Never trade a somebody for a bunch of nobodies.

I learned that from:

Rickey Henderson
Born: December 25, 1958 in Chicago, IL
Inducted into the Hall of Fame by BBWAA as Player in 2009 (511/539 ballots). 

• June 21, 1989: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Greg Cadaret, Eric Plunk and Luis Polonia.

The very next season Henderson was voted American League (AL) MVP.

True blockbuster trades seldom occur.  One definition would be a somebody for a somebody; another definition is many players.  Examples are mostly, maybe exclusively, before modern free agency started around 1976.

Rocky Colavito traded two days before opening day:

• April 17, 1960: Traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn.

The previous season Colavito had led the AL in homers, Kuenn in batting average (BA).
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Orlando Cepeda
Inducted into the Hall of Fame by Veteran's Committee as Player in 1999.
National League (NL) MVP 1967 for the Cardinals.

• March 17, 1969: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves for Joe Torre.

Joe Torre
NL MVP 1971 for the Cardinals.
Inducted into the Hall of Fame by Veteran's Committee as Manager in 2014.
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Steve Carlton
Inducted into the Hall of Fame by BBWAA as Player in 1994 (436/456 ballots).

• February 25, 1972: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rick Wise.

That may not look so good now but in 1971 Rick Wise was 25 years old: 17-14, 272 innings, 2.88 ERA, 123 ERA+, which hadn't been invented yet.

Carlton in 1971 was 26: 20-9, 272 innings, 3.56 ERA, 102 ERA+.
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Bobby Murcer

• October 22, 1974: Traded by the New York Yankees to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds.

Their teams thought that Murcer was the next Mickey Mantle and Bonds was the next Willie Mays.  Disappointed, the next Mickey was swapped for the next Willie.  Both were pretty good.

Murcer: All Star (AS) 1971-1975 (first year with Giants), in 1971 led AL in OPS+, which hadn't been invented yet, MVP finishes: 7,5,9,21.

Bonds: AS 1971, 1973, 1975 (only year with Yankees), in 1973 led NL in Total Bases, MVP finishes: 30,4,3,30,16.
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And for sheer volume, how about 17 players between two teams?

Gene Woodling

• November 17, 1954: Traded by the New York Yankees with players to be named later, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Willy Miranda, Hal Smith and Gus Triandos to the Baltimore Orioles for players to be named later, Billy Hunter, Don Larsen and Bob Turley. The New York Yankees sent Bill Miller (December 1, 1954), Kal Segrist (December 1, 1954), Don Leppert (December 1, 1954) and Theodore Del Guercio (minors) (December 1, 1954) to the Baltimore Orioles to complete the trade. The Baltimore Orioles sent Mike Blyzka (December 1, 1954), Darrell Johnson (December 1, 1954), Jim Fridley (December 1, 1954) and Dick Kryhoski(December 1, 1954) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.

Triandos with Baltimore in 1958 tied the AL record for homers by an AL catcher; originally set by Yogi Berra in 1952 and 1956.

Larsen for the Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

Turley for the Yankees (21-7) won the 1958 Cy Young award.

Traded for nobodies by teams that quit: Price, Cespedes, Cueto, Hamels, Kazmir. Saturday, August 1, 2015 3:37 PM