Another Editon of Lopsided Trades: Urban Shocker Stars For the Browns After Trade From Yankees!

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Another Edition of Lopsided Trades: Urban Shocker Stars For the Browns!

Before I leave the great new book sent to me by Victoria Martin, “The St. Louis Browns, The Story of a Belvoed Team,” one more post about one of the great Browns’ players from the early 1920s….and a deal the Yankees made with the Browns that surely they came to regret! 

On January 22, 1918 the Yankees had traded a young right-handed pitcher named Urban Shocker to the St. Louis Browns for a washed-up Eddie Plank and infielder Del Pratt. The deal was engineered by Miller Huggins and was one that he surely came to regret. Although they did get three decent years out of Pratt, Eddie Plank never pitched a game for the Yankees.

Over his seven seasons with the Browns, all Shocker did was go 126-80 (.612) with a 3.19 ERA. During this time, he was one of the most dominant pitchers in the League. To make matters worse, from 1920 to 1923, he posted four straight years with 20 or more wins: 20-10 in 1920, 27-12 in 1921, 24-17 in 1922, and 20-12 in 1923. His 27 wins in 1921 led the American League, as did his 149 strikeouts in 1922. Shocker was one of the last pitchers to legally throw the spitball.

Then on December 17, 1924, the Yankees tried to atone for the terrible trade: Shocker returned to the Yankees in exchange for Bullet Joe Bush and two other pitchers. While not as dominant as he was with the Browns, he still had some good years left, going 19-11 in 1926, and 18-6 in 1927. Overall, in his six seasons with the Yankees he went 61-37 (.622) with a 3.14 ERA. 

Unfortunately, Shocker developed a heart condition early in life. Due to its severity, some reports said he had to sleep either sitting or standing up. By the early fall of 1927, he was too ill to maintain his spot in the Yankee rotation. After his release in 1928, he contracted pneumonia and passed away shortly after on September 9, 1928, aged 37 as the result of heart failure exacerbated by the disease. 

Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from the “St Louis Browns: The Story of a Beloved Team;” and from the Urban Shocker Wikipedia page.

Check out my two books, both now available on Amazon in e-book and paperback:  “Paul Pryor in His Own Words: The Life and TImes of a 20-Year Major League Umpire” and “Memorable World Series Moments.” All profits go to the Illinois Veterans Foundation