RetroSimba

Orlando Cepeda was supposed to be traded to the Cubs, not the Cardinals.

In April 1966, the Giants offered to swap Cepeda, a slugger recovering from knee surgery, to the Cubs for left-handed starting pitcher Dick Ellsworth. The Cubs were willing but wanted an outfielder included with Cepeda in the deal.

While the sides dickered, details of the talks were leaked to newspapers, irritating Giants owner Horace Stoneham, who killed the proposed deal.

The Cardinals, desperate for a first baseman, stepped in and made their pitch: left-handed starting pitcher Ray Sadecki for Cepeda.

Pain relief

A right-handed batter, Cepeda was a consistent run producer for the Giants after entering the majors in 1958 and earning the National League Rookie of the Year Award. In his first seven seasons (1958-64) with San Francisco, Cepeda averaged 106 RBI and 31 home runs each year.

His right knee, though, ached after he dropped a weight on it during a workout late in 1962. He had knee surgery in December 1964. At 1965 spring training, the knee caused Cepeda “constant pain,” he said in “Baby Bull,” his autobiography.

Manager Herman Franks “kept saying I was faking, that there was nothing wrong with my knee,” Cepeda recalled in his book. “He said it was all in my mind and that I should get my ass on the field and earn some money.”

Cepeda spent most of the first month of the 1965 season on the bench. On May 3, he was sent to bat for Jose Pagan in the seventh inning at St. Louis and flied out to left. “I could barely walk,” Cepeda said in his autobiography. “I had to walk up to the batter’s box using my bat as a cane because my knee hurt so much.” Boxscore

He didn’t appear in another game until August. For the season, Cepeda batted .176 with one home run in 33 games, 27 as a pinch-hitter.

Let’s make a deal

At home in Puerto Rico during the winter, Cepeda worked to get the knee in shape. “I would run in the water, work with weights, then run some more,” he said in his book. “I was like Rocky Balboa training for a shot at the title, working harder than I ever had before. When I arrived in Arizona in the spring (of 1966), I was in the best shape of my life. Even my knee felt good. I was running well.”

However, when the Giants opened the season at home against the Cubs, Herman Franks started Willie McCovey at first base and Len Gabrielson in left. Cepeda, who played both positions, was on the bench. Boxscore

Cepeda finally got a chance to start in the sixth game, as the left fielder, only because the Giants intended to trade him for a left-handed starting pitcher and wanted to show clubs his knee was OK. Boxscore

The Giants’ starting rotation consisted of right-handers Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Bobby Bolin, Bob Shaw and Ron Herbel.

General managers Chub Feeney of the Giants and John Holland of the Cubs met in April to discuss a swap of Cepeda for Dick Ellsworth, the San Francisco Examiner and Chicago American reported. Ellsworth, 26, a Fresno resident, won 22 for the Cubs in 1963 and 14 in each of the next two seasons.

“What a deal that would have been, especially for the Giants, who are dirt-poor for southpaw pitchers,” Fresno Bee sports editor Omer Crane wrote. “Ellsworth, with that Giants power behind him, could win 20 to 22 games.”

Willie McCovey, who had one hit in 20 career at-bats against Ellsworth, said to The Sporting News, “He’s tough for any hitter.”

The trade would have given the Cubs a lineup with four future Hall of Fame run producers: Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams and Cepeda. With Banks stationed at first base, the Cubs would have put Cepeda in left field, John Holland told the Chicago Daily News.

“While Cubs fans thrill at the thought of Cepeda (40 home runs?) in the lineup, they shudder at the suggestion of their otherwise aging pitching staff without the presence of Ellsworth,” the Chicago Tribune noted.

Loose lips sink trades

Herman Franks was pushing for Chub Feeney to make the trade for the Giants, but Cubs manager Leo Durocher wanted John Holland to get more for Ellsworth than Cepeda. Durocher also insisted on proof that Cepeda’s knee was sound.

“Sure, I wanted Cepeda,” Durocher told Dick Young of the New York Daily News, “but I wanted some assurance that his knee was all right. After all, if I give them a pitcher like Ellsworth and then Cepeda’s knee goes pop, what have I got?”

The Giants would make no guarantee, but would permit the Cubs to have their own team doctor examine Cepeda’s knee in advance of a deal.

As for including an outfielder with Cepeda in the trade, Jesus Alou, Ollie Brown and Len Gabrielson were discussed, according to published reports. The Giants were given until two weeks after the season opened to agree to the terms, John Carmichael reported in the Chicago Daily News.

Giants owner Horace Stoneham didn’t like the Cubs’ demands and was miffed that they were leaking details to the newspapers. He told Chub Feeney and Herman Franks to call off the deal.

In the book “The Man Stan Musial Then and Now,” Musial, a Cardinals vice president in 1966, said, “It was common knowledge that a Cepeda-to-Chicago deal had fallen through because the Cubs, giving up Dick Ellsworth, wanted something other than the knee-damaged Cepeda to sweeten the pot. Those of us who knew Horace Stoneham were aware you didn’t push or prod” him.

According to Jack McDonald of the San Francisco Examiner, “Chicago fans are crying in their beer because the Cubs missed the boat on a Cepeda for Dick Ellsworth deal. Every Cubs official wanted it.”

Cardinals swoop in

After the collapse of the discussions with the Cubs, the Giants went after Ray Sadecki, 25, of the Cardinals. A 20-game winner in 1964, Sadecki won just six the next year but looked good in 1966. In April, he was 2-0 with an 0.98 ERA. One of those wins was a five-hitter against the Giants. Boxscore

The Cardinals were dissatisfied with rookie first baseman George Kernek, who lacked power. Cepeda, who slammed a two-run homer against the Cardinals on April 30, appealed to them. Boxscore

However, like the Cubs, Cardinals general manager Bob Howsam tried to get the Giants to include another player with Cepeda in a trade for Sadecki.

In the book “The Man Stan Musial Then and Now,” Musial recalled to collaborator Bob Broeg that “Howsam hedged and vacillated” on making the Sadecki for Cepeda deal until Cardinals executive vice president Dick Meyer, the top aide to team owner Gussie Busch, intervened.

Because of Howsam’s haggling, “We were fearful Horace (Stoneham) would nix the deal with St. Louis, too,” Musial said, “but Dick Meyer, always a sound stabilizing influence, urged Howsam to get along with the deal and to forget trying to get more for Sadecki.”

Getting it done

On May 7 at St. Louis, Cepeda clouted a grand slam against Cardinals starter Art Mahaffey. The next day, during the final game played at the former Sportsman’s Park, soon after Cepeda hit a two-run double against Larry Jaster, the Cardinals and Giants agreed to the Cepeda for Sadecki trade. Boxscore and Boxscore

The Cardinals and Cubs were the winners in the deal.

Cepeda helped the Cardinals win two National League pennants (1967-68) and a World Series title (1967). He received the 1967 NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Immediately after Horace Stoneham stopped the Cepeda trade talks with Chicago, the Cubs contacted the Phillies. On April 21, 1966, the Cubs sent pitchers Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl to Philadelphia for pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, center fielder Adolfo Phillips and first baseman John Herrnstein.

Jenkins developed into an ace and a Hall of Famer. He totaled 167 wins for the Cubs, and remains their career leader in strikeouts (2,038) and starts (347).

“I doubt very much whether we would have made the Philadelphia deal if we’d got Cepeda,” John Holland told the Chicago Daily News, “because we couldn’t afford to send two starters like Jackson and Ellsworth away at the same time.”

Former Cardinals ace Dizzy Dean predicted to United Press International that Sadecki “will give” the Giants the 1966 pennant. However, Sadecki was 32-39 in his four seasons with the Giants, who won no pennants during that time.