New York acquired rookie tackle John Bauer from Green Bay on…
New York acquired rookie tackle John Bauer from Green Bay on September 20, 1954 for the Giants' 1955 20th-round draft choice, later No. 236 overall. Bauer, a 1954 first-round Cleveland selection who had reached Green Bay in the Babe Parilli-Bobby Garrett trade, appeared in only two Giants games and made no starts that season. The modest cost limited New York's downside, but the playing return was minimal.
Green Bay Packers Received
- pick 1955 20th round pick (#236-Bob Antkowiak)
New York Giants Received
- player John Bauer
Trade Analysis
The legacy record contains unnecessary undisclosed-consideration fields, but the core transaction is well documented. Pro Sports Transactions records that on September 20, 1954 the Giants acquired John Bauer from the Packers for New York's 1955 20th-round draft choice, later No. 236 overall. Green Bay's own historical transaction summary gives the same exchange, and the Packers' later media guide identifies pick 236 as coming from the Giants for Bauer. The old row can therefore be reduced to one player for one draft pick without carrying forward any unidentified consideration.
Bauer arrived with a stronger pedigree than the late-round price suggests. Cleveland had selected the Illinois lineman 12th overall in the first round of the 1954 NFL draft. The Browns then included him in the August deal that sent Bauer, Bobby Garrett, Don Miller and Chester Gierula to Green Bay for Babe Parilli and Bob Fleck. Green Bay's 1954 media guide described Bauer as an All-Big Ten guard obtained in that Cleveland trade. By September 20, however, the Packers moved him again, and contemporary reporting summarized the Giants' acquisition as a trade with Green Bay.
The Giants received very little realized value. NFL records list Bauer in two games for New York in 1954 with no starts. He did not establish a regular role, and his brief Giants tenure means his first-round draft pedigree never translated into meaningful production for New York. The low acquisition cost is the main reason the deal does not grade as a severe miss: a 20th-round choice carried limited expected value even in the much longer drafts of the era.
Green Bay's return was equally modest. Pro Football Archives and Pro Football Reference identify the transferred selection as No. 236 in the 1955 draft, used on Bucknell end Bob Antkowiak. The draft ledger explicitly marks the choice as coming from New York. Antkowiak has no recorded NFL regular-season career in the draft databases reviewed for this pass, so Green Bay did not convert the asset into measurable playing value. The Packers did at least recover a draft selection for a player their own historical account says had failed to make the grade there.
With Bauer contributing only two games to the Giants and Antkowiak providing no documented NFL playing return to Green Bay, neither side created a meaningful advantage. New York took a low-cost chance on a recent first-round lineman; Green Bay recycled a player it was ready to move into a late draft choice. C grades and an Even Trade verdict fit the limited realized value on both sides without inventing extra compensation or overstating a 20th-round pick.