REVISITING AN OLD BLOG POST- MARCH 11TH, 2014

Thought it would be fun to revisit a blog post from almost eight years ago, this one my last entry in my short-lived 1979 #1 Draft Pick thread celebrating the decade's #1 overall picks, this one profiling the Seattle Mariners' pick of Al Chambers in June of '79:

 

Here's the write-up from that day:

"Well, today we reach the end of my thread of an imagined sub-set for the 1979 set featuring all the overall #1 draft picks of the 1970's.
Sadly, we end it with a bit of a thud, as the #1 pick in the 1979 draft was Al Chambers, picked by the Seattle Mariners, selected ahead of future stars Andy Van Slyke, Tim Wallach and Steve Howe.
Granted, it wasn't the most stocked of drafts that year, but considering that Chambers ended up playing in 57 games for his career, you have to chalk this one up to "bust".

Chambers made it up to the Major Leagues in 1983, getting into 31 games, good for 81 plate appearances, batting .209 with three doubles and a homer.
But that would actually be the most time he'd see up in the big show, as 1984 would see him play in only 22 games, getting 49 at-bats, before getting into only four games in 1985 and marking the total playing time he'd have in his short Major League career.
After bouncing around for a few more years in the Seattle, Houston and Chicago Cubs Minor League systems, he'd move on to the Mexican League in 1988 for a year before leaving his baseball playing days for good.
I guess you can say his biggest claim to fame is being included in Topps' 1985 "#1 Draft Picks" sub-set along with more substantial picks through the years, like Darryl Strawberry, Shawon Dunston and Harold Baines.
But hey, at least Seattle did fair a bit better in the 1981 draft, picking star pitcher Mike Moore with the #1 overall pick.

That does it for the #1 draft sub-set. Wish there was more to cover, as I had fun with the cards designed for the topic.
Perhaps I should start a sub-set of "best pick of each draft" for the decade?
We'll see.."

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...AL CHAMBERS: SEATTLE MARINERS: 1979

Well, today we reach the end of my thread of an imagined sub-set for the 1979 set featuring all the overall #1 draft picks of the 1970's.
Sadly, we end it with a bit of a thud, as the #1 pick in the 1979 draft was Al Chambers, picked by the Seattle Mariners, picked ahead of future stars Andy Van Slyke, Tim Wallach and Steve Howe.
Granted, it wasn't the most stocked of drafts that year, but considering that Chambers ended up playing in 57 games for his career, you have to chalk this one up to "bust".
First, take a look at the card I designed:

Chambers made it up to the Major Leagues in 1983, getting into 31 games, good for 81 plate appearances, batting .209 with three doubles and a homer.
But that would actually be the most time he'd see up in the big show, as 1984 would see him play in only 22 games, getting 49 at-bats, before getting into only four games in 1985 and marking the total playing time he'd have in his short Major League career.
After bouncing around for a few more years in the Seattle, Houston and Chicago Cubs Minor League systems, he'd move on to the Mexican League in 1988 for a year before leaving his baseball playing days for good.
I guess you can say his biggest claim to fame is being included in Topps' 1985 "#1 Draft Picks" sub-set along with more substantial picks through the years, like Darryl Strawberry, Shawon Dunston and Harold Baines.
But hey, at least Seattle did fair a bit better in the 1981 draft, picking star pitcher Mike Moore with the #1 overall pick.

That does it for the #1 draft sub-set. Wish there was more to cover, as I had fun with the cards designed for the topic.
Perhaps I should start a sub-set of "best pick of each draft" for the decade?
We'll see...

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...BOB HORNER: ATLANTA BRAVES: 1978

Up next in my thread of #1 overall draft picks of the 1970's we come to 1978 and Bob Horner, picked #1 by the Atlanta Braves.

Take a look at my card design in my imagined sub-set:

 

 

An absolute monster coming out of Arizona State, Horner set College records with 58 career homers as well as 25 in a single-season, on his way to winning the very first "Golden Spikes" Award in 1978.

Horner made an immediate splash in the Major Leagues, skipping the Minors altogether and making his big league debut on June 16th, 1978 and hitting a homer off future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In only 89 games that season, Horner lead all third basemen with 23 home runs, while hitting .263 and driving in 63 runs in 323 at-bats beating out another future Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith, for National League Rookie of the Year honors.

Over the next eight years of so Horner became a solid homer-hitting third baseman for Atlanta, teaming up with Dale Murphy as one of the best one-two homer punches in the game.

But injuries in 1983 and 1984, where he broke, then re-broke the same wrist, would ultimately derail his career after only ten seasons, finishing up with a short 60-game stint with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1988 after coming back from Japan, where he played in 1987 after being one of the players colluded against by Major League owners.

Though definitely not a "flop", Horner's career did fall short of expectations somewhat, though hitting 218 homers and driving in 685 runs without ever playing in more than 141 games in any season is quite impressive. 

As a matter of fact, Horner only played 140+ games in a season twice: 140 in 1982 and 141 in 1986, a season which also saw him hit four home runs in a single game, at the time only the eleventh player ever to do so, and second in a losing cause (Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty being the other).

It's interesting to note some of the other players taken after Horner in the first round of 1978: Lloyd Moseby (2nd overall), Hubie Brooks (3rd), Mike Morgan (4th), Kirk Gibson (12th), and Tom Brunansky (14th).
Not a bad crop of young players that year going in the draft.

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...HAROLD BAINES: CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 1977

Ok now.
Today we take a look at EASILY the most successful #1 overall draft pick of the 1970's, Harold Baines, who was picked first in the 1977 draft by the Chicago White Sox.
First, take a look at the card I designed for him:

It's not often a ball club can say they were perfectly happy with their pick, even though a Hall of Famer went just two slots after him. Paul Molitor was picked by the Milwaukee Brewers at the #3 slot that year, with pitcher Bill Gullickson going second, being selected by the Montreal Expos.
Not a bad 1-2-3 roster right there. All three were productive future Major Leaguers.
But needless to say Baines and Molitor were top-notch, with Molitor eventually making the Hall of Fame, with Baines being one of those players who gets support from various baseball minds as well.
Harold Baines was up in the Majors somewhat quickly, making his debut in 1980 at the age of 21, and by 1982 was a full-fledged star in the game, hitting 25 homers and driving in 100+ runs for the first time in his career.
Over the next 18 years he was a model of consistency, racking up the hits, homers and runs batted in with a workman's pace that gave him final career numbers of: 2866 hits, 384 home runs and 1628 R.B.I.'s.
Surprisingly, when I went to brush up on his career stats this morning I saw he only scored 1299 runs in his career. Definitely a sign of the lack of support he had throughout his big league days, but still a surprisingly low total for someone with just under 10000 at-bats.
A great example of Baines staying power as a productive star in the game is the 1999 season, which he split with the Orioles and Indians. At the age of 40 all Baines did was hit 25 home runs and drive in 103 batters while hitting .312! Now THAT is one of the all-time better 40+ year old seasons in Major League history, yet easily overlooked, just like much of Baines entire career.
All told Baines suited up for 22 seasons for the White Sox, Rangers, A's, Orioles and Indians, appearing in six all-star games and winning a Silver Slugger award in 1989.
The main reason his Hall of Fame support just wasn't there was because he did play the majority of his career as a designated hitter, and we all know how BBWA voters feel about "career" DH's.
Nevertheless, Baines is far and away the most successful future Major Leaguer among all #1 overall picks in the 1970's, and many CAN still make the argument that he deserves a spot in Cooperstown.
Next up, the overall #1 pick from 1978, Bob Horner, who came into the big leagues with a "bang", but fizzled out somewhat quickly.

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...FLOYD BANNISTER: HOUSTON ASTROS: 1976

Today in my thread of an imagined 1979 sub-set celebrating overall #1 draft picks from the decade, we reach 1976, and the amateur taken first by the Houston Astros, pitcher Floyd Bannister, out of Arizona State.

 

 

I have to say Bannister was pretty much the second most successful player taken first overall from the 1970's (the most successful hasn't been profiled yet-"hint hint").

Sadly for Houston, however, the success he found on the diamond was NOT for them!

Even though he made his Major League debut for Houston the year after being picked, he didn't really hit his stride until he played for the Seattle Mariners, where he became a solid starter, even leading the American League in strikeouts in 1982.

The very next year he joined the Chicago White Sox, for whom he had his best seasons as a pro.

In both 1983 and 1987 he posted a career high 16 wins, while also posting double-digit wins the other three years he played for them before moving on to Kansas City in 1988.

After going 12-13 that year, his career pretty much evaporated quickly, going 4-1 in only 14 starts before going under the knife and missing all of 1990.

He managed a couple of comebacks, with California in 1991 and Texas in 1992, but totaled only 62 innings between the two, and retired after that.

Nevertheless Bannister did manage to stick around as a dependable starter of sorts for 15 years, ending his career with a 134-143 record and 1723 strikeouts.

Twice he lead the A.L. in strikeouts-per-nine-innings (1983 and 1985), and made his only all-star appearance in 1982.

A little bit of a side-note: Bannisters senior year in high school was phenomenal, as he lead his school, Kennedy High School, to a state championship, going 15-0 with an incredible 0.00 earned run average! Whew!

Next up on my "#1 Overall Pick" sub-set, the clear-cut most successful future Major Leaguer taken #1 in the 1970's, Harold Baines, taken first by the Chicago White Sox.

Stay tuned for it…

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...DANNY GOODWIN: CALIFORNIA ANGELS: 1975

Today on my "1970's #1 Draft Picks" thread we revisit the ONLY player ever drafted TWICE as the #1 overall pick: Danny Goodwin.

As many of you already know, Goodwin was first drafted #1 back in 1971 by the Chicago White Sox, but turned them down so he could attend Southern University and A&M.

After a successful college playing career, he was once again the top pick overall in 1975, this time by the California Angels.

With that, take a look at my design for the 1975 entry in my imagined sub-set for the 1979 Topps set:

Second time around at #1 for Goodwin.

Much like Archie Griffin in the NFL, who was the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner (for some reason my brain has always connected these two guys), Goodwin never did pan out at the big league level (actually it'd be fair to say Griffin had better luck in the NFL).

Since I profiled Goodwin for the 1971 "card", I'll just include the link here for anyone interested in his Major League performance since it was covered there.

http://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/2013/12/1-draft-picks-of-1970s-special-sub_13.html

Next up we look at the player I'd say was the second-most successful #1 overall pick of the 1970's, Floyd Bannister, who was taken first by the Houston Astros in 1976 before becoming a solid starter for the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox later on in his career.

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...BILLY ALMON: SAN DIEGO PADRES: 1974

Another year, another San Diego Padre #1 overall draft pick!

In only the fourth year of the decade, San Diego had the #1 overall pick for the third time! 

Sadly for the organization, as with their other two #1 picks: Mike Ivie in '70 and Dave Roberts in '72, the Padres would end up picking somewhat of a "bust" in 1974 with a youngster out of Brown University, shortstop Billy Almon.

Before we get to Almon's Major League resume, take a gander at my custom Almon card for the "#1 Draft Picks" sub-set I imagined for the 1979 set:

Another "swing-and-a-miss" by the Padres in the amateur draft.

I don't want to sound harsh here regarding the Padres organization, but considering their draft track record, and the fact that some of the other players taken in the first round AFTER Almon were Dale Murphy, Willie Wilson, Gary Templeton, Lonnie Smith, Lance Parrish and Rick Sutcliffe, you see where I can be a little bit of a hard-ass here.

The Padres were just atrocious with their draft picks during the decade, (aside from 1973: Dave Winfield).

In all fairness, Billy Almon did manage to carve out a 15-year career in the Majors, playing for seven teams and hitting .254. 

His best year in the Big Leagues would probably be 1977, his first full season, when he hit .261 with 160 hits and 20 stolen bases and 75 runs scored over 155 games and 613 at-bats for the Padres.

He'd never again play in that many games over the course of a season, and would only top 100+ hits three other times in his career, topping out with 120 in 1983 for the Chicago White Sox.

A couple of years earlier, during the strike-year of 1981 he DID hit over .300, .301 to be exact, and somehow got 6 points in the M.V.P. voting, good for 19th place.

Hey, you go with what you got, right?

Almon called it a career after the 1988 season, after appearing in 20 games for the Philadelphia Philles and hitting .115 while playing the infield.

Stay tuned for the next entry on this thread, as we revisit a previous #1 overall pick from 1971, Danny Goodwin, as he goes first yet again in 1975 after a successful college career at Southern University and A&M.

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...DAVID CLYDE: TEXAS RANGERS: 1973

Next up on my thread of a 1970's overall draft picks sub-set for the 1979 set is the 1973 pick, David Clyde, picked by the Texas Rangers.

Take a look at my design for the custom card:

The fourth subject on my #1 draft pick thread, David Clyde.

As profiled earlier on this blog, Clyde is a classic example of how an organization mishandled a young prospect for their own financial gains.

If you want more info on how the Rangers messed with him, click the following link for a more in-depth write up:

http://whentoppshadballs.blogspot.com/2013/10/some-respect-for-david-clydea-not-so.html

Clyde was a hometown hero of sorts after his outrageous exploits at Westchester High School in Houston, Texas, so it seemed like a marriage made in heaven for the struggling Rangers and their attendance problem.

But as we all know it didn't quite turn out the way the Rangers (or Clyde) had hoped, and what makes the pick all the more incredible is that the third and fourth picks in the amateur draft that year were two future Hall of Famers that each played for over 20 years at the big league level: Robin Yount at #3 and Dave Winfield at #4.

You think Texas would have wanted a "do-over" with THAT draft?

By the way, if you're asking who went #2, it was catcher John Stearns, who was picked by the Phillies out of the University of Colorado before starring for the New York Mets later in the decade.

Next up is yet another #1 draft bust by the San Diego Padres, Billy Almon, making it THREE draft duds in the first five years of the decade (Ivie in '70 and Roberts in '72 being the other two)!

Keep an eye out for it…

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...DAVE ROBERTS: SAN DIEGO PADRES: 1972

Today I post my third design in my imagined 1979 sub-set featuring #1 draft picks of the decade, 1972's #1 overall pick: Dave Roberts, after my initial designs of Mike Ivie (1970) and Danny Goodwin (1971).

Take a look at my third "card" in the set:

The second #1 overall pick for San Diego in the 1970's.

For the second time in the young decade (and not the last), the San Diego Padres once again had the #1 overall pick, and after picking Mike Ivie with the #1 pick in 1970, in 1972 they went with the highly touted prospect out of the University of Oregon.

In a unique situation, the Padres signed Roberts the day after the draft, and then had him appear in his first Major League game later that day!

This made Roberts the sixth player to go straight to the Majors after signing at the time.

He spent the rest of the season with the Padres, hitting a "respectable" .244 with five home runs and 33 runs batted in. Not bad when you consider he had no minor league time at all!

On top of that, the following year he had what was perhaps his best season in the Majors. 

After spending some time in the Minors early in the year, Roberts was called back up to the Majors and responded by posting career highs in average (.286, home runs (21) and runs batted in (64).

But sadly for San Diego this was NOT a sign of things to come, as Roberts responded to his 1973 campaign with a horrid season in 1974.

That year, while playing games at short, third and outfield, Roberts just flopped as he hit a wretched .167 with five homers and 18 runs batted in.

His season was so bad that from July 21st until the rest of the season he batted .095 without a single run batted in!

The Padres tried getting Roberts' career restarted, but after some failed experiments at almost every position out on the field, they traded him to the Texas Rangers (after being reacquired by San Diego from the Toronto Blue Jays in February 1977) in October, 1978 along with Oscar Gamble and $300,000 for Kurt Bevacqua, Bill Fahey and Mike Hargrove.

For Roberts the change of scenery didn't help his career get back on track, and he was relegated to part-time player for the next four years, playing for Texas, Houston and Philadelphia.

After appearing in only 28 games for the Phillies in 1982, hitting .182 with two runs batted in, Roberts was out of baseball for good.

For the Padres however, things would get much better with their NEXT First Round pick in the amateur draft, as they'd go on to pick a tall, lanky kid from the University of Minnesota named Dave Winfield with the fourth overall pick in 1973.

Not a bad rebound from their bust of a pick the previous year.

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...DANNY GOODWIN: CHICAGO WHITE SOX: 1971

By now anyone who is into recent baseball history, more specifically the June amateur draft, knows that there has only been one player that was TWICE drafted #1 overall on two separate occasions: Danny Goodwin.

In 1971, Goodwin was the overall #1 pick by the Chicago White Sox as a catcher out of Peoria Central High School in Illinois, but he decided to pursue a college career instead, leaving Chicago high and dry as he went off to Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana, alma mater of Hall of Famer Lou Brock.

For Chicago, it wasn't necessarily the biggest loss, since the first round of the 1971 draft only yielded one future star if the game, Jim Rice.

However Rice went at #15, getting picked by the Boston Red Sox, so it seems highly probable that the White Sox would have picked some other relative "bust" had they not chosen Goodwin.

Just as a point of reference, the players picked between #2 and #5: Jay Franklin, Tommy Bianco, Condredge Holloway (what a name!), and Roy Branch.

See what I mean?

Anyway, after four years at college, Goodwin still impressed scouts enough that the California Angels decided to pick him #1 again in the 1975 draft (which will be profiled in the near future right here).

Sadly for the Angels, it was also a wasted pick, as Goodwin never did pan out on the big league level.

All told, between the years 1975 and 1982 Goodwin averaged about 45 games a season for the Angels, Twins and A's, mainly as a designated hitter, ending up with a .236 lifetime average and 13 home runs to go along with 81 runs batted in.

He DID have some kick-ass seasons in the minors, but just couldn't continue that performance in the Majors.

He even managed to get a season in Japan in 1986, playing for Nankai, but only batted .231 with eight homers and 26 ribbies in 83 games, and called it a career.

In 2011 Goodwin was honored as the very first college player from a historically black university to be elected to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame after his stellar college career between 1971 and 1975.

Goodwin will always be that trivia answer regarding his two #1 picks in '71 and '75, and today I present my second design for the imagined 1979 sub-set of #1 overall draft picks of the 1970's, following my Mike Ivie design, who went #1 in 1970.

Keep and eye out for my next post on this thread, 1972's #1 pick Dave Roberts, coming soon.

The first of his two #1 pick years...

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...MIKE IVIE: SAN DIEGO PADRES: 1970

I've always been very interested in the June amateur baseball draft through the years.

I was particularly psyched when Topps decided to have those "#1 Draft Pick" designations on those 1989 cards as a small sub-set.

How cool was it to see those draft picks on a card? Guys like Jim Abbot, Andy Benes, etc?

Well, I thought it would be kind of cool to create a sub-set for the 1979 set that would have all the #1 overall picks of every draft during the '70's.

I based the design off of Topps "Record Breaker" cards in the set, with minor tweaks here and there.

Today I'll start with the #1 overall pick in June of 1970, Mike Ivie, with all the other #1 picks to follow in the near future.

Take a look:

 

 

Ivie was taken first by the San Diego Padres out of Decatur, Georgia's Walker High School as a catcher.

Although he managed to make it up to the Majors at the age of 19 in 1971, appearing in 6 games, he was sent down to the Minors for the next few years before getting called back up in 1974.

1975 saw his first substantial playing time, playing in 111 games, good for 411 plate appearances, but it was nothing really to write home about, as he hit .249 with eight homers and 46 runs batted in. (In all fairness those were some terrible Padre teams however, and he wasn't surrounded by the best guys).

Sadly for him (and the Padres), that first "full" season would pretty much represent his output during his 11 year career.

In February of '78 San Diego traded Ivie to the Giants for Derrel Thomas, and in 1979 he gave San Francisco arguably his finest season, as he hit .286 with 27 homers and 89 runs batted in, doing so with only 402 official at-bats.

But that really would be it for Ivie as far as any substantial accomplishments on the big league level.

The Giants sent him to Houston during the 1981 season, playing sparsely until the Astros released him at the end of April, 1982.

After that he signed on with Detroit in May of the same year, but didn't manage much and was released about a year later, ending his career.

As far as 1st overall picks, Mike Ivie didn't pan out as the Padres hoped, but he did stick around for eleven years, good for 857 games, MUCH better than some of the other picks we'll see as I profile them one by one in the near future.

Stay tuned as we next look at the only guy to be a #1 overall pick TWICE in Major League history…