Blue Jays: Top 10 Playoff Push Trades

TORONTO, CANADA - OCTOBER 8: A new banner is unveiled above the jumbotron marking the Toronto Blue Jays division championship after winning the American League East title before the start of action against the Texas Rangers in Game One of the American League Division Series during the 2015 MLB Playoffs at Rogers Centre on October 8, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - OCTOBER 8: A new banner is unveiled above the jumbotron marking the Toronto Blue Jays division championship after winning the American League East title before the start of action against the Texas Rangers in Game One of the American League Division Series during the 2015 MLB Playoffs at Rogers Centre on October 8, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
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Moooooookie!

7. Mookie Wilson for Jeff Musselman and Mike Brady

During the 1989 season, the Blue Jays were running an outfield of George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, and Junior Felix after trading Jesse Barfield in April for starting pitcher Al Leiter.  While the outfield was sufficient enough, the problem was rookie manager Cito Gaston could not find a fourth outfielder that he felt comfortable with.

On July 31, general manager Pat Gillick traded Jeff Musselman who was a solid pitcher but fighting off injuries along with prospect Mike Brady for speedster Mookie Wilson.  Wilson immediately became a fan favorite with encouragements from the crowd yelling “Moooooooooookie”.

What Wilson allowed Gaston to do was go with a four-man outfield.  Wilson would play evenly through all three outfield positions down the stretch as he started 21 games in center, 16 games in right and 12 games in left.  Wilson showed his versatility in the field as he could play all three positions and made just one error.

At the plate, Wilson would never be mistaken for a power hitter but was still able to hit 12 extra-base hits over 54 games where he batted .298 and went 12 for 13 stealing bases.  In the ALCS against the Oakland Athletics, Wilson started the first two games in right field moving Felix to the bench. However, after DH Lee Mazzilli went 0 for 7 in the first two games, Gaston elected to move Wilson to left field and Bell to DH for the remainder of the series.

Toronto lost the series in five games but Wilson went 5 for 19 (.263) with two RBI and a stolen base.  Wilson would play two more years, including one more playoff season in Toronto before retiring.