On This Day in History: Chicago Cubs Trade for Hall of Fame Outfielder
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An oft-forgotten about impact in Major League Baseball during the 1930s was the Great Depression. It affected baseball teams as much as it affected the every-man.
Few teams felt it more than the Philadelphia Phillies, who climbed out of the National League cellar in 1932 for the first time since 1917, before immediately selling off all their star players for cash.
Their biggest talent was future-Hall of Famer Chuck Klein, whom the Chicago Cubs bought on Nov. 21, 1933 for $65,000 (worth nearly $1.5 million in 2022), and the contracts of Harvey Hendrick, Mark Koenig and Ted Kleinhans.
It was the first and only time in baseball history a Triple Crown winner left his team the following season. Not only did Klein lead the league in home runs, RBI and AVG, but he also led in doubles, OBP, SLG and WAR for hitters too.
Unfortunately, he was unable to replicate that level of success in Chicago for two and a half seasons before he was traded back to Philadelphia. At Wrigley he slashed .297/.366/.497 with 46.
A large part of Klein's former ability came from the Phillies right field wall at Baker Bowl, it was 60 feet high and only 280 feet from home plate, a target for left-handed hitters.
The Cubs though, were able to give Klein something he could never get with the Phillies: playoff experience.
In 1935 the Cubs won the pennant and lost the World Series in six games to the Detroit Tigers. For his part, Klein slashed .333/.333/.582 in 12 Fall Classic plate appearances with one home run.
Though his time with the Cubs wasn't perfect, he extended his prime and was helped write his own legend.
In 1980, 22 years after his death, Klein was inducted by the Veterans Committee into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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