This trade comes in from David in Vero Beach, Florida.
Giving: Chipper Jones, #27
Getting: Ben Oglivie, 1973 Topps
You know, the Red Sox have never been a bad team. Sure, they've had bad stretches, but you can't call them historically bad, like you can the Chicago Cubs or the various Seattle teams.
Let's look for a moment at the stretch between their World Series appearances in 1967 and 1975. They developed raw talent into league mainstays with Carlton Fisk, Dwight Evans, Cecil Cooper, Sparky Lyle, Bill Lee, and yes, Ben Oglivie, and traded for other guys like Luis Tiant and Ray Culp and gave them room to flourish.
And while they didn't necessarily make all the right moves in terms of keeping all their good players, they had enough talent that when the front office made a change, there were guys to pick up the slack (Rice, Lynn, Hobson, Burleson, take your pick).
The '73 Cooper card is great. The background is very disorienting. Makes me seasick looking at it compared to Cooper's apparent upright stance. Was he that much of a leaner? Did he learn it from Yaz?
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