In October 1965, the Cardinals shocked their fans with the trade of third baseman Ken Boyer to the Mets.
Boyer had been a fixture for the Cardinals since 1955. He was an all-star in seven of his Cardinals seasons, five times won a Gold Glove Award and was the National League winner of the Most Valuable Player Award in 1964.
General manager Bob Howsam, anticipating the Cardinals’ move to spacious, new Busch Stadium in 1966, wanted younger, faster players. On Oct. 20, 1965, he dealt Boyer to the Mets for third baseman Charlie Smith and pitcher Al Jackson. Boyer was 34 and Smith, 28.
The deal Howsam initially wanted to make for Boyer was with the Astros, while the Mets first offered Smith and Jackson to the Angels.
According to a report in the Nov. 6, 1965, edition of The Sporting News, Howsam offered Boyer to the Astros for third baseman Bob Aspromonte. The deal would have included other players, but the keys were Boyer and Aspromonte.
Dick Peeples, sports editor of the Houston Chronicle, broke the story. (He also revealed that Astros general manager Paul Richards rejected a trade offer of outfielder Jim Wynn to the Reds for outfielder Frank Robinson; a month later, Robinson was dealt to the Orioles.)
Aspromonte was 27 at the time of the proposed deal. A competent fielder (he twice led NL third basemen in fielding), he wasn’t a strong run producer. In a 13-year big-league career, he never had more than 12 home runs and 69 RBI in a season.
While the Cardinals were negotiating with the Astros, Mets executive Bing Devine was offering Smith and Jackson to the Angels, according to a story by Ross Newhan in the Nov. 20, 1965, edition of The Sporting News. The Mets wanted outfielder Jose Cardenal in return.
When Angels general manager Fred Haney “dallied,” as Newhan reported, Devine turned to the Cardinals. Devine had been the Cardinals’ general manager before being fired in 1964 and knew Boyer well.
The Cardinals and Mets made the deal, setting off a firestorm of protest from Cardinals fans.
A year later, just before leaving the Cardinals to become general manager of the Reds, Howsam traded Smith to the Yankees for right fielder Roger Maris. That deal, which prompted Mike Shannon’s conversion from a right fielder to a third baseman, was integral in shaping the Cardinals into pennant winners in 1967 and 1968.
If the Cardinals had acquired Aspromonte instead of Smith, would the deal for Maris have occurred? Possibly (Aspromonte was a Brooklyn native), but we’ll never know.
RetroSimba 
In other years, of course, the Mets made two of their worst deals in their desperate search for a third baseman. They traded Nolan Ryan and three others to the California Angels for Jim Fregosi, who lasted less than two seasons. And they traded Amos Otis to the Kansas City Royals for Joe Foy, who lasted one year, which was one too many. The best third basemen we ve had, says Rube Walker, the Mets longtime coach, were Red Garrett and Ed Charles. With 16 homers and 58 runs batted in, Wayne Garrett was the third baseman on the 1973 Mets, who won the National League pennant. Ed Charles was there when the Mets won the 1969 World Series championship. Ken Boyer, of course, was the best third baseman the Mets ever had, but not when the Mets had him. Dave Kingman has played a few games there. Joe Torre did, too.
Thanks for the insights.