This was a throwback day for the Yankees, who reached into the National League to pick up a once-prime time player in a late season, post-waivers trade for the pennant push the way they once did routinely through the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s.
George Weiss was the general manager when the Yankees picked up slugging first-baseman Johnny Mize from the Giants in late ’49, Johnny Sain from the Braves (for a young Lew Burdette) in late ’51, Sal Maglie from the Giants in late ’57, Luis Arroyo from the Reds in late ’60 and Pedro Ramos from the AL Indians in ’64.