Today in Cubs History: 12-12
12-12-1999 - Traded a PTBNL (Brian Stephenson), Terry Adams and Chad Ricketts to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Ismael Valdez and Eric Young.
12-12-1999 - Traded Manny Alexander to the Boston Red Sox. Received Damon Buford.
12-12-1997 - Traded Miguel Batista to the Montreal Expos. Received Henry Rodriguez.
12-12-1903 - Traded Jack Taylor and Larry McLean to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received Mordecai Brown and Jack O'Neill.
Jack Taylor got a brief mention in my faux season preview of the 1905 Cubs earlier this year. He's the guy who went five straight years without ever being pulled from a game for a reliever. The Cubs traded him after the 1903 season because he lost three consecutive post-season exhibition games to the White Stockings, and the Cubs president suspected gambling (a suspicion which, I believe, had followed Taylor for some time). We shipped our ace off to St. Louis for a three-fingered pitcher who had just finished 9-13 in his first year in the majors at the age of 26.
Of course, he turned out all right. Brown was the ace of the Cubs staff during the teams greatest period, and participated with Christy Mathewson in some of the greatest pitching duels the game has ever seen - including the most controversial game ever played. If there is interest, and if I can find the considerable free time necessary to do it well, I hope to write an extended historical article for TCR on the role that mob violence played in the events leading up to, of, and following the Merkle game.
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