Unknown Transaction: Toledo Mud Hens

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Hank Behrman

Hank Behrman pitched for the Dodgers, Pirates and Giants in the late forties.

After a very good rookie season in 1946, his performance tailed off so badly in 1947 that he was sold off to the Pirates....and returned after posting a 9.00+ ERA in 10 games.

He recovered in 1948 for the Dodgers enough for the Giants to purchase his rights in 1949, but a 4.92 ERA and a 2:1 walk to strikeout ratio for that season ended his time up top. His Baseball-Reference page ends his transaction section there, but he was involved in a few more deals, we found.

For 1950, Behrman went to Oakland in a very interesting deal, according to the Reading Eagle of Apr, 2, 1950:

On Hank Behrman (and Roy Zimmerman, formerly of the Yankees’ farm system)…

“Both were released to Oakland of the Pacific Coast League by the National League Club.”

“Durocher said that by sending Behrman and Zimmerman to Oakland, the Giants have obtained an option on purchasing Bill Taylor, left-handed hitting outfielder, at the end of the current PCL championship season.”

So the deal was for selling Behrman and the formerly-blackballed (for jumping to the Mexican League) Zimmerman to independent Oakland, Leo Durocher and the Giants would get right of first refusal on Taylor, who they later DID purchase. Taylor has an interesting set of transactions too, we will get to them later.

Behrman plays in 1951 in three places, Oakland, San Francisco and AA Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma trip must have been a look-see, because otherwise the next two deals I found make no timeline sense.

In 1951, Behrman goes from independent Oakland, to the Yankees' San Francisco farm team. From the Ellensburg Daily Record of Apr. 11, 1951:

“San Francisco’s cellar-dwelling Seals shelled out ‘in excess of $10,000’ yesterday for a righthander who earned 17 victories for their cross-bay rivals, the Oakland Acorns, last year.”

“He is Hank Behrman…”

Despite the trip to Oklahoma City, of which I was unable to find a reason, Behrman is still San Francisco property when he is sold to Toledo, of the White Sox system. From the Toledo Blade of Feb. 27, 1952:

“The Mud Hens, whose financial troubles were slated to be ironed out today, continued to move on the pitching front by the purchase of Hank Behrman, former major league right-hander, from San Francisco.”

Unfortunately those financial problems were NOT totally ironed out and the team moved to Charleston during the season (by American Association mandate). After one more sub-par season on the mound, Behrman's career was over. SABR has a nice biography of Behrman you should check out.

Behrman from
goldenrankings.com
Zimmerman from
www.vintagecardprices.com
Taylor from
www.baseball-almanac.com

Thursday, May 26, 2016

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.

---

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.

---

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.