(Updated Feb. 14, 2022)
The Cardinals almost dealt Bob Gibson to the Washington Senators.
In December 1960, the Cardinals and the Pirates had trade talks with the Senators regarding left-handed reliever Bobby Shantz.
“I wanted Shantz to cement our bullpen as the second man behind Lindy McDaniel, just as the Pirates wanted him behind Roy Face,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine told Oscar Kahan of The Sporting News.
The Senators asked the Cardinals for right fielder Joe Cunningham, Devine said.
“When I would not make the deal,” Devine told Kahan, “they expressed interest in Bob Gibson.”
Gibson, 25, was unhappy with the way he was being utilized by Cardinals manager Solly Hemus. Gibson pitched in 27 games for the 1960 Cardinals, posting a 3-6 record and 5.61 ERA.
The Senators “said it would take a lot more than Gibson to get Shantz,” Devine told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Kahan, citing an anonymous source, reported in the Dec. 28, 1960, edition of The Sporting News the Cardinals offered the Senators three players for Shantz:
1. Bob Gibson
2. Either pitcher Ron Kline or outfielder Walt Moryn.
3. Any one of these minor leaguers: pitchers Ed Bauta, Willard Schmidt and Dean Stone, and outfielders John Glenn and Ben Mateosky.
“Ron Kline and Bob Gibson, each of whom would be a starter for the Senators, have been mentioned as possible trade bait for Shantz,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.
Devine thought it was an offer the Senators couldn’t refuse. “I think I wound up offering more than they got from the Pirates, but we could not get together,” Devine said.
Senators manager Mickey Vernon had been a Pirates coach during the 1960 season and became impressed by several Pittsburgh prospects, especially first baseman R.C. Stevens.
The Senators swapped Shantz to Pittsburgh for Stevens, outfielder Harry Bright and pitcher Bennie Daniels.
Pirates general manager Joe Brown “beat me to the draw on Shantz,” Devine told the Post-Dispatch. “I feel that maybe I blew the thing, but we were ready to make a similar deal with Washington with players off our (big-league) roster.”
It was a deal the Senators would regret.
_ Stevens, who hit 37 home runs with 109 RBI for Class AAA Salt Lake City in 1960, played in 33 games for the Senators in 1961, with no homers and two RBI. He never played another season in the big leagues.
_ Bright, who hit 27 homers with 119 RBI for Salt Lake City in 1960, played two seasons with the Senators before he was traded to the Reds.
_ Daniels had a 37-60 record and 4.14 ERA in five seasons with the Senators.
When the Cardinals replaced Hemus with Johnny Keane in July 1961, Gibson blossomed into an ace, becoming the greatest Cardinals pitcher and leading St. Louis to two World Series championships and three pennants.
And, Devine ended up acquiring Shantz, after all.
After one season with Pittsburgh, the Pirates lost Shantz to the Houston Colt .45s in the expansion draft. On May 7, 1962, Houston traded Shantz to the Cardinals for outfielder Carl Warwick and pitcher John Anderson.
In three years with St. Louis, Shantz had a 12-10 record, 15 saves and a 2.51 ERA.
A final twist: While many recall pitcher Ernie Broglio was the key player Devine traded to the Cubs on June 15, 1964, for outfielder Lou Brock, what often gets overlooked is Shantz also was part of the deal.
So, instead of trading Gibson for Shantz, Devine ended up keeping Gibson, acquiring Shantz and trading him for Brock. Today, Gibson and Brock are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
RetroSimba 
Wow! They lost out on one little deal and changed the history of Cardinal baseball forever. Gibson and Brock were the two players who made me a Cards fan many moons ago. To think I could have ended up a Cubs fan. Yikes! I guess Devine intervention takes on new meaning here. Great story man!
Thank you. I appreciate your comment.
Cool story, thanks. I cannot imagine my early Cardinal days having Gibby and then Carlton both being the ones that got away.
Thanks for your comment. I agree. Thank goodness the trade didn’t happen.
It would have been a bad deal for the Cards had they made that particular trade. Could they have even advanced to the 1964 and 1967 World Series, much less winning? I doubt it. The Gibsonless Cards would not have been a very good team.
Ironically enough, I moved to DC area in late 1966 and the Senators became my 2nd team. So Gibby would have still likely become one of my favorites. (And my husband, who spend his childhood years in the Maryland suburbs, would have likely been a big Gibson fan and maybe the Senators would not have been as terrible of a team.)
Thanks for your insights, Diane. I have a special respect for those 1960s Senators teams and their fans. There was a special bond, even though the teams weren’t championship-caliber.
The thought chills me to the bone. Hard to imagine the Cardinals having half the success they did in the sixties without Gibby.
Thanks, Scott. I feel that chill, too, when considering how close the Cardinals came to losing Bob Gibson. Must have been divine, not Devine, intervention.
I came here by way of your Dean Stone article.
I nearly fainted.
Yep, it’s still stunning, all these years later, to learn the Cardinals were serious about offering Bob Gibson to the Washington Senators.
Solly Hemus. ‘Nuff said.