Trading for Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio in training as a Seal

In what turns out to be one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history, the New York Yankees 89 years ago today send backup infielder send backup infielder Doc Farrell along with $5,000 to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League for a 19-year-old outfielder named Joe DiMaggio.

After Farrell’s refusal to report to San Francisco, the Yankees sweeten the deal by giving the Seals three minor leaguers in pitchers Jimmy Densmore and Floyd Newkirk, and outfielder Ted Norbert. They tell the Seals to go ahead and keep that $5,000, too.

DiMaggio remains with the Seals for the 1935 season – and hits .398 for them – before joining the Yankees in 1936 and starting a Hall of Fame career that includes 13 All-Star appearances in 13 seasons, nine World Series titles in those 13 seasons and a post-career marriage, albeit briefly, to Marilyn Monroe.

“Baseball isn’t statistics,” the great Jimmy Breslin once writes, “it’s Joe DiMaggio rounding second base.”

Joe DiMaggio after rounding second base, sliding into third