THE PLAYER TO BE NAMED LATER

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Sean Rodríguez hates water coolers.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about one of the most absurd trades in MLB history.

Harry Chiti has faded into obscurity over the years, but he was actually a baseball pioneer.

Lots of players have been traded over the years, but Harry was the first ballplayer to ever be traded for himself.

There’s three main reasons why the “Player to be Named Later” concept got introduced to baseball:

1. Teams know they want to trade a guy, but they need more time to decide exactly what position they want to fill.

2. A team making the trade needs more time to evaluate the other teams’ talent.

3. They’re are waiting on a guy to clear waivers or for the season to end so they can push the trade through

Harry played in the big leagues for 10 years.

He wasn’t anything special with the bat, but he was solid defensively and made a perfect backup catcher.

In ‘62 though, he was on his last leg.

Chiti had been traded from the Orioles to the Indians during the previous offseason, but he never played a single game for Cleveland.

They traded him to the Mets on April 26, for “a player to be named later.”

Turns out, that player was him.