Which MLB player was traded for himself?

Written by Editorial Team | Last Updated: August 2026

The bizarre and unique distinction of being the only player in Major League Baseball history to be traded for himself belongs to veteran catcher Harry Chiti. In April 1962, the expansion New York Mets purchased Chiti's contract from the Cleveland Indians under an agreement that required the Mets to send a player to be named later back to Cleveland. After Chiti struggled through a brief stretch of fifteen games in a Mets uniform, batting under .200, the front offices resolved the transaction by naming Chiti himself as the return player, effectively sending him back to Cleveland in his own trade. This unprecedented administrative quirk became a legendary piece of baseball trivia, cementing Chiti's name forever in the record books as the ultimate answer to one of the sport's strangest historical anomalies.

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