In 1959, the Cubs had contended briefly, and finished with 74 wins, their most since 1952 and second-most since 1946. They had the two-time MVP Ernie Banks anchoring a pretty good offense.

The first thing the Cubs did in the offseason was fire manager Bob Scheffing. The edict apparently came from owner P.K. Wrigley; Scheffing and general manager John Holland came to the Cubs together from the Pacific Coast league in 1956. A Tribune article from the time suggests Wrigley didn’t want a “strong man” as manager. Instead, 61-year-old Charlie Grimm, a Wrigley pal, was installed as manager. That lasted all of 17 games before the famous Grimm/Lou Boudreau manager/radio booth swap was made. That didn’t work either, as the 1960 Cubs lost 94 games and led to the formation of the infamous College of Coaches.

They should have just kept Scheffing, who did a good job managing the Tigers for three years and went on to become GM of the Mets.

As far as trades… yikes, Holland made some more bad ones.

January 11: Acquired Richie Ashburn from the Phillies for John Buzhardt, Al Dark and Jim Woods.

On its surface, this was not a terrible deal. Ashburn was a future Hall of Famer — that gave the ‘60 Cubs four of them (Banks, Ashburn, Billy Williams and Ron Santo). Just two years earlier he’d finished seventh in MVP voting and batted a league-leading .350 with 215 hits.

And, truth be told: Ashburn had a good year for the Cubs in 1960. He batted .291/.415/.338, leading the NL in OBP, and walked 116 times, good for 4.4 bWAR. That’s tied for third-most walks in a season in Cubs history, tied by Sammy Sosa in 2001. Since 1960, Sosa (2001-02), Gary Matthews (1984) and Carlos Peña (2011) are the only Cubs to walk 100+ times in a season.

But the thing is, the 1960 Cubs, as noted, really needed pitching. Offense wasn’t a real problem. And John Buzhardt, who the Cubs gave up on at age 22, went on to have several good pitching seasons for the Phillies and White Sox through the 1960s.

Ashburn wasn’t as good in 1961 and was placed in the expansion draft pool. No one took him, but eventually the Mets acquired him for cash considerations. Dark was near the end of his career — he’d be a manager by 1962 — and Woods didn’t do much in Philadelphia. Later, Ashburn returned to Philly where he became a beloved radio broadcaster.

This wasn’t a terrible deal, it was just one the Cubs really didn’t need to make.

April 8: Acquired Don Zimmer from the Dodgers for Ron Perranoski, Johnny Goryl and Lee Handley

Zimmer had been a top high school prospect, but got beaned in the minor leagues — this before helmets were in common use — and never became the player he might have become.

He had two decent years for the Cubs, a total of 2.0 bWAR, before he, too, went to the Mets in the expansion draft.

Perranoski, who never played in the majors for the Cubs, became a top reliever in Los Angeles, receiving MVP votes three times and pitching in three World Series for the Dodgers. Later, traded to the Twins, he led the AL in saves twice, in 1969 and 1970.

All that went for an 18.9 career bWAR career for Perranoski, while the Cubs got no value out of the deal after 1961. Goryl never played for the Dodgers, later also traded to the Twins, who he managed in 1980 and 1981.

This was further evidence that Cubs management had no idea what they were doing.

May 13: Acquired Don Cardwell and Ed Bouchee from the Phillies for Tony Taylor and Cal Neeman

Everyone was thrilled with this deal when Cardwell threw a no-hitter two days later, to this day the only pitcher to do that in his first start for a new team.

Cardwell, though, wound up with a 4.31 ERA in 111 games (93 starts) for the Cubs before he was traded to the Cardinals in 1962. He did post 7.4 bWAR, which was pretty good, except… Tony Taylor became a solid second baseman for the Phillies for a decade, posting 19.8 bWAR and getting MVP votes in 1963. That makes this a poor trade.

Bouchee played first base for the Cubs for a couple years, then also went to the Mets in the expansion draft. Previous to that, in the winter of 1958 when in his hometown of Spokane, Washington, he was arrested for exposing himself to some young girls. He was sentenced to probation and got psychiatric treatment, as detailed in his SABR biography.

May 19: Acquired Mark Freeman from the Yankees for Art Ceccarelli

Freeman posted a 5.63 ERA in 30 games (eight starts) for the Cubs and never played pro ball again after 1960.

Ceccarelli never played for the Yankees. He was assigned to their Triple-A team at Richmond, and eventually played another couple of years in the Cleveland farm system.

We’ll call this one a wash.

June 15: Acquired Jim McKnight from the Cardinals for Walt Moryn

Moryn, nicknamed “Moose,” had several decent years as a Cubs outfielder and is the guy Jack Brickhouse is referring to when he yells “Come on, Moose!” while Moryn is making this catch that ended Cardwell’s no-hitter:

But Moryn’s offense had started to fade by 1960 — he’d batted .264/.350/.494 with 28 home runs in 1958 — and as he was 34, Holland figured maybe he’d get someone younger who could contribute.

McKnight, a utility guy, batted .231/.247/.253 in 63 games for the Cubs in 1960 and 1962. His son, Jeff McKnight, played several years for the Mets in the 1980s and 1990s. Moryn retired from baseball after 1961.

This deal didn’t do much for either team.

July 15: Acquired Al Heist from the Braves for Earl Averill

This is, obviously, not the Earl Averill who was a great player for Cleveland in the 1930s and is in the Hall of Fame.

This Earl Averill is that guy’s son. He played for the Cubs, White Sox, Indians, Angels and Phillies in a seven-year career in 1956 and 1958-63.

Not the Braves? Nope, they traded him to the White Sox only four weeks later.

Of Heist, who had played in the minor leagues since 1949 (!) without a callup, we can say this deal was not equal to his last name. He batted .255/.327/.368 with eight home runs in 177 games for the Cubs between 1960 and 1962. His only claim to fame as a Cub was that he hit a walkoff grand slam, breaking a 5-5 tie, April 15, 1961 against the Braves. Just 6,207 attended that game, and as videotape was very expensive back then, no video of that slam survives. Pity, I’d have loved to see it.

The Cubs trading away Buzhardt, Perranoski and Taylor, three players who could have really helped them the rest of the 1960s, give this year’s deals a D-.