“Call on Line 1 for the Cardinals”

The St. Louis Cardinals spend much of their time 68 years ago today on the telephone, wheeling and dealing, and making and rejecting trades with some of their National League brethren.

In no particular order, the Cardinals spurn an offer from the Philadelphia Phillies and accept one from the Cincinnati Reds.

The Phillies are preparing to send beloved center fielder and future Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn and a solid-but-not-nearly-as-beloved pitcher in Harvey Haddix to St. Louis if the Cardinals would trade them third baseman Ken Boyer.

The Cardinals say, um, thanks, but no, as they hang on to the 26-year-old Boyer, a burgeoning All-Star whose career will last through the 1969 season.

The 30-year-old Ashburn responds in 1958 by then leading the major leagues with a .350 batting average in his next-to-last season in Philadelphia.

The Phillies quickly pivot in mid-December 1957 and ship the 32-year-old Haddix to Cincinnati for 28-year-old outfielder Wally Post.

While St. Louis is turning down the Phillies’ offer for Boyer, the Cardinals on this day in 1957 pick up the game’s next great center fielder as they pluck 19-year-old Curt Flood from Cincinnati for three middling pitchers in Willard Schmidt, Marty Kutyna and Ted Wieand.

Flood spends the next 12 seasons with the Cardinals, batting .293 while winning seven Gold Gloves and helping St. Louis win a pair of World Series titles in 1964 and ’67.

Turns out that Flood’s long and productive run with the Cardinals ends after the 1969 season, when St. Louis trades him to the Phillies.

Flood then refuses to report to Philadelphia and puts into motion a revolutionary legal case that eventually leads to players finally enjoying the riches of free agency.

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