Woody Held: Yankees traded future All Star in 1957 with Billy Martin and Ralph Terry.

Woodie Held

Positions: Shortstop, Outfielder and Second Baseman

Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right

5-10, 167lb (178cm, 75kg)

Born: March 25, 1932 in Sacramento, CA us

Died: June 11, 2009 (Aged 77-078d) in DuBois, WY

Before 1951 Season: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent.

June 15, 1957: Traded by the New York Yankees with Billy Martin, Bob Martyn and Ralph Terry to the Kansas City Athletics for Ryne Duren, Jim Pisoni and Harry Simpson.

June 15, 1958: Traded by the Kansas City Athletics with Vic Power to the Cleveland Indians for Roger Maris, Dick Tomanek and Preston Ward.

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There were more trades after those but they stand out.

Billy Martin had been the hero of the 1953 World Series in the Yankees win over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Ralph Terry was reacquired by the Yankees. Terry gave up the home run to Bill Mazeroski in bottom of the 9th in the 1960 WS game 7 loss but won 23 games in 1962 and won 1962 WS game 7 with a complete game 1-0 shutout.

The Kansas City Athletics got Roger Maris for Woody Held in the 1958 trade.

Held established himself as an All Star shortstop in his first full season with Cleveland.

https://stathead.com/tiny/pCOjU

For single seasons, up to 1959, Playing in the AL or NL, Played at SS, in the regular season, requiring Home Runs >= 25, sorted by descending Home Runs.

At least 60% of games at shortstop.

Rk	Player	HR	OPS+	WAR	Season	Age	Team	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	oWAR	dWAR	Pos
1	Ernie Banks	47	155	9.3	1958	27	CHC	NL	154	682	617	119	193	23	11	47	129	.313	.366	.614	.980	379	8.5	1.9	*6
2	Ernie Banks	45	156	10.2	1959	28	CHC	NL	155	671	589	97	179	25	6	45	143	.304	.374	.596	.970	351	7.8	3.5	*6/H
3	Ernie Banks	44	144	8.1	1955	24	CHC	NL	154	646	596	98	176	29	9	44	117	.295	.345	.596	.941	355	7.0	2.2	*6
4	Ernie Banks	43	149	6.7	1957	26	CHC	NL	156	674	594	113	169	34	6	43	102	.285	.360	.579	.939	344	7.7	-0.2	65
5	Vern Stephens	39	137	6.9	1949	28	BOS	AL	155	712	610	113	177	31	2	39	159	.290	.391	.539	.930	329	5.9	2.0	*6
6	Vern Stephens	30	113	3.7	1950	29	BOS	AL	149	693	628	125	185	34	6	30	144	.295	.361	.511	.872	321	3.6	1.0	*6/H
7	Woodie Held	29	114	3.5	1959	27	CLE	AL	143	577	525	82	132	19	3	29	71	.251	.313	.465	.778	244	3.2	1.1	*65/84H
8	Vern Stephens	29	113	4.6	1948	27	BOS	AL	155	716	635	114	171	25	8	29	137	.269	.350	.471	.821	299	3.7	1.9	*6
9	Ernie Banks	28	136	5.3	1956	25	CHC	NL	139	593	538	82	160	25	8	28	85	.297	.358	.530	.887	285	5.5	0.9	*6

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 1/11/2025.

Through 1959 Woody Held had hit the 7th most home runs by a shortstop in a season.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1959-batting-leaders.shtml

Home Runs

1.	Colavito • CLE	42
	Killebrew • WSH	42
3.	Lemon • WSH	33
4.	Maxwell • DET	31
	Mantle • NYY	31
6.	Allison • WSH	30
7.	Held • CLE	29
8.	Jensen • BOS	28
9.	Kaline • DET	27
10.	Triandos • BAL	25

In 1959 Woody Held was two home runs behind Mickey Mantle. Mantle led the American League in WAR for the 5th consecutive year but with a modest 6.6.

As an All Star shortstop 1959-1962, Held had Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 3.5, 3.9, 3.9, 3.7. Held's dWAR was positive all four years.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Woodie-Held/

In 1955 he returned to the minor leagues with the Denver Bears of the American Association. Held hit 18 home runs that season, and smacked 35 more, with 125 RBIs for the Bears in 1956. He was moved to third base, as Tony Kubek was being groomed as the heir apparent Yankee shortstop.

New York manager Casey Stengel thought highly of Held. “He is a very good player and I like his attitude,” said Stengel after he sent Held back to Denver in 1957. “The ball sings when it goes off his bat. I told him before the year is up, he’ll either be back with me, or with some other big league club. I seldom tell that to anybody who leaves here. Held was a little outfielder that I told to play shortstop when I thought we needed one. But now I wish he wouldn’t play shortstop because he can hit hard at third base and he is even a pretty good centerfielder because he has that long arm. He throws as good or better than any outfielder I got.”

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Tony Kubek was a better fielding shortstop than Held and Kubek, like Held, could also play center field and filled in for Mantle in the 1957 World Series. Kubek hit 14 home runs in 1960, the only year he was in double figures.

The Yankees still had Gil McDougald. He made All Star teams at third, second and short. He replaced Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto in 1956 and 1957.

The Yankees also had Bobby Richardson and Clete Boyer, who became starters at second and third on those Yankee teams that won five consecutive pennants 1960-1964. The light hitting Richardson was second to Mantle for MVP in 1962 and set hitting records in the 1960 (RBI) and 1964 (Hits) World Series.