After the 1955 season, the Cardinals hired Frank Lane, nicknamed "The Trader", as their general manager. Virdon slumped to begin the 1956 season, and the Cardinals traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates in May 1956 for Bobby Del Greco and Dick Littlefield. Lane claimed that Virdon's late season slump in 1955 was because he tired down the stretch, and that is why he chose to trade him. Lane later referred to the trade as "the worst trade [he] ever made".
