12/31/2025
Baltimore is familiar with regrettable trades
MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Since the turn of the 20th century, there have been at least 12 iconic Hall of Fame, MVP, face of the franchise, seemingly untouchable professional athletes who started out or made their hay in Baltimore, with five of them having walked away from their careers untouched – Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer and Aberdeen’s Cal Ripken Jr. of the Orioles, Wes Unseld, who played and coached his entire career with the NBA Bullets, even after they left Baltimore in 1973, and middle linebacker Ray Lewis of the Ravens.
Unseld, just one of two men in NBA history, with Wilt Chamberlain having been the first, to be named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same season, continued to live in and contribute to Baltimore even after the Bullets had moved to Landover and then Washington.
Some other seemingly untouchable Baltimore alumni have been Baltimore’s Babe Ruth and Lonacoing’s Lefty Grove, who played for the International League Orioles in the early 20th century, John Unitas of the Baltimore Colts, the quarterback who made the NFL the NFL, Frank Robinson of the Orioles, Earl Monroe of the Bullets, Eddie Murray of the Orioles and Ed Reed of the Ravens.
All of them entered their respective sport’s Hall of Fame in their first years of eligibility, as did offensive linemen Jim Parker of the Colts and Jonathan Odgen of the Ravens, both of whom played their entire careers in Baltimore.
Ruth and Grove, arguably the greatest player and greatest pitcher in baseball history, were sold by Jack Dunn’s minor-league Orioles, Ruth to the Boston Red Sox and Grove to the Philadelphia Athletics, because selling their best players was pretty much how non-affiliated minor-league teams made most of their money in the early 20th century.
Unitas, clearly at the end of his career, was traded to the San Diego Chargers out of spite in 1973 by the impudent Robert Irsay Colts. Frank Robinson, after leading the Orioles to four World Series in six years, was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1971, Monroe to the New York Knicks in 1971 after a bitter contract dispute with owner Abe Pollin, and Murray to the Dodgers in 1988 after Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams foolishly questioned Murray’s work ethic.
Reed, after 11 years in Baltimore, finished his career in 2013 playing for Houston and the New York Jets.
With Ruth and Grove being the exceptions, because that’s just how the minor league did business then, the common denominators in the departures were the returns to Baltimore falling short in value (though the Bullets did pretty well in the Monroe trade), and no Baltimore fans wanting to see any of those players go; and, all of these years later, remaining sorry to have seen them go.
Despite the current grumpy rhetoric, which is usually the starting point of potential trades, the feeling is present-day Baltimore fans will feel the same way about two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson if the Ravens decide to trade him this offseason.
Amidst Jackson’s most injury-filled season, the Trade Lamar chatter began on December 23 when Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Preston wrote that the Ravens and Jackson have arrived at their crossroads and that anything could be in play, including a trade to the Miami Dolphins. Jackson carries salary cap hits of $74.5 million in 2026 and 2027 after signing a five-year, $260 million contract extension in 2023, making a restructured deal or new extension likely.
Preston, long a respected Baltimore football insider, also questioned the relationship between Jackson, coach John Harbaugh and the team.
“Once the Ravens become critical of Jackson, he becomes more withdrawn,” Preston wrote. “It’s a shame because Jackson isn’t a mean-spirited person, just an overgrown kid in an adult’s body.”
On Tuesday, The Athletic posted a story by Mike Sando in which a prominent NFL agent suggested Lamar’s serving as his own agent makes his relationship with the Ravens more difficult and even proposed the Ravens trade him to Minnesota for three No. 1 draft picks and then sign free agent quarterback Malik Willis.
“Get Malik for $15 million a year, trade Lamar, get your three 1s and a player, and now you can justify it,” the agent said, “thinking we have a similar style quarterback who is not as good but is younger with way fewer miles.”
Oh, yeah … not as good. Let’s not overlook the obvious.
For Harbaugh’s part, he said last week he has a good relationship with Jackson and, despite the fine performance by backup Tyler Huntley in the Ravens’ big win in Green Bay, “if Lamar can play he will be the quarterback” when the Ravens play the Steelers Sunday night in Pittsburgh for the AFC North Division title, a title Baltimore has won the past two seasons with Lamar Jackson at quarterback.
Barring a win in Pittsburgh, though, and a miracle run through the playoffs, the Ravens have many things that will need to be fixed, made younger and less expensive over the offseason.
However that involves Lamar Jackson remains to be seen, but the aesthetics alone of trading him at this point of his career seem destined to be unpleasant for the Ravens in the not so distant future and, once again, for the Baltimore sports fan for a long time to come.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X
