A Wise trade for Philadelphia

Rick Wise pitching for the Phillies during a game in San Francisco

Imagine the outrage in Philadelphia 52 years ago today as the Phillies trade fan favorite Rick Wise to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wise is among the few bright spots coming back from an All-Star 1971 season in which he not only wins 17 games for a bad Phillies team but also pitches a no-hitter in Cincinnati – and hits two home runs in that game.

Wise, understandably, is looking for a pay raise.

In this case, he reportedly wants another $10,000 on top of the $25,000 the Phillies pay him in 1971.

The Phillies’ front office has no interest in Wise’s demands, so general manager John Quinn sends him to St. Louis for a perceived malcontent of a pitcher who also is sniping at management there for a new, $65,000 contract.

What are the Phillies thinking here?

Turns out the Phillies are thinking just fine, thanks, as they ship Wise to the Cardinals for a left-hander named Steve Carlton, a future Hall of Famer who goes on to win 241 games and four Cy Young Awards with the Phillies before leaving them midway through the 1986 season.

As for Wise, he bounces around from St. Louis to Boston to Cleveland to San Diego before his career ends in 1982 with 113 of his 188 career wins coming over the 10 years after leaving the Phillies.

At the time of the trade, Carlton’s win total after seven seasons in the majors is 77 with a 3.10 earned-run average with the perennially contending Cardinals, while Wise wins 75 games with a 3.60 ERA over his first seven seasons toiling for mostly mediocre-to-bad teams in Philadelphia.

Turns out that the trade excites neither pitcher.

After the trade, Carlton immediately calls the players’ union to see if he somehow can free himself from going to the woebegone Phillies.

Carlton quickly learns his two options: report to the Phillies or retire.

Unlike Carlton, Wise wants to be in Philadelphia.

“We each got what we wanted from our new teams,” Wise says in 2005, more than 33 years after the trade. “But I loved Philadelphia. My family’s from Philadelphia. My kids were born in Philadelphia. I didn’t want to leave.”