From "Dodgers miss out on adding to their Hall of Fame presence" by Bill Shaikin at the LA Times:
[Don Sutton's Hall of Fame election] was July 26, 1998, four months after a turquoise-and-purple outfit called the Arizona Diamondbacks played its first game.
Since then, the Diamondbacks have accomplished two things the Dodgers have not: win a World Series and get one of their players into the Hall of Fame.
The World Series came in 2001. The Hall of Fame called Tuesday, for Randy Johnson.
For Dodgers fans, the wait goes on, and there is nothing worthwhile about it.
Whoa. "Nothing worthwhile about it." No sugarcoating here. Shaikin continues:
That is what made Tuesday so frustrating. The Hall of Fame also called for Pedro Martinez, who should have been ours. Same thing for Mike Piazza, whom the Hall likely will call next year.
(Bold mine.) Wow! Shaikin drops the journalistic neutrality and goes straight for the fan perspective. PEDRO SHOULD HAVE BEEN OURS. I think even SoSG Delino would agree with that. Let's pour more salt in the wound:
As the calendar flips to 2015, the Dodgers' streak of consecutive years without a World Series appearance — longest of any team in the National League West — extends to 27.
Yeah, yeah, we know. (cries)
That celebrated drought is related to another: no Dodgers player has been elected to the Hall since Sutton, the only one in 31 years. In the Dodgers' first 26 years in Los Angeles, they had eight players elected to Cooperstown. [...]
The Dodgers dumped both [Martinez and Piazza], in two of the most damaging trades in baseball history. In 1993, General Manager Fred Claire swapped Martinez, then considered a fragile middle reliever with a worrisome shoulder, for second baseman Delino DeShields. In 1998, the Fox ownership shipped Piazza, then considered too difficult to sign to a contract extension, to the Florida Marlins in a seven-player trade.
Bold mine again because "two of the most damaging trades in baseball history" is not an overstatement — especially when it comes from Shaikin's learned pen. The Giants' recent success has given us Dodger fans plenty of time to ruminate on regrets. Thanks to Shaikin for recognizing this and not pussyfooting around it.
3 comments:
What would SOSG Delino be called it we had never traded Pedro? SOSG Jody Reed?
Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields. I have always felt this was the worst trade in Dodger history. However, since I am still recovering from the stroke I suffered when Matt Kemp was traded, I reserve the right to change this opinion.
But, but, we got Gary Sheffield and Bobby Bonilla for Piazza.
That was good, right?
(cries)
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