by Mark Langill
Dave Roberts tends to be a central figure whenever the trade deadline rolls around. Typically it’s him answering questions from the media about what the Dodgers need or he’s the first guy asked for a reactionary quote to a new transaction.
Roberts sounded like a future manager 21 years ago when the Dodgers pulled off a flurry of deals at the trading deadline, including the acquisition of veteran outfielder Steve Finley from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
On the previous day, July 30, 2004, the Dodgers and Florida Marlins completed a six-player trade that send catcher Paul Lo Duca, outfielder Juan Encarnacion and pitcher Guillermo Mota to the Marlins for pitcher Brad Penny, first baseman Hee-Seop Choi and minor league pitcher Bill Murphy.
Dodger general manager Paul DePodesta then flipped Murphy to Arizona in the Finley deal in which the Dodgers also traded catcher Koyie Hill and outfielder Reggie Abercrombie.
After the first transaction, the Dodgers were 3 ½ games ahead of the San Diego Padres in the National League West.
Following the Finley trade, Roberts surveyed the landscape. The Associated Press story that day acknowledged that Roberts was disappointed to have been dealt, but the outfielder said that the Dodgers were headed in the right direction.
Roberts, though, was heading in a different direction. His Dodger playing career, in which the outfielder had stolen 118 bases in 302 games since 2002, was suddenly over.
To make room for Finley, a Gold Glove center fielder, the Dodgers sent Roberts to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for minor league outfielder Henri Stanley.
The Dodgers were exchanging Roberts’ speed for Finley’s power.
At age 32, Roberts slashed .253/.340/.356/.696 in 68 games with the 2004 Dodgers with two home runs, 21 RBI and 33 stolen bases in 34 attempts.
In 104 games with Arizona, the 39-year-old Finley slashed .275/338/.490/.828 with 23 home runs and 48 RBI.
Although the Roberts transaction wasn’t of the “blockbuster deal” category, it led to one of the most famous storylines in Major League history.
After batting .256 in 45 regular-season games with the 2004 Red Sox, Roberts became a legend in Boston during the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.
The Red Sox hadn’t won a World Series since 1918, and things looked bleak when Boston lost the first three games of the set, including a 19–8 blowout in Game 3.
In Game 4, the Red Sox were three outs away from elimination at home in a gloomy Fenway Park, trailing 4–3 in the ninth inning. After Kevin Millar drew a leadoff walk from closer Mariano Rivera, manager Terry Francona inserted Roberts as a pinch runner.
With Bill Mueller at the plate, Rivera threw three consecutive times to first base, Roberts each time safely diving back to the base. On his first pitch to Mueller, Roberts dashed to second base. Mueller took a high pitch, and catcher Jorge Posada uncorked a strong throw to shortstop Derek Jeter. With a head-first slide, Roberts barely touched the base before Jeter’s tag.
Mueller singled to center on a 1–1 count and Roberts easily scored, giving the Red Sox new life. Boston eventually walked off a 6–4 victory in 12 innings on Davis Ortiz’s two-run homer off reliever Paul Quantrill.
Roberts’ stolen base grew in stature when the Red Sox became the first team to overcome a 3–0 deficit in the postseason, defeating the Yankees in the next three games by scores of 5–4, 4–2 and 10–3.
Even though he didn’t play in the World Series, Roberts became one of the symbols of the Red Sox’s first championship in 86 years.
The other trade worked out for the Dodgers as Finley slashed .263/.324/.491/.815 in 58 games with 13 home runs and 46 RBI. His walk-off grand slam on the second-to-last day of the regular season in a 7–3 victory over San Francisco at Dodger Stadium gave the Dodgers their first division title since 1995.
With another trading deadline looming in 2025, Roberts knows it will take time to analyze any roster shuffle. Even the under-the-radar deal might forever be remembered as a steal.
Roberts rode the historic trade winds of 2004 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.