Not only did Templeton fade as a Padre (he never hit over .300 again after the trade), but Smith’s batting improved substantially after the trade (he went from a .231 hitter as a Padre, to hitting .272 as a Cardinal).
Bruce Harper, NY Jet, 1977 - 1984
I loved the Smidget!
Sadly, “Smidget” isn’t doing very well.
I know Bruce Harper. I love Bruce Harper. I am so very sad about this.
Yeah, after I’d posted that, I saw your link in the other thread. Very sad, and way too common among former players.
I grew up in Green Bay; my father owned a hardware store, and we had a number of current and former Packers who came into the store. I vividly remember an offensive lineman named Derrel Gofourth, who loved hunting. He already had bad arthritis in his elbows from the pounding he’d taken (and, at that point, he was only about 28 years old)…he told me that, when the doctor told him he’d have to decide what angle he’d like his elbows to wind up in (since he was quickly losing mobility in them), he asked the doctor to put them in a sort of bent position, so that he could still shoot a deer rifle. I wonder what shape he’s in, now, 30 years later. 
In fairness there’s just no way you could have anticipated that. St. Louis traded Templeton because of a perceived attitude problem, for which there is some objective evidence. Nobody at the time anticipated that Templeton had seen his best days at age 25, nor did anyone think a hitter as bad as Ozzie Smith (though he was rightly regarded as a defensive genius) would become one of the best players in the league.
Exactly so, and that’s the point I was trying to make. At the time, it didn’t seem like a bad trade for either team. With the benefit of hindsight, of course, we now can say, “What were the Padres thinking?”, as TheBoltEater did. 
Yes, but without the benefit of hindsight, I stand by my earlier answer – the Padres were thinking they were trading the best shortstop glove for the best shortstop bat at the time. 