As we reach the sixth installment of our draft history series, we are going to look at the top two picks in the 1970 draft, Mike Ivie and Steve Dunning. Ivie, a catcher, was chosen first overall by the San Diego Padres and Dunning, a right handed pitcher, was chosen second overall by the Cleveland Indians.
Once again, the state of California was the state with the most first-round draft picks and just three of the 24 first rounders were taken out of college, with Dunning the first player drafted from the collegiate levels. Three of the first four picks were catchers, and overall, seven catchers were taken in the first round. Four of those catchers never made it to the Major Leagues.
Half of the 24 first-round picks never made it to the Major Leagues. The highest pick from the first round who did not play in the Majors was the number five overall selection, Mike Martin, a left handed pitcher selected by the Philadelphia Phillies.
As we discussed in our 1969 draft article, the Seattle Pilots played just one season before being sold and subsequently moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers. The new Brewers franchise made their first pick at number four in the first round in the 1970 draft. Their first-ever pick was catcher Darrell Porter, who accumulated 188 career homeruns.
There were three first-round picks in 1970 who did not sign, with two of them never making it to the Majors despite being picked again in later drafts. Those three unsigned picks from 1970’s first round were Randy Scarbery, drafted 7th overall by the Houston Astros; Jimmie Hacker, drafted 16th overall by the Boston Red Sox and George Ambrow, drafted 23rd overall by the New York Mets.
Ivie played 11 years for the Padres, the San Francisco Giants, the Houston Astros and the Detroit Tigers. He debuted in 1971 and made his final appearance in 1983. After debuting in 1971, he did not appear in a Major League game again until 1974. Ivie finished his career with a .269 batting average, 81 homeruns and 411 RBIs in 857 games.
His best season came in 1977 when he played in 134 games, recorded 133 hits, and finished with a .272 batting average. The previous season, Ivie played in a career-high 140 games, recording 118 hits and finishing the season with a batting average of .291. He set a career-high for batting average in 1978 when he hit .308 in 117 games. Ivie never had a chance to appear in the post-season during his career.
Ivie was traded by the Padres in February of 1978 to the San Francisco Giants for Derrel Thomas. Thomas was the number one overall pick in the now-defunct January draft back in 1969. He was chosen by the Houston Astros. Ivie was drafted out of high school as a catcher, but played just nine games behind the plate in his career. The majority of his time was spent at first base (602 games). He also played third base (92 games), designated hitter (79 games), left field (46 games) and second base (one game).
Dunning spent seven seasons in the Majors with the Indians, the Texas Rangers, the California Angels, the Montreal Expos and the Oakland Athletics. Dunning made his debut in June of 1970, just days after being drafted. His final appearance came in the 1977 season. He finished with a career record of 23-41 and an ERA of 4.56 in 136 games. He started 84 games, threw seven complete games, recorded one shutout and recorded one save.
Dunning never made the playoffs during his career and never finished a season leading the league in any pitching category. For the Indians, the team that drafted him, Dunning amassed an 18-29 record with an ERA of 4.37 in 70 games, 65 of them starts. Dunning recorded four of his seven complete games with the Indians along with his lone shutout and his lone save. His career high in wins was eight, in 1971, with the Indians.
Other notable first-round draft picks include:
- Barry Foote: drafted 3rd overall by the Montreal Expos.
- Darrell Porter: drafted 4th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers.
- Dan Ford: drafted 18th overall by the Oakland Athletics.
The seventh installment of our draft history series will focus on the 1971 draft. In that draft, the Chicago White Sox drafted catcher Danny Goodwin with the number one overall pick. The second overall pick went to the San Diego Padres, who selected right handed pitcher Jay Franklin. The pick of Goodwin in 1971 marks the third time in the draft’s brief history that a catcher was taken number one overall.
|
Jim is the creator and editor of At the Dish, Cinn City Sports, Life with Tony and Enzo and owner of JAVFreelancing. He coached baseball for five years, three at his former high school (Holy Cross in Delran, NJ) and two at prominent Division III program Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He has worked for the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ; Metro Networks in Bala Cynwyd, PA; and was the play-by-play announcer for the Camden Riversharks of the Independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball for two seasons (2007-2008) on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM, the student-run radio station at Rowan University. Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and minor in Journalism from Rowan University in 2008. While in school he was the Assistant Sports Director at WGLS for two years and the Sports Director for one year. He also covered the football, baseball, softball and both basketball teams for the school newspaper 'The Whit.' Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife Nicole, sons Tony and Enzo and dog Phoebe. He can be reached at jimvassallo@mlbdrafts.com.
|
Leave a Reply