Trading away the homesick kid

In what turns out to be one of the poorer trades he makes in 50 years as the Philadelphia Athletics’ manager – hey, over 50 years he is bound to have a dud or two in there – Connie Mack 116 years ago today ships second baseman Morrie Rath and a player to be named later to Cleveland for soon-to-be-retired outfielder Bris Lord.

A week later, the player to be named later turns out to be a raw, 23-year-old homesick rookie outfielder named Joseph Walker Jackson.

Jackson, of course, goes on to become one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, while Lord is out of the game by the end of the 1913 season at the age of 30.

If nothing else, this deal involves two of the game's all-time great nicknames with “Shoeless Joe” going to Cleveland in return for Lord, who goes by the nickname “The Human Eyeball.”

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