A transaction proposal - 1989 version.

[clancyphile]

I was fiddling around with Baseball Mogul, and for kicks, I decided to have Baltimore try to trade for Jim Gantner.

 

They ask for Gantner, I hit "Get Counter-Proposal," and the Brewers ask for... Curt Schilling (a recent acquisition for Mike Boddicker).

 

So... in the spring of 1989, if Baltimore were to offer Curt Schilling in exchange for Jim Gantner... would you make the deal?

[Brian the Automator]

Yep, Schilling was outstanding from '90-'92. But that's only knowing what I know now. The rotation of Bosio, Higuera, Navarro and Filer were pretty good... whereas Bates & Polidor wouldn't have filled in very well for Gantner.

[Warning Track Power]

Gantner was a jerk to me when I was a kid in the 80s. Seems appropriate to get an equally obnoxious Schilling back in a deal. Sign me up.

[clancyphile]

Yep, Schilling was outstanding from '90-'92. But that's only knowing what I know now. The rotation of Bosio, Higuera, Navarro and Filer were pretty good... whereas Bates & Polidor wouldn't have filled in very well for Gantner.

 

I moved Bill Spiers to second, kept Molitor at third, and had Sheffield at shortstop. But they did have Dale Sveumhealthy to start the 1989 season...

 

Maybe I should do Sveum at second, Sheffield at short, Molitor at third...

[Ulice Payne]

Wow--Clancy and Brian in the same thread.

 

Maybe we can get Geno, Reed & Al in here too!

 

Go Old School!!

[CheezWizHed]

Wow--Clancy and Brian in the same thread.

 

Maybe we can get Geno, Reed & Al in here too!

 

Go Old School!!

 

Well, it is 1989...

 

Gantner was a jerk to me when I was a kid in the 80s. Seems appropriate to get an equally obnoxious Schilling back in a deal. Sign me up.

 

+1. I really only started following the Brewers in 1986. I thought he was great for a couple years, but we hung on to him way too long. Knowing what I know now, I'm not sure he was even that great those couple years.

 

And I has a similar encounter with him at one of the very few games I got to attend.

[Boomer5]

Wow--Clancy and Brian in the same thread.

 

Maybe we can get Geno, Reed & Al in here too!

 

Go Old School!!

 

Well, it is 1989...

 

Gantner was a jerk to me when I was a kid in the 80s. Seems appropriate to get an equally obnoxious Schilling back in a deal. Sign me up.

 

+1. I really only started following the Brewers in 1986. I thought he was great for a couple years, but we hung on to him way too long. Knowing what I know now, I'm not sure he was even that great those couple years.

 

And I has a similar encounter with him at one of the very few games I got to attend.

 

That is funny. What did he do to make you feel that way about him?

 

Im always fascinated when we get to see the "real" guy, like when those pics of Lawrie came to light. We focus so much on the metrics that we forget these are sometimes VERY flawed people.

 

Anyhow, I was at a game when Gantner was playing. My friend for whatever reason HATED him and was yelling at him to start the game. Turns out his sister was right behind us and not surprisingly was not very nice to my friend. He had it coming but that was a fun time.

[CheezWizHed]

Overall, it was pretty minor. But living in northern Wisconsin, I only saw a couple games as a kid. I was down at the fence by the Brewers dugout before the game. Gantner was standing 10 feet away doing nothing, so I asked him for an autograph. He looked my way and said, "I've got to stretch out kid" (I was ~14 at the time) and walked off into the field. Never came back close until the game started.

 

Glenn Braggs was in the dugout that same game. I asked him the same question. He told me he come by in a couple minutes, finished what he was doing, and came to sign autographs. I got swarmed by a bunch of younger kids pushing their way in. He reached over the kids to sign mine (since I asked him).

 

I can't imagine the pain in the butt autograph hounds can be for BB players (which is one reason I've stopped asking for them). But there just was something condescending in the way Gantner handled it. It obviously rubbed me the wrong way.

 

The guy gets lumped in with Yount and Molitor for that era of Brewer baseball, but he really isn't anywhere close to the same level of player.

[Boomer5]

Overall, it was pretty minor. But living in northern Wisconsin, I only saw a couple games as a kid. I was down at the fence by the Brewers dugout before the game. Gantner was standing 10 feet away doing nothing, so I asked him for an autograph. He looked my way and said, "I've got to stretch out kid" (I was ~14 at the time) and walked off into the field. Never came back close until the game started.

 

Glenn Braggs was in the dugout that same game. I asked him the same question. He told me he come by in a couple minutes, finished what he was doing, and came to sign autographs. I got swarmed by a bunch of younger kids pushing their way in. He reached over the kids to sign mine (since I asked him).

 

I can't imagine the pain in the butt autograph hounds can be for BB players (which is one reason I've stopped asking for them). But there just was something condescending in the way Gantner handled it. It obviously rubbed me the wrong way.

 

The guy gets lumped in with Yount and Molitor for that era of Brewer baseball, but he really isn't anywhere close to the same level of player.

 

I agree, he was a pretty meh player but maybe because he was local he was mentioned in the same breath as those guys.

[Outlander]

I wasn't a huge fan of Gantner either as a baseball player in the late 80's. However, with that said I don't see it ever happening without hindsight. Dale Sveum had a horrible injury late 1988 so there was no chance of him replacing Gantner. Bill Spiers just finished AA so they probably were not ever going to rely on him to play 2B even though he ended up receiving a bunch of playing time. The Brewers infield was pretty thin that year, I mean they were using Gus Pollidor quite a bit early in the season. I don't see the Brewers making the infield weaker or a 100 loss Orioles team from 1988 (even though they ended up very good in '89) trading for a 36 year old Jim Gantner. Plus they played in the same division.

[Warning Track Power]

Similar experience to CheezWiz...but mine happened at Spring Training in Chandler. I was about 7-8 years old in the late 80s and saw Gantner all alone after a game. My dad happened to notice him and I ran up to him and asked for his autograph. No one else was within 200 yards of him. Totally shunned me. Get lost kid kind of attitude. Completely unnecessary. A simple "not today little guy" would have been ok but his complete jerkiness left such a bad taste in my mouth with him. Had he not been from Fond du Lac, he would be remembered for what he was and not linked to Yount and Molitor.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ok, Gantner story time for me. I think I can help with some schadenfreude here. Disclaimer: early teen 'glory days' post forthcoming...

 

So when I was about 12 or 13, I played in a baseball league where Gantner's kid was on one of the teams in our league. Gantner was one of the coaches. Usually that didn't really mean anything one way or the other -- he wasn't a jerk of a coach or anything like that, & I can't remember his kid ever being a diva or anything.

 

I wasn't good enough to hit at the top of the lineup, but in this particular game our coach decided to change things up & flip the regular lineup. So I was batting like 3rd & I was jacked. I played my normal LF position, but with a bit more go-juice in the system. So early in the game, think first three innings or so, one of their batters hit a dying quail into shallow LF. I came charging in & made a sweet shoestring catch into a rolling tumble. Robbed the single. I was psyched, but tried to play it cool. Fast forward through the game, & it was really close. I had I think a hit & walk, plus a nice play or two in LF. But we wound up losing, & I was fuming. As I was walking off the diamond, Gantner was chatting with my coach. He saw me coming, & walked toward me and said, 'Hey great catch kid' -- I was so ticked I didn't say anything & just stormed past him. I hardly even noticed him, to be honest. Well let's just say that my two Brewers-fan parents were none too happy with me. I got quite the lecture from Mom about respecting adults on the way home.

 

But now I have an awesome story that everyone that got burned by Gantner as a kid can feel great about. He got cold-shouldered by some punk kid he might've shut down for an autograph request. Balance in the universe restored. You're welcome.

[Warning Track Power]

Ok, Gantner story time for me. I think I can help with some schadenfreude here. Disclaimer: early teen 'glory days' post forthcoming...

 

So when I was about 12 or 13, I played in a baseball league where Gantner's kid was on one of the teams in our league. Gantner was one of the coaches. Usually that didn't really mean anything one way or the other -- he wasn't a jerk of a coach or anything like that, & I can't remember his kid ever being a diva or anything.

 

I wasn't good enough to hit at the top of the lineup, but in this particular game our coach decided to change things up & flip the regular lineup. So I was batting like 3rd & I was jacked. I played my normal LF position, but with a bit more go-juice in the system. So early in the game, think first three innings or so, one of their batters hit a dying quail into shallow LF. I came charging in & made a sweet shoestring catch into a rolling tumble. Robbed the single. I was psyched, but tried to play it cool. Fast forward through the game, & it was really close. I had I think a hit & walk, plus a nice play or two in LF. But we wound up losing, & I was fuming. As I was walking off the diamond, Gantner was chatting with my coach. He saw me coming, & walked toward me and said, 'Hey great catch kid' -- I was so ticked I didn't say anything & just stormed past him. I hardly even noticed him, to be honest. Well let's just say that my two Brewers-fan parents were none too happy with me. I got quite the lecture from Mom about respecting adults on the way home.

 

But now I have an awesome story that everyone that got burned by Gantner as a kid can feel great about. He got cold-shouldered by some punk kid he might've shut down for an autograph request. Balance in the universe restored. You're welcome.

I would've felt even better had you kicked him in the...and ran off

 

Thanks for sharing nonetheless TLB!

[CheezWizHed]

Awesome! I'm sure he wasn't a jerk all the time.

[JohnBriggs12]

Gantner's former sister in law Mickey (Maureen) was a classmate of mine in high school. I know a few guys from Eden too who knew him and thought he was a good guy.

[rwa12]

He was my favorite player growing up, mostly because I was a slap hitting second basemen too. I got the chance to go to spring training in '05, and was going to a DBacks/Crew game. I brought an 8x10 of Robin/Gumby turning 2, with the hopes of seeing Yount (he was coaching with AZ at the time). Yount wasn't at the game, but Gantner was a visiting coach for the crew, I was pretty shocked when I saw him wander onto the field. I ran down to the dugout to see if he would sign the picture (I should say, that sadly, I was in my mid 20s, and probably a bit too excited). He was happy to sign. Yost and a few other coaches came over to take a look at the picture and comment. He asked me why I had the picture with me, as he just happened to be in town with the team. I didn't want to tell him that I brought it for Yount, so I just told him he was my idol growing up, and I always carried it on the off chance. He chuckled and shrugged.

[Jenkins5]

Jimmy is a good, nice, humble guy, now owns Scuds Buds, a little bar in Eden. Still loves baseball and will coach Northwoods whenever offered. Being from Fondy, he is kind of a local, home grown hero type which is always good for a franchise (why they sell CC as so constantly).

[Noche]

Jimmy is a good, nice, humble guy, now owns Scuds Buds, a little bar in Eden. Still loves baseball and will coach Northwoods whenever offered. Being from Fondy, he is kind of a local, home grown hero type which is always good for a franchise (why they sell CC as so constantly).

 

Really? I have customer in Eden. Will have to stop by the place for some food.

[clancyphile]

Wow--Clancy and Brian in the same thread.

 

Maybe we can get Geno, Reed & Al in here too!

 

Go Old School!!

 

Well, it is 1989...

 

Gantner was a jerk to me when I was a kid in the 80s. Seems appropriate to get an equally obnoxious Schilling back in a deal. Sign me up.

 

+1. I really only started following the Brewers in 1986. I thought he was great for a couple years, but we hung on to him way too long. Knowing what I know now, I'm not sure he was even that great those couple years.

 

And I has a similar encounter with him at one of the very few games I got to attend.

 

It's my 30-year anniversary, too.

[clancyphile]

I wasn't a huge fan of Gantner either as a baseball player in the late 80's. However, with that said I don't see it ever happening without hindsight. Dale Sveum had a horrible injury late 1988 so there was no chance of him replacing Gantner. Bill Spiers just finished AA so they probably were not ever going to rely on him to play 2B even though he ended up receiving a bunch of playing time. The Brewers infield was pretty thin that year, I mean they were using Gus Pollidor quite a bit early in the season. I don't see the Brewers making the infield weaker or a 100 loss Orioles team from 1988 (even though they ended up very good in '89) trading for a 36 year old Jim Gantner. Plus they played in the same division.

 

Baseball Mogul usually has Sveum healthy at the start of 1989.

 

Still... it is a big might-have been.

 

One other trade that almost always goes through:

 

Braves get:

Ted Higuera

 

Brewers get:

John Smoltz

Tom Glavine

David Justice