Sunday, March 22, 2020

1973 TRADED: HAL McRAE

I’m sure this one will hurt Cincinnati Reds fans a bit, but today’s blog post has a 1973 “traded” card for All-Star Hal McRae, who went on to have a very nice 19-year Major League career, 15 of those with the Kansas City Royals, where he was traded from the Reds on November 30th of 1972 for Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum:


Granted, Nelson was coming off a very surprising season where he posted one of the lowest WHIPs in Major League history along with a sparkling 2.08 earned run average, and McRae was a 26-year-old who didn’t really show all that much so far in parts of four Big League seasons.
But all McRae would end up doing is put in a 15-year run where he became one of the best hitters in the league, with three All-Star nods, six .300+ batting average seasons, and MVP consideration four times.
Definitely one of the more lopsided trades looking back for the era.
But with what the Reds were about to embark on, becoming the “Big Red Machine” juggernaut with the straight championships in 1975/1976, they’re not looking back with too much pain at this one.

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