The Chicago Cubs should look back on Jan. 27, 1982 with a sense of pride. They fleeced the Philadelphia Phillies in one of the largest hoodwinks in baseball history.
The Cubs sent over Ivan DeJesus to the Phillies in exchange for Larry Bowa and future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg.
The rest is history.
While DeJesus was a productive player, he was never going to be a Hall of Fame-type player or reach the heights of stardom.
On the other hand, the Cubs acquired a young Sandberg who went on to play the next 15 seasons in Chicago, the rest of his professional playing career.
During that time, Sandberg accumulated Hall of Fame numbers while also becoming the face of one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. His .285/.344/.452 slashline coupled with his elite skills manning second base helped him get inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the class of 2005 with 76.2% of the vote.
It is one of the best trades the Cubs have ever made in the history of their franchise.
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