Another one of my childhood favorites now eligible (my #1 is ready in '92), does anyone dislike Le Grande Orange? I don't remember any negative things said about him while he played, though my memories of him start with his first stint with the Metropolitans.

One of the principal contributors to the Mets' 1969 WS title, too, albeit indirectly.

On January 22, 1969, the Astros traded Staub to Montreal for Donn Clendenon and Jesus Alou. One week later, Clendenon announced that he was retiring to work as an executive with Scripto, Inc. Ordinarily, the trade would have been cancelled under those circumstances, but Bowie Kuhn intervened, invoking a clause that says a player could not be placed on the voluntarily retired list until 30 days into the season, and that therefore Clendenon had not *officially* retired and the trade stood. Houston eventually took the commissioner to court to void the deal. Clendenon then *unretired*, but when the Astros wouldn't take Clendenon's contract, Kuhn intervened to force a settlement in which the Astros accepted pitchers Skip Guinn and Jack Billingham and cash instead of Clendenon. This left the Expos free to trade Clendenon to the Mets in June for four players, of which Steve Renko was the only one to have a career.

-- MWE