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 Billy Herman Photo Gallery
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Another Edition of: Baseball’s Most Lopsided Trades

The Dodgers Steal Billy Herman From the Cubs…and Win the 1941 Pennant!

“I was able to tell Dodger GM Larry MacPhail we had a hell of a ball club. But I thought we could win the whole thing with one other player. ‘And who was that?’ MacPhail wanted to know. ‘Billy Herman,’ I said in no uncertain terms…” -1941 Dodger manager Leo Durocher

…And Leo’s vision proved to be prophetic!

The above exchange is from Leo Durocher’s great autobiography, “Nice Guys Finish Last.” Leo wanted Billy Herman, the one last “piece of the Dodger puzzle” needed to put them over the top. But could they get him? The answer was an emphatic “yes!”

In Leo’s words: “The deal for Billy Herman won the pennant for us.” And who, you might ask, did the Dodgers give up to get this future Hall-of-Fame second baseman, the player whose solidification of the Dodger infield put them into the Fall Classic? And, had it not been for an infamous passed ball by Mickey Owen, possibly even a World Series Championship? Two long-forgotten players, Charley Gilbert and Johnny Hudson, plus $65,000 – surely one of the most lopsided deals ever.

In the featured photo above, we see a young Billy Herman from the early days of his career with the Cubs. Check out that glove! Yes…that’s a hole right in the middle of the palm!

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At the time of the trade, Billy Herman had been the premier second-baseman in the National League for nine years and had become universally accepted as a classic #2 hitter, probably the best in baseball. According to Durocher, Herman was “an absolute master in hitting behind the runner.” In addition, Leo knew Herman to be a smart player and a defensive whiz who would be a great complement to PeeWee Reese. Herman was coming off a sub-standard offensive year in 1940. Plus Durocher had heard that Herman – who Leo described as a “convivial chap with a coterie of close friends and drinking companions on the Cubs” – was upset in Chicago and wanted out. And with good reason…

Everyone thought of Herman was definite managerial material. But when the Cubs fired Gabby Hartnett at the end of the 1940 season, new GM Jimmy Gallagher gave the manager’s job to outsider Jimmie Wilson. Billy thought he had earned the job and felt slighted and he was letting everyone know it. Adding all the pieces together, Leo calculated that MacPail might be able to spring Herman from the Cubs “on the cheap.” Leo’s analysis proved to be accurate and the trade was made about two weeks into the 1941 season.

In a really funny baseball anecdote, Leo related how the trade for Herman came about:

“MacPhail had apparently been talking to Gallagher and Wilson about Herman. As soon as the Cubs came to New York, they invited MacPhail up to their suite. Very quickly Larry had decided they were trying to get him drunk. You should have heard him the next day as he was describing how he had kept emptying his drinks into flowerpots, toilet bowls, and any other handy receptacle. ‘And every time they were pouring for me, I was pouring for them!’ How could anybody doubt it? For the best second-baseman in the league, he had given them a second-string outfielder and a utility infielder!”

And the rest, as they say, is history! No doubt the Dodger got the better end of this deal – truly one of the most lopsided in baseball history.

Over his 15-year major league career 1931-1947, with two years lost two years to military service, the often-overlooked Billy Herman hit .304, with 2345 hits, 1163 runs scored, 486 doubles, 82 triples, 839 RBIs, and a .367 on-base percentage. The 10-time All-Star regularly hit .300 or higher, including .341 in 1935, and his 227 hits and 57 doubles led the league that year. Herman holds the National League records for most putouts in a season by a second baseman, leading the league in putouts seven times. He played on four pennant winners (1932, ‘35, ‘38, ‘41), plus another as a coach for the World Series champion Dodgers in 1955. He later managed the Pirates and Red Sox.

I’d say this deal worked out pretty good for the Dodgers! Billy Herman was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All from Google Search

Information: Excerpts and quotes edited from “Nice Guys Finish Last,” by Leo Durocher; and the Billy Herman Wikipedia page.

Statistics: From Baseball-Reference,com, Billy Herman page

Countdown until Opening Day, March 28, 2019: 8 days… and counting!

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