Thursday Trade Tracker: Atlanta Braves. Felix the Cat, Buzz, and Not That Frank Thomas.

The rivalry between the Mets and the Atlanta Braves has developed into one of the fiercest in baseball, defined more by late season collapses, post season heartbreak, and only one of these teams usually winning on the field than by cooperation at the trade table. In a division where familiarity breeds contempt, these two franchises have historically treated one another with the kind of suspicion of a wartime summit.

However, two of the biggest trades between these two teams led directly to Mets pennants in 1973 and 2015.

One trade that will eventually get it's own article is the 4-team, 11-player monster between the Mets, Braves, Rangers, and Pirates in 1977. It featured all major leaguers, including Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven and key Mets names Jon Matlack, John Milner, and Willie Montanez. I can safely say something like that will never happen again.

November 2, 1972. Mets get 2B Felix Millan and LHP George Stone for pitchers Danny Frisella and Gary Gentry.

Up until the Keith Hernandez trade in 1983, this was was always considered the best in Mets History. It's still easily top ten. Maybe top three! Millan was already a three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glover for Atlanta. The Braves looked to trade Felix because his average dropped to .257 in 1972 and he had a circulatory issue with his finger. They felt rookie Larvell "Sugar Bear" Blanks, at a diminutive 5 ft 7 inches, could take over second base after he hit .329 in 85 at bats in 1972. They also needed the pitching depth with Frisella and Gentry.

Felix immediately set Met records. In his first Mets season in 1973, he set a team record with 185 hits, finished 16th in MVP balloting, and led the Mets to the 1973 pennant. He then hit .316 in the NLCS vs the Reds. He had a poor World Series, costing them a game with a key error and only going 6-32 (.188). The sight of Millan crouched over the plate, choking up a good 7 inches on the bat and never striking out, made him a perfect number 2 hitter back in the day. You would never see sluggers like Judge, Soto, or Alonso hit anywhere but 4th. In 73, Millan came to bat 699 times and struck out 22 times! That's a doubleheader for Mr. Judge and Mr. Stanton!

In 1975, Millan set a Met record with 191 hits that lasted 21 years until Lance Johnson got 227 hits. Felix played all 162 games that year (still a Met record!)had 743 plate appearances and only struck out 28 times!!

You old timers probably remember how his Major League career ended. Still only 33, Millan didn't like how Pirates catcher Ed Ott slid into him. Millan struck him in the face with the ball! Ott, a wrestler in his youth, scooped up the lithe cat and body slammed him into the Three Rivers turf, breaking his collarbone. Both players were ejected, with Ott being fined $250. Felix didn't even start the August 12, 1977 game. Cool trivia...who replaced Felix in that lineup when he got hurt? New Mets Hall of Fame recipient Bobby Valentine! What Buc catcher replaced Ott? Former Met Duffy Dyer! Don't you love baseball?

Stone was a two time double digit winner with the Braves, but he soon had his best year as a Met. Stone went 12-3 with a 2.80 ERA. Stone only pitched in 3 post season games as a Met, pitching a total of 9.2 innings while only allowing one earned run. I can't mention George Stone without the Yogi Berra choice that many say doomed the Mets in the 1973 World Series. With the Mets up 3 games to 2, Berra decided to go for the jugular and pitch the Franchise, Tom Seaver, on short rest. Berra could have gone with the crafty Stone in Game 6 and go to a well-rested Seaver for all the marbles. Seaver only gave up 2 runs in 7 innings, but the Mets lost 3-1. Oakland used two Hall of Famers themselves, Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers. What would you have done? Write it in the comments!

Stone's only other post season appearance was in the 1969 NLCS against the Mets.

Gentry started 35 games as a rookie for the 1969 World Champions, but injuries let him appear in only 26 games over three years in Atlanta. Frisella was a solid Met reliever, highlighted by a 1.99 ERA over 90 innings in 1971. After two poor seasons as a Brave, he pitched well for San Diego (3.13 ERA in 97 innings) and Milwaukee (2.74 ERA in 49 innings). Sadly, Frisella was killed on New Year's Day in 1977 while he was riding in his dune buggy in Phoenix, Arizona, only about 100 feet from his home. Danny Frisella was 30 years old.

TEACHER SAYS A+. This trade helped the Mets get to the World Series. Why isn't Felix Millan in the Mets Hall of Fame? We all know Ed Ott deserved a punch in the face!

July 24, 2015. Mets get INF Juan Uribe and INF Kelly Johnson for pitchers John Gant and Rob Whalen.

A week before the Mets acquired Yoenis Cespedes and the electrified team went on to win the NL pennant, they got two veterans from the Braves. Mets players gave tons of credit to these professional hitters who were also leaders who energized the clubhouse. Don't tell anyone, but Juan Uribe's middle name is Cespedes. Really.

Did you realize Uribe had a 16-year career? He spent years as the regular shortstop for the Rockies, White Sox, and Giants before weight issues as a Dodger moved him to third base. His best season was with the 2010 World Champion Giants, hitting 24 homers and driving in 85 runs. As a Met in 2015, he drove in 20 runs in 44 games. He was injured in the post season, only getting one at bat in the World Series (but it was an RBI single!).

Johnson played on 8 teams in his 12 Major League years. His best season, also ironically in 2010, was with Arizona, where he hit 26 homers and drove in 71 as a second baseman. Johnson was re-acquired by the Mets in 2016 after the Braves signed him as a free agent after 2015. To clear this up, his last lines on his baseball card look like Braves-Mets-Braves-Mets. Got that? There will be a quiz later. He went 1-9 as a pinch hitter in the 2015 post season. Remember this for my quiz: Johnson was the first player in MLB history to play for all 5 AL East teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays).

Gant wound up being a useful member of the Cardinal bullpen, even going 11-1 one year.

TEACHER SAYS A. Getting two solid vets and getting to the World Series? I give that an A!

November 28, 1961. Mets get INF/OF Frank Thomas for OF Gus Bell. This trade was with the Milwaukee Braves, but it counts! Same franchise.

The Mets had Frank Thomas?? The hulking Hall of Fame White Sox star with 521 home runs? Nope, that Frank was born in 1968, but the Mets' Frank was pretty good, too. Thomas had some big RBI years for the Pirates before leading the Mets with 34 home runs in their initial year of 1962. Frank had the Mets record for homers for 14 years before Dave "Sky King" Kingman hit 36 in 1975. The player the Mets traded for Thomas, was a "player to be named later" and wasn't traded until May of 1962. In fact Thomas and Bell hit third and fourth in the first Mets game ever, and wound up being traded for each other! You might recognize the name Bell. Gus, who had almost 1,000 Major League RBI, was the father of star third baseman Buddy and the grandfather of former Reds manager David Bell and short time major leaguer Mike Bell. No, Josh Bell of today wasn't related to them!

TEACHER SAYS A. Teacher must be in a good mood, he's handing out A's. Must be because spring break is coming up.

October 11, 1962. Mets purchase INF Ron Hunt.

Yes, he got hit on purpose. After he left the Mets, Hunt found a way to get on base regularly. Get hit by pitch! He led the NL 7 years in a row, including a modern record 50 in 1971 with Montreal. (The Mets record in a seson is 28 by Mark Canha in 2022). Hunt finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1963 to some guy named Rose. Hunt was also the first Met to start an All-Star game. He started in 1964, when the game was in Shea Stadium. It was the only time Shea would get the event. Hunt hit .303 for the season.

Until Lenny and Wally came along, Hunt was known for his "scrappy" play. The Mets later traded Hunt in the Tommy Davis trade.

TEACHER SAYS A. An All-Star starter for nothing? Sign me up, but duck when the pitch comes at your head, Ron!

March 26, 1974. Mets sold RHP Buzz Capra to the Braves.

Lee William Capra, nicknamed "Buzz" by a neighbor as a child, was a solid reliever in 1973 for the Mets, with a 3.42 ERA in 42 innings. He was on the post season rosters, but did not make an appearance. Well, he did make ONE appearance...but it was in the Rose-Harrelson fight! Bob Murphy can clearly be heard yelling, "Buzzy Capra is in the fight!" It was rumored that Pedro Borbon took a bite out of a Met cap during the melee, and that cap belonged to Buzz.

Capra got an early save with Atlanta, his only save of the season. It was on April 8th, 1974. If that date sounds familiar, it was the game that Henry Aaron hit his record breaking 715th homer! Capra went on to start 27 games that year and led the league with a 2.28 ERA in 217 innings. Yogi couldn't have been thrilled that Buzz was chosen for the All-Star Game. (He didn't pitch in it.... was it Yogi's decision?) Soon Capra started to suffer arm injuries and wasn't successful in his last few years.

TEACHER SAYS F. Mets gave up on a league ERA leader.

November 23, 1964. Mets purchase LHP Warren Spahn.

List the 10 or 15 greatest pitchers in history. I'm guessing you left out Warren Spahn. Sixth all-time with 363 wins and first all time for a lefty. He won all of those games after missing three years for military service. He had 13 seasons of 20 or more wins, with 9 of them coming after age 32 (and 2 after turning 40).

In his last season at age 44, he was purchased by the Mets. He was brought in both to pitch and serve as pitching coach. In his 19 starts and one relief outing, he went 4-12 with a 4.36 ERA before being released and scooped up by the Giants for the last few weeks of the season. On June 20, 1965, Spahn squared off against 29-year-old Sandy Koufax. It was truly a masterpiece. Spahn threw a complete game, giving up four hits and two runs. However, Koufax was at the height of his superpowers, throwing a complete game two-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Spahn took the 2-1 loss in a historical matchup of Hall of Fame lefthanders.

During his Mets time, Yogi Berra briefly came out of retirement to catch 4 games, creating perhaps the oldest battery ever. Yogi famously said, "I don't know if we're the oldest battery, but we're certainly the ugliest!" Spahn started his career with the Boston Braves in 1942, managed by Casey Stengel. Twenty-three years later, he was reunited with Stengel on the Mets. Said Spahn, "I'm probably the only guy who played for Casey both before and after he was a genius!"

TEACHER SAYS B. He didn't have much left at 44, but a legend is a legend.

Other names in Mets-Braves trade lore: Ryan Church, Jeff Francoeur, Paul Byrd, Greg McMichael, Pete Smith, Doug Sisk, Terry Blocker, Tom Hausman, Joe Nolan, Leo Foster, Chris Cannizzaro, Jay Hook, Roy McMillan, and Johnny Antonelli.

I'd love to read about your Felix Millan memories. Please leave some in the comments ! And if you want to keep the conversation going join our Kiner’s Korner Facebook group. It’s the perfect place to share stories, photos, and of course, a little healthy Mets debate.