Frank Duffy

Who is Frank Duffy?

Frank Thomas Duffy is a former professional baseball shortstop. He played all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball, from 1970 to 1979, for the Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox.

Duffy is probably most remembered for being a part of what is considered a lopsided trade between the Reds and Giants. On May 29, 1971, Duffy was traded along with pitcher Vern Geishert for young outfielder George Foster. Geishert, who had played briefly in the majors in 1969, never played in the majors again, while Foster developed into a feared slugger and an important cog in "The Big Red Machine", the Reds' dynastic team of the first half of the 1970s.

Later that same year, Duffy was part of a second trade that is almost as infamous. On November 29, exactly seven months after the previous trade, Duffy was traded with pitcher Gaylord Perry to the Indians, with the Giants receiving pitcher Sam McDowell. In this case, Duffy was on the other side of the lopsided deal, as he went on to be the Indians' starting shortstop for several years, and Perry went on to win 20 games three times, receive two Cy Young Awards and eventually earn a place in the Hall of Fame, while McDowell pitched for four seasons, winning 10 games in 1972 but only 9 in the next three seasons combined.