Major League Baseball’s 1971 Amateur Draft was a very interesting one to say the least. The first round was one of the least productive rounds in draft history when it came to selecting potential Major League stars.
The first overall pick in the draft was Danny Goodwin, who was taken by the Chicago White Sox. Goodwin did not sign and re-entered the draft in 1975.
The second overall pick was Jay Franklin, taken by the San Diego Padres. Neither player had a particularly good career, which seemed to be the pattern for the first 10 picks of the first round.
The first decent selection for pitchers came by the Philadelphia Phillies with the sixth overall pick. The Phillies chose Roy Thomas. Thomas finished his career with a record of 20-11 and an ERA of 3.82.
The first decent selection for a position player came at pick number 11 by the Detroit Tigers, who selected Tom Veryzer. Veryzer compiled over 2,800 at-bats in his career to go along with a .241 career batting average. It wasn’t until pick number 13 that a true star was found. The California Angels selected pitcher Frank Tanana in that slot. He finished his career with 240 wins and an ERA of 3.66.
When you look at the first round results of the draft, especially the top 10 picks, the teams did not do a good job evaluating and drafting talent. This is obvious when you gander at the number of picks who did not even make it to the Majors. Of the first 10 picks, four never appeared in a Major League game.
Aside from Goodwin, the fourth overall pick, Condredge Holloway, did not sign with the Montreal Expos. He re-entered the draft in 1975 and 1976, being chosen both times by the Atlanta Braves. He never made it to the big leagues.
Another player who did not sign was Mike Miley, the 24th and final pick in the first round. Miley was drafted in 1971 by the Cincinnati Reds. He re-entered the draft in 1974 and was chosen by the California Angels with the 10th overall pick, with whom he signed.
The 1971 draft was the first in history where all of the picks in the first round came from the high school level. The first collegiate player picked came with the first pick of the second round by the White Sox in the person of Bill Sharp out of Ohio State.
Goodwin, once he finally signed with the California Angels after being chosen number one overall in the 1975 draft, finished his career with a .236 batting average, 13 homeruns, 81 RBIs and 150 hits across seven seasons and just 252 games played.
Goodwin is the first player in league history to be drafted number one overall in two separate drafts.
Franklin, the number two overall pick, played just one season in the Majors and it was with the Padres, the team that drafted him. Franklin did not even play an entire season, pitching in just three games, making one start.
His lone season in the Majors was 1971, the same year he was drafted. Franklin posted an 0-1 record with a 6.35 ERA. He logged just 5.2 innings in his three appearances.
Other notable first round picks from the 1971 draft include:
- Frank Tanana: drafted 13th overall by the California Angels.
- Jim Rice: drafted 15th overall by the Boston Red Sox.
- Terry Whitfield: drafted 19th overall by the New York Yankees.
- Rick Rhoden: drafted 20th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- Craig Reynolds: drafted 22nd overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 1972 draft will be the eighth installment of our draft history series. Number one overall went to the San Diego Padres in the person of Dave Roberts and number two overall went to the Cleveland Indians in the person of Rick Manning.
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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.
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