For such a straightforward deal, the trade of Joe Torre to the Cardinals for Orlando Cepeda took some twists and turns involving pitcher Nolan Ryan and center fielder Curt Flood.
On March 17, 1969, the Cardinals sent Cepeda to the Braves for Torre in a swap of first basemen.
The Braves were shopping Torre because he was feuding with general manager Paul Richards and hadn’t signed a contract. Most thought Torre would go to the Mets, who’d been in trade talks with the Braves for several weeks.
The Mets offered pitcher Nolan Ryan, first baseman Ed Kranepool, infielder Bob Heise and a choice of catchers, J.C. Martin or Duffy Dyer, for Torre and third baseman Bob Aspromonte, The Sporting News reported. Torre and Aspromonte were Brooklyn natives.
Ryan, who would become baseball’s all-time leader in strikeouts, impressed the Braves but was a raw talent. Richards rejected the four-for-two proposal because he wanted catcher Jerry Grote or outfielder Amos Otis, but the Mets “labeled them untouchables,” according to Atlanta Constitution sports editor Jesse Outlar.
“We aren’t making a deal with the Mets unless they change their minds,” Richards said.
When the Mets wouldn’t budge, the Braves offered Torre to the Dodgers for catcher Tom Haller, but the Dodgers weren’t interested, the Constitution reported.
Cardinals general manager Bing Devine offered Cepeda and Flood for Torre and outfielder Felipe Alou, according to the Constitution, but Richards wouldn’t trade Alou, so the clubs settled on Cepeda for Torre. Seven months later, when the Cardinals traded Flood to the Phillies, he refused to report, prompting his legal challenge of the reserve clause and opening a path to the creation of free agency.
Cepeda feels chill
The Cardinals were willing to trade Cepeda because his performance declined in 1968 and he miffed management by reporting late to spring training in 1969.
After batting .325 with 111 RBI and winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award with the Cardinals in 1967, Cepeda hit .248 with 73 RBI in 1968.
Cepeda “found himself taken advantage of by well-wishing friends who helped him pile up debts and other problems that didn’t endear him to the Redbirds management … especially when at times he’d duck out of the dugout between innings to conduct personal matters,” Bob Broeg of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The Cardinals hoped Cepeda would be more focused in 1969, but he informed Devine by telegram he would report late to spring training.
When Cepeda arrived at camp on March 5, he said he’d been sick, but Devine fined him $250 for reporting 48 hours later than he said he would.
Cepeda said he detected “a coolness” from Devine, and Broeg reported “Cepeda realized there had been a change in attitude toward him.”
“Bing was not terribly friendly and he was all business,” Cepeda said in his 1998 book “Baby Bull.”
In his 2004 book “The Memoirs of Bing Devine,” Devine said, “I thought Cepeda might be on the way down.”
Mother knows best
Torre, meanwhile, was having issues with Braves management because Richards wanted him to take a salary cut. Torre hit .294 in nine seasons (1960-68) as Braves catcher, but he tore ligaments in his ankle in 1967 and suffered a broken cheek and broken nose when hit by a pitch from Chuck Hartenstein of the Cubs in 1968. Limited to 115 games in 1968, Torre batted .271 with 55 RBI.
The Braves planned to move Torre to first base in 1969, but when he refused to report to spring training because of the salary squabble, Richards told him he could “hold out until Thanksgiving” because the club would be OK without him.
The Cardinals were interested because Torre (28) was three years younger than Cepeda (31), had a less expensive salary ($65,000) than Cepeda ($80,000) and could play multiple positions.
“This is all part of our belief that we can’t just sit and ride along with a winner, but must look for changes that make sense,” Devine said.
Devine projected Torre to play first base and back up Tim McCarver at catcher.
When Torre told his mother he’d been traded to the two-time defending National League champions, she replied, “Now go to church and thank God.”
“Mom recognized what going with a championship ballclub like the Cardinals meant,” Torre said.
Cepeda, described by pitcher Bob Gibson as the team’s “spiritual leader,” said he was “shocked” by the trade, “but I’m not mad at the Cardinals. They treated me very well.”
Said Richards: “Now we have someone to hit behind Hank Aaron. The opposition can no longer pitch around Aaron.”
Good fit
When Torre joined the Cardinals at training camp, he was greeted by Warren Spahn, a manager in their farm system and a former battery mate. “You’ll love it here,” Spahn told Torre.
Torre wore uniform No. 15 with the Braves, but McCarver had that number with the Cardinals. “I think I’ll ask for No. 6,” Torre said with a smile, knowing it was the retired number of Stan Musial.
Torre was given No. 9, last worn by recently retired Roger Maris.
In his 1997 book, “Chasing the Dream,” Torre said, “I felt a lot of pressure trying to replace Cepeda, but found myself surrounded by a great bunch of teammates.”
With Cepeda, the Braves won a division title in 1969 and played in the National League Championship Series against the Mets, who’d acquired Donn Clendenon to play first after they failed to get Torre. The Cardinals placed fourth in their division and Gibson good-naturedly chided Torre, saying, “You know, we used to win before you got here.”
Individually, Torre had a better 1969 season than Cepeda. Torre hit .289 with 101 RBI. Cepeda hit .257 with 88 RBI.
Cepeda played four seasons with the Braves and hit .281. Torre played six seasons with the Cardinals and hit .308. In 1971, Torre was named winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award when he batted .363 with 137 RBI as Cardinals third baseman.
Years later, Devine said acquiring Torre “was one of my favorite deals on the basis of his long-term success.”
RetroSimba 
I am surprised the Dodgers turned down the deal of Torre for Tom Haller. Torre was a perennial all-star, while Haller was a solid player, but not the hitter Torre was.
Another odd thing is the comment about Cepeda “finally” being a bat to protect Aaron. Torre was pretty darn good for the Braves, hitting .294 over the course of his career to that point. In modern terms, he had an OPS+ of 130 as a Brave, and 33 WAR over the course of what amounted to about 7 full seasons. You are talking about 4-5 WAR player, who played a premium position.
The Cepeda-for-Torre deal worked out, although it was not completely one-sided. Cepeda still had some decent years ahead. And it was the exception in the midst of many bad deals Devine made during that time. The Cardinals made deals based too much on emotion, and were poor at projecting the talent they had in their younger guys. Even in dealing Cepeda, a lot of emotion was involved as they had become disenchanted with Orlando’s perceived lack of focus on the field.
Paul Richards and Torre never did get along. 1969 was the year of the first significant management/labor dispute in baseball, and Torre was very active in the MLBPA. It was also the spring of Gussie Busch addressing the Cardinals at what he considered to be a “pep talk,” pretty much saying that they were paid too much. It didn’t go over well with the team.
Thanks. You’re right. Later this month I will do a post on Gussie Busch’s talk to the Cardinals players and how it demoralized them.
Thanks for your insights. You make good points. According to published reports at the time, the Braves wanted Tom Haller because he was a good defensive catcher who handled a stellar Dodgers pitching staff well and the Braves needed that. Haller was a 3-time National League all-star (1966, 1967 and 1968), primarily because of his defense and work with pitchers. Without Torre, the 1969 Braves went with 20-year-old rookie Bob Didier at catcher. The Braves and Dodgers had discussed a trade of Torre for Haller for months. On Dec. 3, 1968, the Los Angeles Times reported the Dodgers offered Haller and Willie Davis to the Braves for Torre and Felipe Alou. The Braves wouldn’t part with Alou and offered Rico Carty instead, but the Dodgers said no. Later, during spring training, the clubs focused on Haller-for-Torre but it didn’t work out. As for Paul Richards saying Orlando Cepeda provided the protection for Hank Aaron the Braves previously lacked, I think it was Richards’ way of taking another unfair swipe at Torre because the animosity between the two apparently had grown so intense and personal.
I think the comments are great on this column. I was heartbroken when Cha-Cha was dealt. And we need to be reminded of Busch’s selfish, underhanded locker room condemnation of a truly great team. Viva El Birdos.
Cardinals players liked and welcomed Joe Torre but they were upset Orlando Cepeda was the one to go, seeing it as the start of the dismantling of a championship group. In his autobiography, Bob Gibson said, “Trading Cepeda signaled to us, loud and clear, that things would no longer be the same around the Cardinals clubhouse. The front office apparently had very little regard for what the players considered to be the special character of the ballclub.”
The trades Devine made in the 1970s would have gotten him laughed out of baseball for life today. Two-time Card All-Star Reggie Smith for back-up catcher Joe Ferguson. Jerry Reusa for Scipio Spinks. Mike Torres for a fellow named Bob Reynolds. Jose Cardinal for weak-hitting back-up middle infielder Ted Kubiak. Bake McBride for Dane Iorg. And of course, Carlton for Wise. Oh yeah, Matty Alou for another non-descript player who never even played for the Cards, Bill Voss. Retro, can you do a piece in this subject and include some explanation? It’s still killing me all these years later
You’re right. Bing Devine made a lot of bad trades in the 1970s and we’ll continue to explore those in this blog. I think part of the problem is Devine didn’t adapt quickly enough to changes in the game such as the importance of a deep and versatile bullpen and the need for a quality defense to support a pitch-to-contact pitching staff. He may have relied too much on instinct and not enough on quality scouting. In his autobiography, Devine addressed the trades he made in the 1970s. While his answer isn’t satisfying, he indicates the problem with the Cardinals was organization-wide, not just the general manager. Devine said, “In companies, a lot of personnel movement occurs because the company’s not successful … Player talent is a fairly difficult thing to evaluate. It’s different from making a product that’s the same all the time. To put together a group of players to perform the way you think they could or should, that’s hard to predict.” Regarding the trading away of pitchers Steve Carlton and Jerry Reuss, Devine said, “It didn’t help that Mr. Busch made us trade what would have been our No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers for the rest of the decade.”
There were a lot of crappy GM’s in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Devine did make horrible trades, but I’d say he gained the upper hand in the Torre trade. Three great seasons and two very good seasons. Cepeda essentially had two decent seasons in Atlanta but that is all. His knee finally gave out in 1971 rendering himself essentially useless to the Braves resulting in a trade to the A’s in the middle of 1972 for a washed up Denny McLain. Paul Richards was a horrible GM who made a lot of stupid trades for personal reasons. Devine was forced to trade Carlton and Reuss to satisfy a personal grudge held by Gussie Busch. These trades resulted a lost decade for the Cardinals as far as serious contenders. However, the worst GM if that era was by far Spec Richardson of the Astros. Traded away Joe Morgan, Mike Cuellar, Rusty Staub, John Mayberry. Astros would have been the Big Red Machine of the NL West in the early 1970’s if those trades had not been made. Richardson even turned of Devine’s mistakes in trading Reuss into a worse one by sending Reuss to the Pirates the next year for Milt May.
Thanks for all the insights.
Richards was an idiot. Need say no
more.