Brooklyn Dodgers Transactions, 1890-1957: A History and Analysis

Baseball transactions--trades, sales, purchases, free agents coming or leaving--have always had the ability to stir the interest and passion of fans. Whether it is the purchase or sale of a veteran star during the heat of a pennant race, a multi-player trade made during the dead of winter, or the offseason scramble for desirable free agents, player transactions engender more interest and heated debate among fans than almost any other aspect of the game. Baseball fans love trades; they love to hear about them, to read about them, and to talk about them. They even love those that are rumored but don’t get made.

This book covers the transactions of the Brooklyn Dodgers, one of the game’s most storied teams, from their 1890 entry into the National League until their 1957 move to Los Angeles. For significant transactions, players and the deal are placed in historical perspective, covering why the Dodgers and the other team(s) involved made the exchange; the expectations the owners, general managers, and managers of the respective teams had for their new players; and, for most, what the players involved thought about their old and new teams. The history of the Brooklyn Dodgers trades represents a microcosm of the history of baseball, and that history is covered here in fine detail.

Lyle Spatz served as chairman of SABR’s Baseball Records Committee from 1991 to 2016. He is the recipient of SABR’s Bob Davids and Henry Chadwick, and Seymour Medal awards, and among the books he has written or edited are biographies of Bill Dahlen, Willie Keeler, Dixie Walker and Hugh Casey.