Chiefs' Snatching of Herm Edwards Child's Play Compared To Tigers-Indians Deal Of 1960

So the Kansas City Chiefs have stolen head coach Herm Edwards away from the New York Jets. Oh, the Jets will say they were "compensated", having received a fourth round draft choice. But that's a steal in my book, for Herm Edwards is certainly worth more than that. The Jets must not have wanted to retain him very badly.

Herm Edwards for a fourth round draft choice is an interesting little set up, but it has nothing on what the Tigers and Cleveland Indians pulled off in 1960.

On August 10, 1960, the dog days of the baseball season in full swing, the Tigers and Indians swapped managers. That's right -- even-Steven, tit-for-tat, yours-for-mine.



Gordon (left) was traded to the Tigers for Dykes (right) -- and they were managers!


The Indians were probably the more desperate of the two teams. They had contended for the pennant in 1959, a year in which the Yankees were down and the "Go-Go" White Sox took first place. The Tribe felt good about their chances headed into 1960. They were managed by Joe Gordon, the old Yankees second baseman.

The Tigers were a so-so ballclub at the time, finishing around .500 in '59 and stumbling along in 1960, 44-52 under Jimmy Dykes, a fiery, high-strung fellow.

Cleveland general manager Frank Lane conceived the idea of trading managers and sold it to Detroit's Bill DeWitt. The contract of Jimmy Dykes was transferred to Cleveland, while Joe Gordon was moved into Detroit. Having not been around at the time, I don't know what the media coverage was like, but suffice it to say had such a thing happened nowadays, with all the TV and Internet going on, including blowhard bloggers like me, the Dykes-for-Gordon swap would have been all the rage for weeks.

But the novelty of trading managers turned out to be just that -- a novelty. It was not a rousing success. Detroit stayed in sixth place and fired Gordon at season's end, which was fine with Joe, who didn't truly want to be in Detroit in the first place. Dykes could not move the Indians out of fourth place that season, and slid to fifth the following year. That sealed his fate and closed his career as a major league manager.

BIll DeWitt, the Tigers' GM at the time, was a flamboyant, shoot-from-the-hip guy cut from the same cloth as eccentric owner Bill Veeck. DeWitt often liked to make trades for the sake of making them. But despite all of his impetuosity, DeWitt authored one of the best trades in Tigers history. He dealt little-used infielder Steve Demeter to the Indians for first baseman Norman Cash. That deal turned out pretty well for the Tigers, as you know.

Will two ballclubs ever trade managers again, in midseason? It's been 45 years and counting, so I wouldn't hold my breath, especially with today's button-downed, conservative owners and GMs.

Where have you gone, Bill DeWitt and Frank Lane? A baseball nation turns its lonely eyes to you........