Six Degrees of Separation

I used to play that game all the time when I was a kid. 

Baseball affords a different way to play, instead of appearing with, you can play six degrees by who was traded for whom. It's kinda neat to see the way in which past Dodgers have turned into current Dodgers.

For example, did you know that there is a direct link between Mike Piazza and Andre Ethier? Well, neither did I.

So Mike Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers in 1988, as legend has it, a favor to Tommy Lasorda. As the story goes, he became all sorts of awesome, winning Rookie of the Year in 1992, Silver Slugger awards, All Star Game appearances. As a kid growing up in the 90s, he was my favorite Dodger. 

Then after six seasons, he's traded to the Marlins with Todd Zeile for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, Manuel Barrios and Jim Eisenreich. Of course this broke my little twelve year old heart, but hey Gary Sheffield. He's an All-Star! He can hit! He can publicly lobby for a trade? 

Well in 2002 he got his wish, going to the Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez, and Andrew Brown. Current A's relief pitcher Andrew Brown was but a minor leaguer then, and two years later he became the Player to be Named Later in a trade for Milton Bradley. As acquiring Milton Bradley always proves to be a mistake no mater what team makes it, eventually he had to go.

That trade came in 2005, as he went to the A's with Antonio Perez for A's minor league prospect...Andre Ethier!

How about that, a direct link between my favorite player as a kid and my favorite player as a young adult.