CALLS 1,000-TO-1 SHOT
"The transfer of pitcher Bob Porterfield from the Cubs back to the Pirates recalls the comment made recently by Don Gutteridge, the White Sox coach.
Don pointed out that after the 1955 season, Washington peddled two of its star pitchers- Porterfield to the Red Sox and Mickey McDermott to the Yankees. He added:
'Everyone said that they'd be terrific winners with the good clubs that they'd been sent to. Everyone, that is, except Charlie Dressen, who was managing Washington. He shrugged off the deals by saying that he'd kept one pitcher, Pedro Ramos, who'd win more than the two combined.
'He could have had 1,000-to-1 odds against it- but it turned out that he was right. Porterfield won three and McDermott won two the next season, while Ramos got 12 wins- six of them against Boston.' "
-Leo Fischer, Chicago American (Baseball Digest, August 1959)