One of these deals helped solidify the Cubs for the following season.
After dominating the National League for the first decade-plus of the 20th Century, the Cubs fell into disrepair around the time they left West Side Grounds for Wrigley Field. 1917 was their third straight losing season, the first time that had happened for the team since 1900-02.
When the season was over they made a major trade that helped them win the 1918 pennant.
April 2: Acquired Al Demaree from the Phillies for Jimmy Lavender and $5,000
Lavender had been a pitcher of some promise for the Cubs from 1912-16, and in fact, threw the first 20th-Century no-hitter for the team, Aug. 31, 1915 against the Giants.
The Cubs thought that Demaree, who’d been a solid starter in Philadelphia, would help them more than the younger Lavender.
The move didn’t really work out for either team. Lavender pitched just one year in Philadelphia, then decided he’d rather pitch near his home in Georgia — but got no offers, back in the day when players could sometimes make more money doing other things. He never did return to pro baseball.
Demaree, no relation to 1930s Cubs outfielder Frank Demaree, had one decent year for the Cubs and then they sent him off in another deal you’ll see below.
As is sometimes the case, the teams might as well have not bothered. Maybe Lavender sticks around baseball longer if the Cubs had kept him. We’ll never know. He worked various jobs in Georgia before he died in 1960 of a heart attack.
Demaree, meanwhile, had an interesting post-baseball career — he became a newspaper cartoonist, with some of his illustrations also used in baseball card sets in the 1930s. He passed away in California in 1962.
April 21: Acquired Fred Merkle from the Robins for $3,000
Yes, THAT Fred Merkle, the guy whose baserunning blunder for the Giants in 1908 had changed an apparent Giants win over the Cubs into a tie game that had to be replayed at the end of the season. The Cubs won that game and the NL pennant — otherwise the World Series drought would have gone back to 1907 instead of 1908.
Merkle became quite a good player for the Giants, getting downballot MVP votes in 1911 and 1912 and playing in three World Series for them before he was traded to Brooklyn in 1916.
Merkle hit .297/.349/.388 in 129 games for the Cubs in 1918 with 21 stolen bases, producing 3.3 bWAR. He was a key contributor to the 1918 pennant. After two more decent years for the Cubs they released him after the 1920 season. He wound up having five very good years in the International League for Rochester before the Yankees, thinking they’d need insurance to back up first baseman Wally Pipp, acquired him from Rochester for $6,000. Of course, some kid named Gehrig replaced Pipp and Merkle played in just eight games for the Yankees, also serving as a coach.
When he died in 1956, the New York Times published an obituary headlined:
FRED MERKLE, 67, BALL PLAYER, DIES; Giant 1st Baseman’s ‘Boner’ in Failing to Touch 2d Led to Loss of ‘08 Pennant
August 5: Acquired Turner Barber from Baltimore (International League) for a PTBNL and cash considerations. Merwin Jacobson was sent to Baltimore in December 1917 as the PTBNL
Barber, an outfielder, played 443 games for the Cubs from 1917-22 and batted .292/.347/.353, after which he was sent to Brooklyn for cash considerations.
August 15: Acquired Pete Kilduff from the Giants for Al Demaree
Demaree, thus, didn’t last even one full year in a Cubs uniform. Kilduff didn’t do much for the Cubs, either, batting .258/.319/.345 in 117 games from 1917-19. He didn’t play in the 1918 World Series and was traded to Brooklyn in mid-1919.
December 11: Acquired Grover Alexander and Bill Killefer from the Phillies for Pickles Dillhoefer, Mike Prendergast and $55,000
This was one of the biggest money-and-player deals of its time. $55,000 was a tremendous amount of money back then, equivalent to about $1.5 million today.
Alexander, sometimes called “Pete” in his playing days, was generally considered the best pitcher in the National League at the time. He helped lead the Phillies to the 1915 pennant, the last one they would win until 1950.
So why did they trade him? With World War I going, the Phillies apparently felt Alexander would be drafted and they’d lose his services for… who knows how long. So they pulled off this deal.
Turned out they were right. Alexander made three starts for the Cubs in 1918 and then was drafted, missing the rest of the season and World Series. Maybe the Cubs win that WS in 1918 with him. Obviously we’ll never know.
On his return, though, Alexander put together several fine years for the Cubs and one spectacular one. In 1920, he went 27-14 with a 1.91 ERA and led the NL in pretty much every possible category. His 12.0 bWAR is the best bWAR season in Cubs history in the Modern Era and eighth-best for any pitcher in the Modern Era.
Not that it did much for the 1920 Cubs, who finished under .500 at 75-79.
Alexander’s 41.1 bWAR ranks fourth in Cubs franchise history for pitchers, behind Fergie Jenkins, Rick Reuschel and Mordecai Brown. When they traded him away in 1926, he was 39 and most thought he was done. Instead, he helped lead the Cardinals to a World Series title and had three more good years in St. Louis. Maybe he could have helped the Cubs win the World Series in 1929.
Oh, well.
As for the rest of that deal, the charmingly-nicknamed Dillhoefer, a catcher, played only eight games in Philadelphia before they traded him to the Cardinals, where he played three part-time seasons. Prendergast, a righthanded pitcher, had one good year for the Phillies.
Killefer is an interesting guy in Cubs history, and in baseball history as well.
Also a catcher, Killefer batted .260/.303/.301 in 314 games for the Cubs from 1918-21 and then managed the team from late 1921 until he was fired mid-season in 1925. He took over as manager Aug. 3, 1921 after Johnny Evers (!) was fired and played sparingly the rest of the year. Then the team had three winning seasons, though not really as a contender, until things fell apart in 1925. His 300 wins as a manager rank 11th in franchise history. Killefer also coached under Rogers Hornsby for the Cardinals in 1926, and per his SABR biography, played a key role in the World Series:
As the Cardinals prepared to face the Yankees in World Series Game 7 in New York, Hornsby and Killefer huddled to formulate a plan to keep Alexander sober the night before so he would be available in the bullpen. Their efforts failed, but they nevertheless used a hungover Alexander in the late going. As Peter Morris observed, “The last out was particularly symbolic. With two outs in the ninth inning of a one-run game, Ruth walked and tried to steal second. Killefer’s old protégé Bob O’Farrell caught an Alexander pitch and threw to Hornsby who tagged Ruth to end the game. With a lot of help from his old friends, Reindeer Bill Killefer was finally part of a world champion.”
It was a different time, that’s for sure.
Killefer also managed the St. Louis Browns from 1930-33 and later coached with the Dodgers (under Leo Durocher!) and managed in the Dodgers system for many years. Later he became a scout for Bill Veeck and is credited with scouting Larry Doby, who broke the color line when Veeck owned the Cleveland Indians. He passed away in Delaware in 1960, aged 72.
This deal alone gives the 1917 trades an “A” grade.