Phillies trade Fergie Jenkins to the Cubs, April 1966
This one wasn’t a trade deadline move, but long-suffering Phillies fans will never forgive, nor can they forget the Phranchise giving away the young Jenkins, who would go on to be one of the best pitchers of his era.
Jenkins signed with the Phillies in 1962, and made his big-league debut with the club in 1965. In his only real season in Philadelphia, he posted a 2.19 ERA over seven games. In 1966, Jenkins pitchd in one game for the Phillies before being traded to the Chicago Cubs in early April. In 1967, his first full season in Chicago, he posted a 2.80 ERA over 38 starts, led MLB with 20 complete games, went to his first All-Star Game, and finished second in Cy Young voting. In 1971, he became the first Cubs pitcher to win a Cy Young Award.
Jenkins would finish his career as a three-time All-Star, Cy Young Award-winner, and became the first Canadian player in MLB history to be inducted into Cooperstown in 1991. He finished his career with 3,192 strikeouts, one of 18 players (as of 2020) in MLB history in the 3,000 Club.
In exchange for Jenkins, Adolfo Phillips, and John Herrnstein, the Phillies received the aging Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl, both in their mid-30s by then. Jackson posted a 2.95 ERA over three years with the Phillies before retiring in 1968. Buhl retired in 1967, after posting a 4.93 ERA over two seasons in Philadelphia.
Even though this trade was over half a century ago, the Phillies will never live this one down. The Phillies didn’t win a pennant between their 1950 and 1980 seasons, though it should comfort fans of this era to remember that the Cubs didn’t win a pennant with Jenkins, and in fact, didn’t win the pennant between 1945-2016.