How Giancarlo Stanton became a legendary home run hitter and forced his way onto the New York Yankees

It's not everyday that a reigning MVP is traded, but that's exactly what happened to Giancarlo Stanton earlier this week.

After eight stellar seasons in Miami, the California native was flipped to the New York Yankees in exchange for Starlin Castro and a pair of prospects.

With a monster contract worth over $300 million and a full no-trade clause to work around, the Marlins struggled to gain any kind of leverage and wound up making the deal only after an ugly public negotiation process. Their dilemma will serve as a cautionary tale for the next team that thinks about offering a 13-year contract.

But how did Stanton leverage his elite status to engineer a blockbuster deal for the ages, and how did he become the game's premier power threat in the first place? Below, read all about the 28-year-old's wild journey to the biggest stage in the game.