The Trade That Changed Baseball: Eckersley to Oakland, April 3, 1987
On April 3, 1987, the Chicago Cubs did what teams do with aging, struggling pitchers — they cut their losses. They packaged up 32-year-old Dennis Eckersley, fresh off a dismal 6-11 season with a 4.57 ERA and some very public off-field demons, and shipped him to the Oakland Athletics for three minor leaguers whose names…