December 5, 1957: The Reds deal 19 year old Curt Flood and Joe Taylor to the Cardinals for three pitchers: veteran Willard Schmidt, and prospects Marty Kutyna, and Ted Wieand.
With Vada Pinson looming as the Reds CF of the future, the club felt Flood was expendable. Pinson proved to be the better player, but Flood, too, became a star and the Reds received precious little in return for him. Kutyna never pitched for the Reds; Schmidt was 6-7. Wieand was born one month after FDR took office as president and his full name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt Wieand. But he did not have nearly as long as career as the president. Wieand pitched in only six big league games and finished his career with a 9.95 ERA. Flood played in St. Louis for 12 seasons and hit .293. The next time he was was traded, in October 1969 to the Phillies, Flood filed suit against baseball’s reserve clause, which eventually led to free agency.
All “Reds trivia†posts come from Greg Rhodes and John Snyder’s fabulous book, “Redleg Journal†(see link for purchasing) and are used with Greg’s permission.
Thanks again to Greg Rhodes for permission to use his material.