The A's Trade Their Manager to Pittsburgh

On November 5, 1976, the Oakland Athletics traded manager Chuck Tanner to the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Manny Sanguillen and $100,000 in cash. It was one of the strangest transactions in baseball history, and one of only a handful of times a manager was the central asset in a trade.

The deal originated from a peculiar contractual situation. Tanner had a clause in his deal with Oakland that allowed him to leave if another team compensated the A's. The Pirates, who needed a manager after Danny Murtaugh's retirement, approached A's owner Charlie Finley. Finley, never one to pass up cash, agreed to the arrangement.

Sanguillen, a popular catcher in Pittsburgh who had spent 10 seasons with the Pirates, went to Oakland as the player component. He lasted one year with the A's, batting .275, before returning to Pittsburgh in another trade.

Tanner thrived in the Steel City. He inherited a talented roster built around Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, and a deep pitching staff. In 1979, three years after the trade brought him east, Tanner led the Pirates to a World Series championship. The team, known by its "We Are Family" theme, rallied from a 3-1 deficit against the Baltimore Orioles to win in seven games.

The trade worked out poorly for Oakland. Finley was in the process of dismantling the dynasty that had won three consecutive World Series from 1972 to 1974. Players were leaving through free agency, and Tanner's departure was just one more piece of a franchise in collapse.

Tanner managed the Pirates through 1985, compiling a 711-685 record in Pittsburgh.