No. 1971.12.10 · Expansion Era
Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
The Mets traded Nolan Ryan and three others to the Angels for Jim Fregosi. Ryan left with seven no-hitters. Fregosi was gone in a season and a half.
December 10, 1971. The Mets sent Nolan Ryan, Leroy Stanton, Don Rose, and Francisco Estrada to the California Angels for shortstop Jim Fregosi. Ryan was 24, wild, and unfinished: a hard thrower the Mets had not found a consistent role for. Fregosi was a six-time All-Star. The Mets thought they were buying a shortstop and selling a project.
Ryan won 324 games, struck out 5,714 batters, and threw seven no-hitters. Fregosi's 101 games in 1972 were the last season he reached 100. The Mets moved him on after a year and a half. He later managed the 1993 Phillies to the World Series, which is a better ending than the trade-wire version of him as a punch line.
The deal is still the cleanest example of a franchise giving up on a pitcher one organization too soon. The Angels did not invent Ryan. They waited him out.
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