The New York Yankees paid $161 million for CC Sabathia. The New Haven Blues paid 25 cents for C.C. Hodge.
A joking conversation between two executives turned into thequarter-for-pitcher transaction on August 23, 1906. J.J. Hadsen was in charge of the Cla s B Holyoke Paperweights roster, which includedHodge. Hadsen was chatting with his friend C.J. Danaher, who ran the New Haven Blues. Danaher told Hadsen he wanted Hodge to pitch for his team.
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“What’s your Zack Moss Jerseys price?” Hadsen asked Danaher, according to the New Castle Herald newspaper.
“I’ll sell him for a quarter,” the Holyoke man replied laughingly.
“You’re on,” said Danaher.
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The two baseball men grabbed the nearest pen and paper andfinalized baseball’s first pocket change player purchase. They drew up an agreement on the back of Gregory Rousseau Jerseys an envelope and signed it.
The change exchange grabbed headlines and laughs acro s the country, but Hodge wasn’t amused.
“Hodge refuses to abide by the arrangement Jerry Hughes Jerseys and Tommy Dowd, the team captain (manager), is backing him up,” The Courier newspaper reported the day after the deal.
Despite Hodge’s resistance, the swap was finalized.Apparently there aren’tno-trade clauses for players who are worth a quarter.
“President Danaher, of the New Haven Club, in jest, offered to sell pitcher C.C. Hodge to President Hadsen, of the Holyoke club. The latter accepted the offer and President Danaher made good his jest by selling the pitcher for 25 cents – a record transaction in ball players,” the 1907 Reach Guide recapped, accidentally switching Hodge’ssending and receiving teams. Shaq Lawson Jerseys
Yogi Berra famously said “a nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.” For two dimes and a nickel in 1906, a team boughta pitcher.
is the broadcaster for the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, and is on Twitter at . He is also the author of”Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball’s Most Off-the-Wall Team Names.”