only hondo was spared 46 years ago today

spared by topps, that is.  46 years ago today buzzie bavasi sent frank howard, ken mcmullen, pete richert and phil ortega to the senators for claude osteen and john kennedy.  according to baseball reference, the dodgers also sent dick nen to washington as part of the deal 11 days later, and the senators sent $100k to los angeles.

6 of the 7 players involved were featured by topps with their new teams in the 1965 set.  here's john kennedy

kennedy played in over 100 games for the dodgers in 1965 (plus 4 of the 7 games of the world series against the twins) but hit only .171 on the season.  he improved slightly in 1966 and was traded to the yankees prior to the 1967 season.

claude osteen

osteen looks like he's missing his left arm. he had won 15 games for the senators in 1964, and he won 15 for the dodgers in 1965.  he also pitched in two games of the 1965 world series and posted a 0.64 era in 14 innings pitched.  of course, since it was the dodgers, that meant he was 1-1 in those games.

ken mcmullen seems to have a mis-shapen head

had been a part time player for the dodgers, but was immediately made the senators third baseman by manager gil hodges.  mcmullen played in 150 games and hit 18 home runs with 54 rbi in 1965.  he'll be the subject of a future 'double dippers' post.

as will this guy, pete richert

richert essentially replaced osteen in the senators' rotation and did so quite well in 1965.  he matched osteen's win total of 15 and had an era of 2.60.

phil ortega 

on the other hand, won 12 games despite a 5.11 era.  he led the league in earned runs allowed (102).  still, he managed a couple of shutouts (he had thrown 3 for the 1964 dodgers).  he lowered his era in both 1966 and 1967 before heading to the angels for a short stint back in southern california.

dick nen

appeared for the dodgers in a handful of games in 1963.  he was part of a multi-player platoon at first for the senators in 1965.  in all, nen spent three seasons in washington and was the model of consistency.  he hit 6 home runs - no more, no less - each of those three seasons, and drove in 31, 29, and 30 runs respectively.

which leaves us with big frank.

howard was the 1960 national league rookie of the year, and he had some big years as a dodger, including a fantastic 1962 season.  still, with the davises in the outfield and ron fairly moving to right to make room for wes parker at first, howard was made expendable. it worked to his benefit as he was in the senators' lineup to stay and put up some monster seasons.  twice he led the american league in home runs, including 1970 when he also paced the league in rbi.

while topps kindly left howard as a dodger on the front of his card, they did let folks know that he was traded on the back.

 here's to you hondo, and the rest of your trade-mates from 46 years ago today!