How the Browns Helped the Orioles Acquire Frank Robinson

Bob Turley and Don Larsen were Brownies  ....

... and two hot right-handed pitching prospects as ever there was.  But the Orioles traded them to the Yankees for Willie Miranda, in 1955

(who, by the way, was an ex-Brown traded away to the Yankees by Bill Veeck)

Willy Miranda (his preferred spelling) was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1960 for Jim Gentile

... who was traded in 1963 to the Kansas City Athletics for Norm Siebern (another left-handed-hitting first baseman)

… who was traded to the California Angels December 2, 1965 for Dick Simpson….

yes, THIS Dick Simpson:

and a week later, the Orioles dangled him before the eyes of Cincinnati Reds general manager Bill DeWitt Sr.,  who found the 1965 Angels Rookie Star too good to resist, so he promptly traded

for him (plus Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun).  "Surely a young Dick Simpson will eventually make up for that hole in the outfield," Dewitt must have thought.   

And just like that, F. Robby was a Brownie, er.... Oriole. (Frank doesn't look very happy about the trade. The Reds recently won a pennant, but the Orioles haven't won one since since 1944.  And then they weren't even the Orioles, but rather the Browns.  But Frank will be happy with the trade soon enough.  It sucks to have a receding hairline. General managers think you are old.  And shaved heads to hide it won't be in style for another 40 years yet.)

So to Review, 

 += .

And that is how the Browns helped the Orioles acquire Frank Robinson, Hall of Famer.



[Another Brownie connection, this one quite real: Jim Russo -- the scout who'd been trying to get the Orioles to make the deal for Robinson since 1961 -- was the last employee of the Browns still with the club.  ~Ed.]