RetroSimba

In spring training 2010, ESPN reported the possibility of an Albert Pujols-for-Ryan Howard trade. It wasn’t the first time a spectacular trade report was linked to a Cardinals franchise player.

In August 1959, The Sporting News pubished a trademarked Page 1 story by publisher J.G. Taylor Spink that reported the Cardinals would trade Stan Musial to the Yankees for St. Louis native Yogi Berra.

Given the reputation of The Sporting News as “the Bible of baseball” and of Spink (who is in the writers’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame), the report must have been given credibility.

Under the headline “Musial to Yanks — Berra a Redbird,” Spink wrote in the Aug. 26, 1959, edition that “Musial will go from the Cardinals for Yogi Berra … Both clubs may deny that the deal is in process or that there is any thought of it. But The Sporting News’ authority states convincingly that the trade already is in the works.”

The trade, of course, never happened. But it makes one wonder about the possibilities. Musial would play 4 more seasons for the Cardinals. The Yankees won pennants in all 4 of those seasons and no doubt would have won all 4 with Musial in left field as part of an all-star outfield with Mickey Mantle in center and Roger Maris in right. (The Yankees’ left fielders in those 4 seasons primarily were Hector Lopez and Berra).

In a follow-up brief that appeared on Page 8 of the Sept. 2, 1959, edition, The Sporting News quietly reported that Cardinals president August Busch issued a “special statement” that Musial never would be traded.

“When Stan retires from baseball, it will be in a Cardinal uniform,” Busch said. “… Stan Musial is and always will be a Cardinal.”