Smoltz for Alexander

The Tigers trailed Toronto by a game and a half and wanted a pitcher they already knew. On August 12 they got Doyle Alexander, 36, who was 5–10 with a 4.13 earned-run average for the Braves. In return Atlanta took John Smoltz, a 22nd-round pick two years earlier, then 4–10 with a 5.68 earned-run average at Double-A Glens Falls. General manager Bill Lajoie said the obvious thing: Alexander was a proven starter, and the rotation needed to be stronger. The club's other choice, in the account of the negotiations, was Steve Searcy, who was closer to the majors. Detroit kept him.

Alexander made 11 starts and went 9–0 with a 1.53 earned-run average. Detroit won the American League East and lost the Championship Series to the Twins in five games. He was an All-Star in 1988 and was out of baseball after 1989. Smoltz reached Atlanta in 1988. He won a Cy Young Award, saved 154 games after Tommy John surgery moved him to the bullpen, and is the only pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves. He went into the Hall of Fame in 2015.

The trade did what Detroit asked of it in 1987. The retelling collapses that into a theft, which skips the pennant race Lajoie was actually in. What it does not skip is the scale of the arm the Braves' scout, John Hagemann, had talked Bobby Cox into taking.