This day in baseball history

On May 13, 1960, the Philadelphia Phillies traded Don Cardwell and Ed Bouchee to the Chicago Cubs for Tony Taylor and Cal Neeman. The deal seemed to be a good one for th Cubs. In 1959, as a 23 year-old, Cardwell had gone 9-10 with a 4.06 ERA for a last-place club. Bouchee, a 26 year-old first-baseman, had batted .285 with 15 home runs. Cardwell would fill a huge gap in the Cubs pitching staff, the result of trading three regular pitchers during the off-season and receiving no pitchers in return. Bouchee would provide a left-handed bat at first base. The Cubs had been using outfielder George Altman at first against right-handed pitching.
Neeman was a reserve catcher who had trouble staying healthy. Taylor, a 24 year-old second baseman, was one of the game’s best young infielders. But by moving some players around, Bouchee could replace Taylor in the line-up. The defense would suffer, but the line-up would have more pop.
The deal looked even better for the Cubs on May 15, when Cardwell pitched a no-hitter against St. Louis in his first start for his new team. Cardwell allowed only one baserunner, Alex Grammas, who walked in the first inning. The no-hitter was preserved when, with two outs in the ninth, Joe Cunningham was robbed of hit by left-fielder Walt “Moose” Moryn. Earlier in the ninth, Altman had made an almost equally good play to retire Carl Sawatski.
In the end, however, the Cubs did not profit from the trade. Bouchee was a major bust and Cardwell went 31-46 in his three seasons in Chicago. Meanwhile, Taylor, although never quite living up to the promise he showed in 1959, put in a decent decade at second base for the Phillies.
But the deal didn’t ultimately hurt the Cubs either. They were able to get Larry Jackson in a trade involving Cardwell and Altman. Jackson would win 24 games in 1964 (Cardwell would have some pretty good years with Pittsburgh and wind up starting 21 games for the 1969 Miracle Mets). Moreover, the Cubs were solid at second base throughout the 1960s thanks to Ken Hubbs and then (after Hubbs’ death in an airplane crash) Glenn Beckert.

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