This series resumes after taking a couple of days off for the Cubs’ big news of signing Craig Counsell to manage.
I’ll be giving this series breaks from time to time (during the holidays, during the Winter Meetings) so it fills as much of the offseason as possible.
John Holland had been named Cubs general manager in 1956, replacing Wid Matthews. He made some very good deals (particularly the one acquiring Fergie Jenkins) but some truly awful ones as well. The Brock-for-Broglio swap was his, and will always be part of his legacy.
The game had passed Holland by at this point; he turned 65 in 1975 and, as was the case for many of that age in that time, he retired after the 1975 season.