Fifty Years Ago Today: Tigers Made Their Greatest Trade Ever

Fifty years ago today, April 12, 1960, the Detroit Tigers made the greatest trade, I mean steal, in the history of the franchise when they dealt third baseman Steve Demeter to Cleveland for first baseman Norm Cash.

Steve who?

Norm Cash displays some fancy footwork at first base in June of 1961.

Well prior to the trade Steve Demeter’s major league career consisted of 18 at bats, two hits and a .111 average. For the rest of his, shall we say short career, he had five more at bats, and no hits. His lifetime batting average was .087.

As for Norm Cash?

He would win the American League batting title in 1961 with a .361 average, hold down first base in Detroit for 15 seasons, hit 373 home runs for the Tigers, second most in franchise history behind Al Kaline, and was one the premier fielding first baseman in the American League in the 1960’s.

If you ask any of the 1968 World Champion Tigers who their favorite teammate was, to a person they will say Norm Cash.

Cash later said of that ’61 season: “It was a freak. Even at the time, I realized that. Everything I hit seemed to drop in, even when I didn’t make good contact. I never thought I’d do it again.”

Mickey Lolich once asked Cash why he never hit for a high average after that season.

“He told me, `Jim Campbell pays me to hit home runs,'” said Lolich, referring to the team’s general manager in those years. “Norm then said, `I can get hits if I want to, just watch tomorrow.’ The next day he went 3-for-4.”

Although booed heavily at times by fans still expecting another `61 performance, Cash became one of the most popular Tigers ever. His four homers over Tiger Stadium’s right field roof were legendary, and fans were captivated by his penchant for catching long foul balls near the stands and digging errant throws out of the dirt.

And his sense of humor with fans, opponents, teammates and even umpires made him one of baseball’s all-time great entertainers.

His former teammates speak affectionately of Cash, the bigger-than-life Texan with the worn-out cowboy boots who sang country-and-western in the locker room.

“When you mention Norm Cash, I just smile,” said Kaline, who had a locker adjacent to Cash’s for years. “He was just a fun guy to be around and a great teammate. He always came ready to play. People don’t know this, but he often played injured, like the time he had a broken finger.

“Nineteen sixty-one was one of those magical years that some of us have. Later, I think Norm got a little carried away trying to hit homers, but overall he was a tremendous ballplayer and a great friend,” said Kaline.

Of all the players Jim Northrup played with or against, he thought Cash and Brooks Robinson enjoyed the game more than anybody.

“Norm lived to play baseball,” Northrup said. “I never saw him down; he was always upbeat with a smile on his face.”

Cash would try almost anything on the field, from the hidden ball trick to giving a dirty infield ball to the pitcher instead of the game ball so hitters could not see it as well.

One trick Cash frequently tried–but never got away with–occurred when play resumed after a rain delay, Northrup recalled.

“If Norman was on second before the rain delay, he would go to third,” Northrup said. “If he was on first, he would go to second.”

Laughing, Northrup said: “Norm had more fun than anyone.”

Gates Brown remembers Cash this way: “Every day was Christmas for Norm. He played hard on the field and off, and win, lose or draw, he was going to have fun after a game.

“At one time I was a party-goer myself. There were times on the road when that SOB put me to bed, and he would go back. But next day, there was Norm at the stadium saying, `Let’s go get `em, boys.’ He always kept everyone loose, and he wouldn’t let you get down.”

The Norm Cash stories–even just the ones that can be repeated–are endless. There was the time he was trapped between first and second base and he formed a “T’ with his hands to call time-out.

Or the time he missed a foul ball in the stands, turned a little boy’s cap around, stuck his hand into the young fan’s popcorn box and said, “Thanks, kid,” as the boy looked up in bewilderment.

The most famous Cash prank occurred July 15, 1973, when Nolan Ryan pitched a no-hitter for the California Angels at Tiger Stadium, striking out 17.

Northrup tells the story: “In his last at-bat, Norm walked up to the plate with a table leg from the locker room. The plate umpire, Ron Luciano, says, `You can’t use that up here.’ Cash says, `Why not, I won’t hit him anyway.’ He then gets a bat, strikes out on three pitches, and walking away he says to Luciano, `See, I told ya.'”

Sadly, Cash drowned at Beaver Island in 1986 after falling off of a dock at night.

Norm Cash was simply a treasure.

(A large portion of this entry comes from an article I wrote on Cash in 2001 that appeared in both the Detroit Free Press and Baseball Digest Magazine.)