Fregosi closed out a very nice 18-year career in 1978 with 20 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting an even .200 with four hits over 20 at-bats.
Although he is largely remembered for being "the guy traded for Nolan Ryan", he was arguably the best shortstop in the American League in the 1960's while with the Angels (sorry Luis Aparicio! NOT as clear cut as people would think for you).
Between 1963 and 1970 he was a six-time all-star and garnered M.V.P. votes each and every year, finishing as high as seventh in 1967.
After his playing days he immediately went on to a managerial career, in 1978 as a matter of fact, leading his former team the California Angels between 1978 and 1981 before moving on to head the Chicago White Sox (1986-1988), Philadelphia Phillies (1991-1996) and Toronto Blue Jays (1999-2000).
He was the 1993 Phillies manager that led them to the World Series, famously won by the Blue Jays on a Joe Carter home run off of Mitch Williams if you don’t remember.
Just a great MLB career that gets overshadowed because of “that trade”, which wasn’t as ridiculous at the time as you would think.
The Mets had an abundance of young pitching (Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, etc), and Ryan wasn’t exactly in control of his mechanics yet, so acquiring a six-time All-Star who was still only 29 wasn’t too absurd.
