1954 with a nice partial season, a 2.00 ERA and a couple shutouts, then settled into a bullpen role for a few teams into the sixties.

Jones travels from the Orioles organization to the Athletics in 1961, and his Baseball Reference page lists just the following:

November, 1961: Purchased by the Kansas City Athletics from the Baltimore Orioles.

Not a whole lot of explanation there. We are able to find this from the Oct. 3, 1961 Eugene Register-Guard:

"The Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League have purchased right-handed pitcher Gordon Jones, 31....

....The Beavers bought his contract from Rochester of the International League."

Portland being an A's affiliate and Rochester with the Orioles.

So we can put the date of the purchase as Oct. 2 or 3, a month earlier than listed. He moves on the Oklahoma City in 1962 in another interesting deal I haven't been able to track down.

As we get moving around, more to come. Thank you!

Gordon photo lifted from www.vintagecardtraders.org

Herb Moford: Original Conditional Met

Herb Moford was a pitcher in the fifties and 1962 in the majors, with several teams including the original Mets. As a matter of fact, he was in the first Met game that counted in 1962.

He first made the majors with the Browns in 1955, then had a nice season with Detroit in 1958, a short stay in Boston in 1959, then his Mets experience.

His Baseball Reference major league page has a couple of transaction anomalies on it:

 December 2, 1958: Traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Boston Red Sox for Lou Berberet. 
 Before 1960 Season: Sent from the Boston Red Sox to the Baltimore Orioles in an unknown transaction. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.) 
 December 2, 1961: Purchased by the New York Mets from the Baltimore Orioles.

The 1960 transaction was a minor league deal. Moford had been optioned by the the Red Sox to Miami in 1959, Baltimore's minor league team.  The transaction itself came here, in this article from the January 13, 1960 Miami News...

“Recommendations by manager Paul Richards of the Baltimore Orioles played a major part in the Marlin’s purchase of pitcher Herb Moford yesterday.

Moford, who compiles a 7-7 record for the Marlins last year, had been with the Miami club on option from the Boston red Sox.

…

To get Moford Miami sent outfielder Joe Durham to Vancouver, Vancouver sent pitcher Erv Palica to Minneapolis (a Boston farm) and the Marlins paid $15,000 to Minneapolis to complete the deal.”

Durham's move was between two Oriole AAA teams. Palica's Baseball Reference major league page has him being released by the Orioles in 1957, but that now doesn't seem quite right. I'll look more into Palica's career later.

Moford stays in the O's organization through 1963, with that stop in New York for the Mets. In fact, he went right back to Rochester after his Mets stint.  The Warren County Observer for May 7, 1962 had an article that explains things:

“In order to make room for the new Miller, the Mets returned pitcher Herb Moford, purchased conditionally, to Rochester of the International League.”

The new Miller being the second Bob Miller on the Mets. The important part of that line is the word CONDITIONALLY. That would change the Dec. 1961 transaction to a conditional purchase with Moford being returned in May 1962.

Lots more in the queue! Thank you for reading and please share among other baseball nuts.

 

 Herb pic lifted from

en.wikipedia.org

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