Jeff Shaw: Former Red a different kind of All-Star snub

Jeff Shaw made the All-Star Game as a Cincinnati Red and pitched in the game, but not as a Red.

Shaw was traded from the Reds to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 4, 1998. It was the Saturday before the All-Star Game. Shaw earned a spot with his 1.81 ERA and 23 saves with the Reds in the first half.

The first time Shaw pitched in a Dodger uniform was in the All-Star Game. It sounds like an amusing little story.

But Shaw was not amused at the time — and he was particularly unhappy with Jim Bowden, then the Reds' general manager.

Shaw had signed a three-year, $8.4 million contract in the offseason with the Reds after the '97 season, in which he won the Rolaids Reliever of the Year Award. The contract was very club-friendly. Shaw gave the Reds a hometown discount so he could live nearby. He commuted from Washington Court House when the Reds were at home.

"We asked Bowden for a no-trade clause," said Shaw's agent, Joe Bick. "He wouldn't do it. I told Jeff at the time: 'You're signing a contract here that is worth half of your actual value. It makes you the easiest guy on the face of the earth to trade. Do you trust Jim Bowden not to trade you? I don't.'"

It meant so much to Shaw to be able to live at home with his family when the Reds were at home that he signed anyway.

The contract was an extension. It didn't kick in until 1999. Shaw, of course, never made it to '99 with the Reds. He recalls the day he heard about the trade like it was yesterday.

"We're playing the Cardinals," Shaw said. "I was in the dugout. (Clubhouse man) Mark Stowe came down and said I had a phone call, which was weird because we're in the middle of the game.

"I'm like, 'Dude, I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to have to face (Mark) McGwire in the ninth.' He said, 'No, you've got to take it.' I went up to the clubhouse and asked Bernie (Stowe) which line it was. Bernie just put his head down. He said, 'It's not in here. It's upstairs in Jim's office.'

"I knew right away what it was. I went down the tunnel in my spikes and got on the elevator and went up to the office. Jim said, 'Have a seat.' I said, 'I don't wanna. Just tell me where I'm going.' He said he couldn't tell me.

"I said, 'What?'

"Then the light went on: It's the West Coast. The games haven't started out there yet. Not good."

"I said, 'My wife is going to kill you.' He finally told me it was L.A., the farthest place from Washington Court House. I said, 'Jim, we had a handshake deal that you weren't going to trade me.' He said he also told him if the deal of a lifetime came along, he'd have to trade me."

Bowden told Shaw he had been traded for Paul Konerko and Dennys Reyes.

"I said, 'That's the deal of a lifetime?' Not knowing what Paul was going to do in his career."

"I walked out, left and went home."

Shaw pitched an inning in the All-Star Game three days later in Coors Field. Bick asked Major League Baseball to allow Shaw to represent the Reds. It was denied. Shaw allowed a run on three hits in a 13-8 loss for the National League.

Shaw ended up saving 25 games and putting up a 2.55 ERA for the Dodgers in the second half. But Tommy Lasorda, the L.A. general manager at the time, didn't get the bargain he thought he did.

"He didn't know the rule that if a player had committed to a long-term contract and was traded in Jeff's service category, he had the right to demand a trade," Bick said. "When Lasorda realized what he had done, every day during batting practice Jeff would be shagging in the outfield and Lasorda would be right next to him, saying 'I'm in tough spot here. I looked like an idiot not knowing the rule if you walk away from us.' But he never gave an indication he would change the contract."

By the time the season ended, Kevin Malone had taken over as the Dodgers' GM. Malone, Bick and Shaw and his wife met in Columbus.

"I told Kevin I wanted Jeff to be the highest paid closer in game," Bick said. "Kevin said, 'We want Jeff to stay here, but he's only been a closer for two years. It's hard for me to make him the highest paid closer.'

"I said, 'How about second highest?' He said they could do that."

Shaw signed a three-year, $15 million deal, so it was all worked out.

"Absolutely," Shaw said.

His wife, Julie, moved out with him - with his two children and another on way.

"It was really good," he said. "They do it right out there. They still do."