Happy birthday to former Ranger pitcher Dickie Noles, who turns 52 today.
Noles was acquired by the Rangers in the midst of a disappointing 1984 season, in exchange for two players to be named later (who you've never heard of). He spent the rest of 1984 and all of 1985 with Texas, then was released after the season.
Noles stuck around for quite a while, playing for 6 different teams while never really being very good, bouncing between starting and relieving. What's kind of interesting is that his B-R page says he was "loaned" in 1987 by the Cubs to the Tigers on September 22. The Tigers were just a half-game back of the Blue Jays at the time, and ended up winning the division when the Jays had an epic collapse that saw them lose 7 in a row to blow a 3.5 game lead with 7 remaining.
Anyway...I just don't remember the last time one team "loaned" a major leaguer to another team that was in the middle of a pennant race. I'm curious about the back story there.