On This Day: May 15

1998 

A blockbuster trade involves seven players whose guaranteed contracts combine for a record $98 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers get Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, and Jim Eisenreich and send Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile to the Florida Marlins. With the trade, Florida has officially purged itself of a dozen costly and quality players from the team that won the World Series seven months earlier. Piazza, a superstar in Los Angeles, had turned down a six-year, $80-million offer to stay with the Dodgers.