Saturday Night Five: Hard to Say Goodbye

[sanjosefuji]

Getting kicked in the family jewels. Getting dumped by the love of your life. Getting informed your favorite player has been traded. There's one word that sums up these three events for me: PAINFUL.

2010 Topps Chrome #191

And last night... right before I hit the sack... I discovered that Josh Donaldson had been shipped off to Toronto. as part of the Oakland Athletics rebuilding plan.

Thankfully... Mr. Donaldson isn't my favorite player. Actually... I'm not even sure I have a favoriteAthletic at the moment. But the news definitely made me think about heart wrenching trades that actually impacted me on a personal level.

After rereading that last sentence, I realize how weird that sounds.

Be that as it may... it's sad but true. Each of the following trades I'm about to list actually generated an emotional response... some stronger than others.

Honorable Mention #1: Eddie Jonestraded to theCharlotte Hornets

1998-99 Topps Autographs #AG6

Once upon a time... I loved basketball. And in between Byron and Kobe... there was Eddie.


Honorable Mention #2: Brett Favre traded to theNew York Jets

The only reason this one isn't ranked higher on the list is because I had mixed emotions about this trade. Half of me was frustrated with the trade... while the other half was frustrated with Favre'swishy-washiness.


#5: Ichiro Suzukitraded to the New York Yankees

2012 Archives Relics #I

Anytime my favoritenon-Athletic/non-Padre gets traded to the New York Yankees... there's going to be an emotional response.


#4: Eric Dickersontraded to the Indianapolis Colts

2013 Five Star Signatures #FSSED

Believe it or not, I actually liked the Los Angeles Rams for a few years. My cousin Keith was a huge Rams and Seahawksfan and I looked up to him, so it seemed like a logical choice. However when they traded away Dickerson, I was devastated and never looked back.


#3: Kurt Suzukitraded to theWashington Nationals

2007 SP Authentic #125

Okay... here's where the real pain begins to set in. Up until Kurt... all of my favorite baseball players were HOFbound. But I liked him because he was from Hawaii, is Japanese American, and because he played for my favorite team.

Why isn't he higher on the list? Well... it's pretty simple. He played for the A's... and they aren't known for holding onto their players for too long. At the time of the trade Kurt had already been there for five and a half seasons, so it wasn't too surprising.


#2: Devin Setoguchitraded to theMinnesota Wild

2007-08 The Cup #138

There aren't a lot of JapaneseNHLplayers... so you can imagine how excited I was to hear the SharksdraftedSeto back in 2005. And when he finally made it to the NHL, he scored two goals in his first regular season game. It didn't take long for him to become my favoriteShark. He had four solid seasons in San Jose, but his numbers have slowly dropped off since he was traded. I still cheer for him whenever he's not facing off against his former teammates.


#1: Rickey Hendersontraded to the New York Yankees

1980 Topps #482

This trade is far and away the most painful. At the time of the trade, Rickey was my clear cut favorite player. I'm pretty sure that part of my dislike for the New York Yankees stems from this trade. Anyways... the good news is I quickly found a new favorite player: Tony Gwynn. And since then he's never left the #1 spot.

Thankfully, Rickey made his way back to Oaklandthree more times and when he was inducted into Cooperstown, he chose to wear an A'shat on his plaque.

Well there's my Top 5 Most Painful Trades. What about you?

Have you ever been devastated by the news of a trade? If so, which one?

I look forward to reading your responses. Happy Saturday and sayonara!

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