On the blog today, a 1978 traded card for former speedster Bill North, who found himself heading South to the Los Angeles Dodgers from the Oakland A's about a month after the 1978 season started:
North
was traded straight up for Glenn Burke after 5+ seasons with the A's, a
tenure that saw him lead the league in stolen bases twice (1974 &
1976), with a high of 75 in 1976.
He would have led the
American League in 1973 as well if not for a sprained ankle on September
20th, leaving him one stolen base behind Tommy Harper.
Luckily
for him, he was traded from an Oakland team that was free-falling to a
team heading to the World Series, where Los Angeles would face the New
York Yankees.
Over his 110 games for the Dodgers, North would hit .234 while stealing 27 bases, scoring 54 runs and drawing 65 walks.
At
season's end he was declared a Free Agent, and with that he took his
legs over to the San Francisco Giants, where he would play what turned
out to be the last three years of his career between 1979 and 1981.
All
told, North finished his career with a .261 batting average over 11
seasons, stealing 395 bases and scoring 640 runs, winning two titles
with the A's in 1973 and 1974, and that N.L. pennant with the Dodgers in
1978.
