Down Go the Mighty

The No. 1 base stealer in exchange for a couple of young infielders? The best pitcher in all of baseball in 1964, for two mediocre power hitters? The man who broke Babe Ruth's home-run record, for a third baseman who couldn't make the grade with the New York Mets? The way the mighty were falling last week in baseball's trades, Mickey Mantle could wind up in Chicago any day now, in exchange for the Cubs' clubhouse boy.

Some trades might have been honest efforts to improve a ball club. The deal that sent Maury Wills to the Pittsburgh Pirates seemed like spite--but might have been bright. Four years ago, Shortstop Wills set a major-league record by stealing 104 bases, and in the two seasons that he has been team captain of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Dodgers have won two National League pennants. The most common story was that Wills had angered Owner Walter O'Malley by quitting the Dodgers' post-season tour of Japan. Yet O'Malley is one of baseball's shrewdest judges of talent, and he may simply feel that Wills, 34, and injury prone nowadays, is over the hill.

From a practical standpoint, the trade that sent the Los Angeles Angels' star pitcher, Dean Chance, to the Minnesota Twins didn't make very much sense either--except for the Twins. The most sense was made by the New York Yankees, whose motive was money.

First step in the Yankee maneuver was to send Third Baseman Clete Boyer (salary: $27,000) to the Atlanta Braves, for a minor-league outfielder named Bill Robinson. That left the Yanks with an excess of outfielders and no third baseman. So off to the St. Louis Cardinals, in exchange for much-traveled Third Baseman Charley Smith, went Roger Maris--the man who broke Ruth's mark by clouting 61 homers in 1961. A natural loner who was more annoyed than pleased by fame and had been hampered by injuries for the past two seasons, Maris was scarcely surprised. "I can't complain," he shrugged--but neither could the Yankees. Maris's salary was $75,000 a year, and Smith's is $20,000. When somebody mentioned that Smith, like Maris, is a "moaner," one of the Yankee brass cracked: "Sure, he is. But he moans in a lower bracket."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.