TRIVIA WINNER: Mickey Vernon was ejected four times in his big league managing career. The Prize: 15 points toward the person's total.
NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However, through the end of 2024 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after the years final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Questions will be worth anywhere from 10-25 points depending on degree of difficulty. Questions will be more difficult as the year goes on, so you are never really out of the mix. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.
NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: How many times did Osteen and Howard combined to make $100,000 or more in their career? Answer is worth 20 POINTS.
A December 1964 trade involving seven players made history and it really was about one player for one player. Not to diminish the impact of the other six players because they made contributions, but the bottom line is Frank Howard and Claude Osteen were the guys. They each made big contributions to their new teams. Howard more than Osteen, but Osteen played for the better team in the long run and won a World Series.
The trade looked like this; Howard was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with a player to be named later, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega and Pete Richert to the Washington Senators for John Kennedy, Claude Osteen and $100,000. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Dick Nen (December 15, 1964) to the Washington Senators to complete the trade.
Osteen twice won 20 games for the Dodgers but he finished with a record of 196-195. Almost 200 wins but almost 200 losses. Howard, the former Rookie of the Year, went on to appear in four all-star games and blast 382 home runs in his career. from 1968-1970 he hit more than 40 home runs each year; 44, 48, 44.
Likely the next two most important players were Pete Richert and certainly Ken McMullen. McMullen had five good years in Washington before moving on the Angels back in southern California. He had one season where he drove in 103 runs. Richert won 29 games in his first two seasons in Washington and moved on to four other teams including back to the Dodgers, mainly in relief.
Ortega did pitch well in Washington but still finished 10 games under .500 in his Senators career. Kennedy spent two years with Los Angeles barely hitting .201 in his best season. His main job was to be a late inning defensive replacement for third baseman Jim Gilliam. Nen played three seasons with Washington where he too was a defensive player at first base. His best average was .260 with 18 homers over three seasons.
If you graded the trade today the Senators with Howard would get an "A" while the Dodgers with Osteen would get a "C-" figuring Los Angeles could have filled Osteen's spot with lots of other starting pitchers who would likely do better than .500.
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