Vintage Fridays: Russ Snyder, 1967 Topps #405

Baseball Reference has given me another new toy! Now anyone can search for historical transactions by date. That's how I learned that on January 24, 1961, the Orioles completed a five-for-two deal with the Kansas City Athletics. The O's shipped out Bob Boyd, Al Pilarcik, Wayne Causey, Clint Courtney, and Jim Archer in order to obtain Whitey Herzog and Russ Snyder. Baltimore got seven solid years out of Snyder, including a career-best 126 OPS+ (.306 AVG, .368 OBP) in their World Series-winning 1966 season. The A's even sent "Scrap Iron" Courtney back to the Birds after a single game; he would play the final 22 games of his 11-season career in Charm City before the club released him in July. So anyway, there's your reminder than once upon a time, the Orioles actually acquired players during the offseason.