Find any list of the worst trades in baseball history and the December 15th, 1900 trade of Amos Rusie from the New York Giants to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Christy Mathewson will be on it.
Here’s an example, and another, and another, and another. You get the idea.
The story in these lists are all essentially the same: The Reds traded a young Christy Mathewson to the New York Giants for a washed-up Amos Rusie. Christy Mathewson went on to become a Hall of Fame pitcher that won 373 games, and Rusie only pitched in three miserable games for the Reds.