John Odom is traded for 10 baseball bats.

[w8ng4msrgt]

Minor leaguer traded for 10 baseball bats in Texas

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 23, 2008
(05-23) 20:31 PDT McAllen, Texas (AP) --

During three years in the low minors, John Odom never really made a name for himself until he got traded for a bunch of bats.

"I don't really care," he said Friday. "It'll make a better story if I make it to the big leagues."

For now, Odom is headed to the Laredo Broncos of the United League. They got him Tuesday from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League for a most unlikely price: 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black, 34-inch, C243 style.

"They just wanted some bats, good bats — maple bats," Broncos general manager Jose Melendez said.

According to the Prairie Sticks Web site, their maple bats retail for $69 each, discounted to $65.50 for purchases of six to 11 bats.

The Canadian team signed Odom about a month ago, but couldn't get the 26-year-old righty into the country. It seems Odom had a "minor" but unspecified criminal record that wasn't revealed to immigration officials before they scanned his passport, Vipers president Peter Young said.

Odom said the charge stemmed from a fight when he was 17. Although he thought it had been expunged from his record, it popped up during immigration.

Originally from Atlanta, Odom was drafted late by the San Francisco Giants in 2003. He pitched 38 games in Class A from 2004-06 and was released by the organization this spring.

The bat trade wasn't the first time Calgary came up with some creative dealmaking. The Vipers once tried to acquire a pitcher for 1,500 blue seats when they were renovating their stadium, Young said.

Link

[Unamused Cat]

Time will tell if they got their money's worth.

[Unamused Cat]

John Odom

He was the minor league player traded for 10 maple bats.

It became a big joke last May, when word of the unusual swap jumped off the sports pages, and Odom went from pitcher to punch line.

He seemed to handle it well, too. A former prospect in the San Francisco Giants' chain — future Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum bunked on his couch in Class A ball — Odom gladly agreed to interviews. He kidded about the kooky deal that made him famous, saying it would make a better story if he reached the majors someday.

"People are like, 'I'd kill myself' and stuff," Odom said at the time, dismissing any such notion.

Three weeks after the trade, he abruptly left the team.

Six months after the trade, he was dead.

The medical examiner said Odom's death in Georgia on Nov. 5 at age 26 was an accidental overdose from heroin, methamphetamine, the stimulant benzylpiperazine and alcohol.

Odom's death had drawn little notice by the start of spring training this year. Now, former teammates, managers and club officials keep asking a question for which there is no satisfying answer.

"I guarantee this trade thing really bothered him. That really worried me," said Dan Shwam, who managed Odom last year on the Laredo Broncos of the United League. "I really believe, knowing his background, that this drove him back to the bottle, that it put him on the road to drugs again."

Shwam added: "There were some demons chasing him, they'd been after him for a long time. But there's no way to really know whether the trade did it, is there?"

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9...PHCP&GT1=39002

[Nell]

Damn!!!!

That sucks. I wasn't expecting the update to be he died.

[jo_momma_82]

Damn!!!!

That sucks. I wasn't expecting the update to be he died.

Ditto... as I was reading the first post I was cracking up and I called my husband in the room to read along with me and about the same time we both abruptly stopped laughing and you could practically hear the crickets chirping... I feel really bad for the guy now. It was only funny originally b/c I got the impression that he took it in a light-hearted manner then, WHAM, you find out that is sooooo not the case.

[MichaelJCheaney]

"I guarantee this trade thing really bothered him. That really worried me," said Dan Shwam, who managed Odom last year on the Laredo Broncos of the United League. "I really believe, knowing his background, that this drove him back to the bottle, that it put him on the road to drugs again."

What an absolutely brilliant thing to say Mr. Shwam......

The guy was traded for BASEBALL BATS! If I was me I'd start question my worth as a human being too.....