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The 1969 Draft: Jeff Burroughs versus J.R. Richard

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Jeff_Burroughs_TEXWe just cannot seem to get enough of the Amateur Baseball Draft, which is why we are bringing you the fifth installment of our draft history series, this time featuring the 1969 draft.

Jeff Burroughs was taken number one overall by the Washington Senators and J.R. Richard was taken number two overall by the Houston Astros. Once again, the state with the most first-round draft picks was California. Of the 24 first-round picks, just three came from the collegiate levels.

The 1969 draft is the first in history with 24 picks in the first round as the Seattle Pilots, Montreal Expos, Kansas City Royals and San Diego Padres all entered the league.

The Pilots lasted just one season, 1969, before being purchased by future Commissioner Bud Selig, who moved the team to Milwaukee in 1970. There they began play as the Brewers. [Read more…]

The 1968 Draft: Tim Foli versus Thurman Munson

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pete brobergIn the fourth installment of our draft history series, we are going to examine the top picks from the 1968 Amateur Baseball June Draft, the fourth held in the league’s history. There were four players drafted out of college in the first round of this draft compared to just one from college in the 1967 draft. For the second straight year, the state of California dominated the first round, with six of its residents being drafted by Major League teams.

The number one overall pick in the 1968 draft was shortstop Tim Foli, who was selected by the New York Mets out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. The number two overall pick was pitcher Pete Broberg, who was selected by the Oakland Athletics out of Palm Beach High School in West Palm Beach, Florida. Broberg did not sign with Athletics, which means we have to move down the list. [Read more…]

The 1967 Draft: Ron Blomberg versus Terry Hughes

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john mayberry srIn the third installment of our draft history series we take a look at the 1967 Amateur Baseball June Draft, the third held in the history of the league. The first 19 picks of the first round were high school players. The lone college player, Don Denbow from Southern Methodist, was taken with the 20th and final pick of the first round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He never played in the Majors. Seven of the 20 picks in the first round were natives of California.

The number one overall pick was Ron Blomberg, who was selected by the New York Yankees. The number two overall pick was Terry Hughes, who was selected by the Chicago Cubs. Blomberg has the distinction of becoming the first-ever Designated Hitter in history. [Read more…]

Rule 4 Draft and JAV Baseball Merging

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As we work on the redesign for our Rule 4 Draft site we have come to a decision to merge the site with JAV Baseball and will be moving content over for the next couple of days.

We would like to thank all of the readers of JAV Baseball for sticking with us since our inception even during times when the site was down because of problems.

We feel that by merging the two sites we can focus mainly on the Rule 4 Draft while also adding in some generic baseball content along the way. [Read more…]

The 1966 Draft: Steve Chilcott versus Reggie Jackson

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Baseball’s amateur draft, born in 1965, is one of the toughest drafts to predict each year. Players drafted in any round could turn out to be a franchise player or one of the biggest busts in the history of the game; there is just no way of knowing prior to calling that player’s name on draft day. This is our second installment in a series of articles analyzing the top two picks in each year’s draft. Today we are taking a look at the 1966 draft, which featured the New York Mets picking number one overall and the Kansas City Athletics picking second overall.

The Mets went with catcher Steve Chilcott from Lancaster, California and the Athletics went with outfielder Reggie Jackson from Arizona State. With the first pick in the 1966 draft, the Mets had the opportunity to take a promising outfielder from the collegiate ranks but instead chose a catcher out of high school. Jackson would wind up playing in New York but not for the Mets. [Read more…]

The 1965 Draft: Rick Monday versus Les Rohr

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As the month of April enters its final week and the June amateur draft keeps rumbling towards us like Pete Rose barreling towards home, I couldn’t help but wonder how all of the top two picks in the history of the draft stand up against each other when it comes to careers. Not many number one and number two overall picks have had successful Major League careers but one cannot help but wonder what could have been for some teams if they could pick again.

The draft’s first year was in 1965, with a total of 20 number one overall picks in history named to at least one All-Star team during their careers. Only two number one overall picks retired from the game of baseball without ever playing a Major League game while only two players taken number one overall were named Rookies of the Year. Since 1965, 23 number one overall picks were taken right out of high school.

Even though the draft has only been around since 1965, this will have to be an ongoing series of articles examining the top two picks in each year’s draft because there is so much to delve into when you compare two players.

The first installment in this series begins with the inaugural draft, featuring Rick Monday, drafted number one overall by the Kansas City Athletics and Les Rohr, drafted number two overall by the New York Mets. [Read more…]

Welcome to Our New Site

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Hello baseball fans,

Welcome to our new website: Rule 4 Draft. For those of you not familiar with the Rule 4 Draft, it is the annual amateur Major League Baseball draft where high school and collegiate players are taken by Major League teams.

This website is dedicated to the Rule 4 Draft. We will discuss everything you can think of regarding the draft from unsigned picks to players drafted multiple times to what-if draft scenarios. [Read more…]