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 Travels of a Man Named Ebba

Ebba St. Claire was a big, switch-hitting catcher who played in the fifties or the Giants and Braves, who seemingly didn't get much of a chance at the big time given his abilities. He had quite a career in transactions though.

Ebba went to Minneapolis in 1954 after awhile up with the Giants, and suffered a head injury which curtailed his season dramatically. For the start of 1955, he found himself in Richmond:

The Troy (NY) Times Record of Jan 27, 1955 has this:

"Richmond Buys Ebba St. Claire Richmond, Va. (AP)--The Richmond Virginians of the international League yesterday announced the purchase of catcher Ebba St. Claire, 33, from Minneapolis of the American Association. He split last season with the New York Giants and Minneapolis, hilling .262 in 20 National League games and .188 in the Association. He was sidelined by a head injury after reporting to Minneapolis."

Richmond, an independent team at the time, dealt Ebba to Rochester before 1955 was over.

The Lincoln Evening Journal of Aug. 17, 1955...

"Catcher Ebba St. Claire, former major leaguer with the New York Giants, was sold to Rochester by the Richmond Virginians. Richmond is now left with only one catcher, Neil Watlington, who has been out with an injured hip the past two weeks. St. Claire was hitting .232 with the International League’s last place club. Rochester is in fourth place."

St. Claire plays in San Diego in 1956, for Cleveland's organization. I haven't been able to track that move down. San Diego bounces him to Sacramento after the season...

The Lodi News-Sentinel of Dec. 8, 1956 says:

“The Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast league have traded pitcher Chet Johnson to San Diego for catcher Ebba St.Claire …

Johnson, a 38-year-old left-hander, was sold to Shreveport of the Texas League last season but refused to report.”

Johnson was quite a guy, maybe we will look at him later. Ebba's travels weren't over yet, as he never played a game for Sacramento! It was off to Toronto for him...

The Milwaukee Journal of Feb. 28, 1957...

"Toronto’s baseball Maple Leafs purchased catcher Ebba St. Claire from Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League Thursday.”

The then-35-year-old St. Claire played the season at independent Toronto, then was loaned to the Braves' AA Atlanta farm team partway through the 1958 season before being released by Toronto. 

The Montreal Gazette of March 3, 1959...

“The Leafs also said former major league catcher Ebba St. Claire, 37, owned by Toronto and loaned last season to Atlanta of the Southern Association, has been released.”

That was it for St. Claire's playing career, he stayed in baseball afterwards, and his son, Randy St. Claire, made the majors as a pitcher. 

 

St. Claire pic lifted from www.ootpdevelopments.com