A true story that occurred in the minors of major league baseball when one team traded 10 maple bats for a minor league player. That player was John C. Odom and he seem to take it in stride and would often joke about how this will be a big story when he makes it to the big leagues. The trip to the big leagues will never happen because Mr. Odom was found dead back in November of a drug overdose. Some teammates said he didn’t smile as much as he once did and perhaps being traded for bats did get to him more than it appeared to.
Once a budding star under the San Francisco Giants organization and even let future Cy Young winner Tim Linecum bunk on his couch was a small piece of the fame John Odom gained from baseball. No player should have to deal with the burden of being traded for bats and it wasn’t a good move on the team’s part. Players get traded for a variety of things these days and it’s common to hear about cash or draft picks involved in any professional sports trade. I don’t think there has ever been a case in recent times where a professional athlete was traded for sporting equipment. A major league bat made of maple isn’t necessarily a cheap item, but even with a value of 300 to 500 dollars is a sign of disrespect in terms of trade value. The sudden death of John Odom will certainly out weigh the costs the team would have given up if they would have just released the minor league baseball player. There will be a lot of mending that needs to come from this and even Major League Baseball needs to step up and take action and see that another player isn’t ever traded for a bat, balls, gloves, or any other type of sporting equipment items.
