Detroit agreed to acquire Bill Patterson from Pittsburgh on…
Detroit agreed to acquire Bill Patterson from Pittsburgh on February 1, 1939, with Vern Huffman and Ace Gutowsky going to the Pirates. The exchange did not stand: a February 12 transaction entry records the deal as canceled, with Patterson returning to Pittsburgh and the rights to Dick Nardi added as compensation. The C grade reflects a deal that produced no lasting original exchange.
Detroit Lions Received
Pittsburgh Steelers Received
- player Vern Huffman
- player Ace Gutowsky
Trade Analysis
The Exchange
On February 1, 1939, Pittsburgh agreed to send Bill Patterson to Detroit for Vern Huffman and Ace Gutowsky. That was not the final state of the transaction. A February 12 transaction entry records the earlier deal as canceled, with Patterson returning to Pittsburgh and the rights to Dick Nardi included as compensation in the reversal. The original exchange therefore did not remain in force.
Detroit Lions Return
Detroit's planned return was Patterson, a Pittsburgh draft pick and back from Baylor. Because the deal was canceled before becoming a lasting exchange, Detroit did not keep Patterson under the February 1 terms. Patterson later played for Chicago in 1939 and Pittsburgh in 1940, reinforcing that the original Detroit acquisition should not be treated as a completed long-term return.
Pittsburgh Pirates Return
Pittsburgh initially stood to receive Huffman and Gutowsky. The February 12 reversal returned those players to Detroit while Patterson went back to Pittsburgh, with Nardi's rights added as compensation. That means Pittsburgh also did not retain the original February 1 package. Evaluating Huffman and Gutowsky as if they became lasting Pirates assets would misstate what actually happened.
Value in Hindsight
The key hindsight point is procedural rather than statistical: the original deal was unwound. Neither side received durable value from the February 1 package because those terms were canceled eleven days later. Later careers for the players belong to subsequent roster decisions, not to a lasting result from this specific transaction.
Final Verdict
An Even Trade with matching C grades fits a transaction that was formally reversed. The February 1 agreement is historically real and worth documenting, but it did not create a sustained winner or loser under its original terms. The cancellation is therefore central to understanding the deal rather than a footnote to an ordinary player swap.