“Bonus Baby” Rule Eliminated, Amateur Draft Implemented in 1965

If you read my recent blog article “Players Who Went Right To The Major Leagues” you will know that from 1947 to 1965 any player who signed with an organization for $4,000 or more was considered a “Bonus Baby” and had to spend their first year of professional baseball on a major league roster. This meant little playing time and very little opportunity to develop into a better player. There were 71 players in this category that went straight to the majors of the total of about 120 players who accomplished this feat over the last 120 years.

Knowing that this rule was not in the best interest of the player or the organization, Major League Baseball decided to implement an amateur draft in 1965. The premise was simple, the team with the worst record from the previous season would get the first pick and the rest of the picks would be in order of a team's previous year's record.

The very first pick in 1965 was Rick Monday, a player from Arizona State, who was selected by the Kansas City Athletics. Monday would end up with a 19 year major league career, would play in 2 All-Star games, and would play in 5 championship series, including 3 World Series (winning one). If that was the type of player that you could draft if you had the first pick, I think you would be satisfied with your selection. There were other first picks in the 60 years of the draft that would never appear in a major league game.

Of the 20 players selected in the 1^st round of the 1^st amateur draft 7 never made it to the major leagues. This includes players taken 4^th (Alex Barrett-Astros), 8^th (John Wyatt-Dodgers-Not the Relief Pitcher), 10^th (Doug Dickerson-Pirates), 12^th (Dick Grant-Braves), 15^th (Scott McDonald-Orioles), 17^th (Ken Plesha-Wihte Sox) and 20^th (Joe DiFabio-Cardinals). Notable names chosen in addition to Monday were Joe Coleman (3rd-Senators), Billy Conigliaro (5th-Red Sox), Ray Fosse (7th-Indians), Jim Spencer (11th-Angels), Gene Lamont (13^th-Tigers), and Bernie Carbo (16th-Reds). With the 9^th pick the Twins selected Eddie Leon a shortstop from the University of Arizona who was one of two players who decided not to sign. Interestingly, Leon would be drafted by the Cubs in the secondary phase of the 1^st round in 1966 and again did not sign. Finally, he was taken in the 2^nd round of the 1967 draft by the Indians and did sign. Eddie would play 8 seasons in the majors and had a .236 lifetime batting average with 24 HR’s and 159 RBI’s.

Over the next 19 years the following players would be taken with the 1^st pick in the draft:

• 1966 – Steve Chilcutt – Mets – One of 3 #1 picks in the 60 years of the draft who never played in the Major Leagues

• 1967 – Ron Bloomberg – Yankees

• 1968 – Tim Foli – Mets

• 1969 – Jeff Burroughs – Senators

• 1970 – Mike Ivie – Padres

• 1971 – Danny Goodwin – White Sox

• 1972 – Dave Roberts – Padres

• 1973 – David Clyde – Rangers

• 1974 – Bill Almon – Padres

• 1975 – Danny Goodwin – Angels (See 1971)

• 1976 – Floyd Bannister – Astros

• 1977 – Harold Baines – White Sox

• 1978 – Bob Horner – Braves

• 1979 – Al Chambers – Mariners

• 1980 – Darryl Strawberry – Mets

• 1981 – Mike Moore – Mariners

• 1982 – Shawon Dunston – Cubs

• 1983 – Tim Belcher – Twins – Did Not Sign

• 1984 – Shawn Abner – Mets

In future blog postings I will list all of the Twins first round picks from 1965 to present in 20 year increments, with some statistical information on their career.