Changes

In the free-agency era, it's relatively common for players in the peaks of their careers to skip from team to team to team.

Let's use the example of CC Sabathia: Cy Young Award for Cleveland in 2007; midseason trade to Milwaukee in 2008, pitching the Brewers into the playoffs; and a monumental payday to pitch for the Yankees this season (just 1-3 with a 4.85 ERA so far).

Or, going back to the dawn of free agency, there was Reggie Jackson. Fans might forget his one-year stint in Baltimore (1976), where he went in a blockbuster deal involving Ken Holtzman, Don Baylor and Mike Torrez, among others. Reggie led the league in slugging percentage his only year as an Oriole, then the Yankees came calling.

The Yankees, of course, also made the very first free-agent splash by signing the late Jim "Catfish" Hunter for an unimaginable amount of money at the time.

OK, this isn't supposed to be a whine-fest about the Yankees killing the sport with their spending. Rather, I'd like to point out that major-league stars of the 20th century didn't move around all that much before the '70s, unless they were near the beginning or end of their careers.

There were some exceptions, of course. Here are some involving future Hall of Famers:

• Napoleon Lajoie. "Larry" jumped ship from the Phillies to the brand-new Philadelphia Athletics of the newly "major" American League in 1901. He went on to hit either .422 or .426, depending on the source, with the caveat that foul balls didn't count as strikes in the AL until 1903. At any rate, the Phillies got an injunction against him playing for the A's, but the action only was enforceable in Pennsylvania. Lajoie's contract was transferred to Cleveland, and when the Indians visited Philadelphia in 1902, Lajoie spent a few days relaxing in Atlantic City.


• Eddie Collins, Frank Baker, Eddie Plank and Chief Bender. Popular belief has it that A's owner-manager Connie Mack was so distraught at his team being swept four straight in the 1914 World Series that he subsequently sold off his stars. Another version has Mack fearing the financial impact of the competing Federal League. Whatever the case, with four future Hall of Famers suddenly elsewhere, the A's dropped from 99 wins in '14 to a mere 43 in '15, a record that eclipses even the 1997-98 Marlins.


• Tris Speaker. The Grey Eagle was the leading hitter by a wide margin for the World Champion 1915 Red Sox, and that includes a lad named George Herman Ruth (granted, he was a rookie pitcher that year). Speaker, realizing the Sox desperately needed his bat, tried for a pay raise and instead earned a trade to Cleveland. He proceeded to win the battle title in '16. As for the Red Sox ... well, even without Speaker, they managed to win the Series again, lefty Ruth contributing with a 14-inning, complete-game victory.


• Babe Ruth. After clobbering 29 home runs in 1919 to set a new record, Ruth fetched a mighty dollar from the Yankees - wow, they were doing that before free agency! - when Red Sox owner Harry Frazee was desperate for money to finance his stage shows. "Frazee's Curse" denied the Sox another Series victory until 2004, or so New Englanders would believe.


• Rogers Hornsby. The Rajah's nomadic ways would be extreme even in the age of free agency. After he won six straight National League batting titles, including a record .424 in 1924, Cardinals owner Sam Breadon promoted Hornsby to player-manager, and he was a success at that, too, guiding St. Louis to its first world's championship. So what did Breadon do? Shipped Hornsby off to the Giants, although another future Hall of Famer, Frank Frisch, came in return. Hornsby spent a season in New York, where he clashed with manager John McGraw. In 1928, Hornsby found himself banished, more or less, to the lowly Boston Braves. He won the battling title at .387, still a franchise record. The up-and-coming Chicago Cubs figured they could use Hornsby at second base, so they gave the Braves a bunch of bums named Bruce Cunningham, Percy Jones, Lou Legett, Freddie Maguire and Socks Seibold, plus $200,000. Hornsby helped the Cubs to the NL pennant in '29 and was named league MVP.


• Al Simmons, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane and Lefty Grove. Mack strikes again. This time, supposedly, the Depression is to blame. At any rate, the A's went from three straight pennants in 1929-31 to not seriously contending for another 40 years, by which time Mack was long gone and the team was in Oakland (starring Jim Hunter and Reggie Jackson).


• Frank Robinson. The 10-year veteran and 1961 MVP was shipped out of Cincinnati in what still is regarded as one of the very worst trades of all time. Robinson was just 30 when he landed in Baltimore in 1966, and he proceeded to win the next-to-last Triple Crown while guiding the Orioles to the championship.


• Steve Carlton. "Lefty" lost 19 games for St. Louis in 1970 but rebounded to win 20 in '71. Cardinals owner Gussie Busch tended to dwell on the former during contract negotiations. Carlton objected and promptly was dealt to cellar-dwelling Philadelphia for that team's pitching ace, Rick Wise. In 1972, Carlton put together perhaps the greatest season in baseball history: 27 victories for a team that won only 59. No pitcher has surpassed that single-season win total since, and the way pitching staffs are formatted nowadays, no one is likely to do it in the future.