The Strangest Trades in Baseball History
Baseball has seen some very bizarre swaps over the years
Baseball is a truly amazing sport filled with stories and legends. One of its oldest traditions is the exchanging of players between teams to augment and improve rosters. Some deals are straightforward and involve the simple swap of talent. Others are stranger and more unexpected. Here are some of the strangest trades in the history of the game.
Johnny Jones was a weak-hitting shortstop prospect with the minor-league Chattanooga Lookouts. In the winter of 1931, before he had played a single official game, the team traded him to the Charlotte Hornets of the Piedmont League for a 25-pound turkey. Chattanooga owner Joe Engel was quoted as explaining the deal as “the turkey was having a better year.”
Arrangements were made for the poultry to arrive in time for the Southern Writer’s Association annual dinner, where it was served as part of the meal. Engel told the writers, “You’ve been giving me the bird, so now have one on me.” He also reportedly claimed his belief that Charlotte may have won the trade since the turkey was on the tough side. As for Jones, records indicate that he never played a professional game, so perhaps Chattanooga got the best of the swap after all.
