OnlyBucs

Possum. my comments on the trade are in a post a few posts above yours. Brown took a risk that paid huge dividends.



As for the building of that team, it was a long time in the works as Law, Friend, Groat, Face, Maz, Clemente, Skinner, Virdon had been around a few years already. Haddix, Burgess and Hoak were all great additions in 1959 as each performed to their best case scenarios.



For 1960, Joe Brown added quality depth in Cimoli and Smith. That cost him workhorse Ronnie Kline but Bennie Daniels didn't work out as the replacement. So Brown adjusted on the fly and dealt #1 prospect Julian Javier in late May for Mizell to solidify the rotation. The BP was a work in progress all season with only Face, Green and Gibbon reliable from opening day. Brown went thru Don Gross, Paul Giel, Jim Umbricht and Earl Francis before settling on Tom Cheney and Red Witt and signing Clem Labine in August after he was released by Detroit.



Joe Brown stayed busy from the winter of 1959 thru the entire 1960 season and made all the right moves.