A visual of Whitey Herzog's World Series Championship roster

There used to be a lot more trades prior to the era of free agency. A whole lot more. Before teams could head out each winter and acquire players on the open market, they had to spend a lot more time negotiating with each other to try and improve their franchises. When I performed this exercise for the current roster and the 2011 World Series champions, it was a relatively easy exercise. I thought doing the same thing for the 1982 might be a bit more fun. A bit more challenging, sure, but getting all the trades in would be an interesting task.

I gave up. Multiple times I gave up. I gave up when I saw that there were more than 80 names, including one name twice (Ken Reitz). I gave up when I realized I had Juaquin Andujar in the free agent section instead of in the trade section where he belonged. I pushed through, though, and created something of an incoherent monster. Whitey Herzog did not take over the team until 1980, but many moves that lead to the 1982 World Series team had already been completed. Whitey then took things to another level. Ben Godar wrote about Whitey's moves earlier in the offseason. Here is a list of the trades Whitey made.

Dec. 8, 1980

Traded Terry Kennedy, John Littlefield, Al Olmsted, Mike Phillips, Kim Seaman, Steve Swisher and John Urrea to the San Diego Padres for Rollie Fingers, Bob Shirley, Gene Tenace and Bob Geren.

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Dec. 9, 1980

Traded Leon Durham, Ken Reitz and Ty Waller to the Cubs for Bruce Sutter

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Dec. 12, 1980

Traded Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich to the Milwaukee Brewers for David Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano and Lary Sorensen.

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June 7, 1981

Traded Tony Scott to the Houston Astros for Joaquin Andujar

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Oct. 21, 1981

Traded Bob Sykes to New York Yankees for Willie McGee

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Nov. 20, 1981

Traded Silvio Martinez and Lary Sorensen; received Lonnie Smith in a 3-team deal

***

December 10, 1981

Traded Garry Templeton and Sixto Lezcano to the San Diego Padres for Steve Mura and Ozzie Smith.

Visually, it is a bit of a mess.

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Link to bigger version.

The years do not line up perfectly, but I got them as close as I could. Twenty-two players appeared in the World Series that year. Those names are in red. Amateur free agents were more common at the time, and those players are included in the same area on the left. The dollar sign is where the Cardinals purchased a player from another team, and no other player was involved in the exchange. Of note, the Curt Flood trade is included, although he does not appear above as he refused to be a part of the trade to the Phillies, instead making himself a part of history.

Here is part of the trade section up a little closer.

Enjoy!