rizzuto-1980
John came in a close second. Unfortunately Michael Kay didn't come in last. He beat out Mel Allen, my number one choice, for third place. Ruppert Jones! I had totally forgotten about him. I think Cedric Tallis is to blame for this lousy trade.
Nov 1, 1979 - In separate deals‚ the Yankees acquire OF Ruppert Jones from the Mariners and C Rick Cerone and Tom Underwood from the Blue Jays‚ giving up 7 players‚ including popular 1B Chris Chambliss‚ SS Damaso Garcia‚ OF Juan Beniquez‚ and Ps Jim Beattie and Paul Mirabella. Chambliss will be with the Blue Jays a month before they swap him to Atlanta.Actually, Steve Lombardi has another version of the Jones trade.
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Oh, c’mon! How can you go against Mel Allen??? Imagine—for 11 seasons, the Yankees had both him and Red Barber in the same broadcast booth. (And, of course, fired both. Oh, boy.)
Actually, those trades didn’t work out so badly. Chambliss was getting near the end, Beattie had a couple good years but then his arm went, most of the Yankees’ prospects proved to be busts, and while Garcia had some good seasons for Toronto, he was a second baseman, not a shortstop, and we were already fine there with Randolph.
Cerone had a terrific 1980—before letting city nightlife get to him. Underwood had a decent year, then nothing else. And we at least partially redeemed the Ruppert Jones deal by trading him for Mumphrey, who was a fine hitter and base stealer, and covered a lot of ground out in center. (And who Steinbrenner became irrationally convinced was a “hanger” and dealt for Awful Omar Moreno. Sigh.)
That picture makes Phil look like John Denver.
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