Moving Stories
Last year first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz (above) was in the season's biggest deal, a four-team trade in which Boston's Nomar Garciaparra was sent to the Cubs and Mientkiewicz went from the Twins to the Red Sox. Since Minnesota was playing Boston at home that day, Mientkiewicz just switched clubhouses. "I was already dressed for BP and I was doing a press conference"--about not being traded after the deadline had passed--"when someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me I had been dealt," says Mientkiewicz, now with the Mets. "I didn't even walk outside. I walked behind the laundry room, and there was Pedro [Martinez] standing butt naked on my chair saying, 'Welcome.'"
... In 1991, after being assured he'd stay in Baltimore, Steve Finley (left) was playing basketball at Cal Ripken Jr.'s house. "[Baltimore G.M.] Roland Hemond called and told Cal to tell me I'd been traded," said Finley, who was dealt to Houston (and is now with the Angels). "I was in the gym, just standing there stunned."
... When outfielder Shannon Stewart (below, left) was dealt from Toronto to the Twins at the 2003 All-Star break, he was left without his gear. "I was home [in Miami] during the break when I got the call," he says. "All my stuff was in Toronto, my equipment bag, everything. The Blue Jays shipped it to Minnesota, but it took days to get there. I had to play without my glove and shoes. Jacque Jones gave me a pair of shoes, and I had to DH. I had to use other people's bats."
... Outfielder Cliff Floyd was dealt from the Marlins to the Expos in 2002; after he'd been there just 19 days, the trade deadline closed in, and Montreal manager Frank Robinson (below, with Floyd) told Floyd he wouldn't be going anywhere. "He said, 'Unpack everything. You're good for the rest of the season.' I got traded that night," recalls Floyd, now a Met. The trade, to the Red Sox, particularly upset Floyd's girlfriend, Maryanne, who had just finished decorating their new apartment. "Oh, man. You don't understand," says Floyd. "She did everything. We bought pillows, sheets, all that stuff. She got groceries, and she was cooking when I got home. I was like, 'You can't be mad at me. Be mad at whoever else you want to be mad at, but we got traded again.' She just sulked."
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ERIC MILLER/REUTERS (MIENTKIEWICZ)
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LEON HALIP/WIREIMAGE.COM (STEWART)
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JOHN IACONO (FINLEY)
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BOB ROSATO (FLOYD WITH ROBINSON)