Today in sports history

Thirty years ago today, the Rangers traded former Indian and admitted spitballer Gaylord Perry to the Padres for Dave Tomlin and $125,000. It's hard to evaluate, from this vantage point, what an eighth of a million dollars was worth in baseball terms in 1978, but from a player-for-player standpoint, the Padres absolutely messed with Texas. At age 39, Gaylord won the NL Cy Young in '78, going 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA in 260 1/3 innings.

The Rangers, who were apparently strapped for cash, sold Tomlin to Cincinnati, where he somehow went 9-1 out of the bullpen despite a hideous 5.78 ERA. I'm guessing he gave up a few leads, and the Reds' offense, while no longer the Big Red Machine of the mid-'70s, was still strong enough to get them back. In any case, he gave the 62 1/3 innings that year. He hung around until 1986, bouncing around to Montreal, then Pittsburgh, then back to Montreal, but was on the mound just 101 2/3 innings the rest of his career after '78.

Speaking of men named Perry in 1978, that was the year Journey released its first album with Steve Perry on vocals. And the wheel in the sky kept on turning.

And speaking of trades, here's an in-depth analysis of the series of events that led to the Indians getting Andy Marte. At the time, all the analysts thought the Braves got fleeced. Now? Looks like the Tribe got the short end. There's still time for Marte to prove himself, but it's looking less and less likely that he will. Mark Shapiro has done a fantastic job, but this one looks like a mistake.