MLB draft began with Rick Monday - and low signing bonuses

Baseball fans remember Rick Monday for rescuing the American flag from protesters trying to set it on fire during a 1976 Cubs-Dodgers game in Los Angeles.

But Monday had already made history in 1965 as the first player chosen in the newly created major league amateur draft.

The woeful Kansas City Athletics spent its first pick on Monday, an outfielder for college world series champ Arizona State and College Player of the Year.

The inaugural draft was, in one UPI writer's view, "designed to eliminate astronomical bonus giveaways."

Designed to discourage wealthy clubs from outbidding other clubs for prospects, only to bury them in their farm systems, the bonus rule went into effect in 1947.

If a player received a signing bonus in excess of $4,000, he had to remain on the 25-man roster for two full seasons.

The roll call of "bonus babies" between 1947 and 1965, when the draft was instituted, included Al Kaline, who received a $35,000 bonus from the Detroit Tigers, and Harmon Killebrew, a $30,000 bonus baby signed by the Washington Senators.

The immortal Sandy Koufax proved a comparative bargain at $24,000 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, while Catfish Hunter paid World Series dividends on the Kansas City A's' $75,000 investment.

On the other end of the spectrum was Northwestern University's Jay Hook, signed by Cincinnati for $65,000 but destined to earn the New York Mets' very first win in 1962. He would be on the hook for more losses than wins, though, compiling a 29-62 record with a 5.23 ERA over an eight-year career.

Chicago's bonus babies were less stratospheric than Kaline or Koufax. They included White Sox catcher John (Honey) Romano and Cubs pitcher Moe Drabowsky.

With the draft, draftees had to come to terms with the teams that picked them or wait until a subsequent draft.

None of the first-round picks in the first amateur draft in 1965 made it to Cooperstown.

Although the list included such future All-Stars as Jim Spencer and the ill-fated Ray Fosse, it was cluttered with less stellar players, among them Eddie Leon, a middle infielder who played with the White Sox during the Dick Allen era, and future White Sox manager Gene Lamont.

The Cubs chose pitcher Rick James from Coffee High School in Florence, Alabama. James actually had a cup of coffee with the North Siders in 1967, pitching one out short of five innings, with a less than super freaky 0-1 record and a 13.50 ERA.

No coffee was left in the pot for the White Sox pick, Notre Dame Fighting Irish catcher Ken Plesha, who spent three seasons in the minors with the Sox. Plesha went on to serve 25 years as treasurer for the village of McCook. The McCook Park District, which he managed for almost 40 years, dedicated a ballfield in his name.

It was in the later rounds of the 1965 draft that baseball would find a bumper crop of future major leaguers, including Johnny Bench, Graig Nettles, and Ken Holtzman.

Reflecting 50 years later, Monday, who built a solid 19-year career, helping the Dodgers to a 1981 world series flag, and later graduated to the broadcast booth, said, "Every year that No. 1 pick is selected, and I know what they're going to go through."

He talked about the burden placed on top picks, saying that "many No. 1 picks have more expectations than the guy selected right behind them.

"If you hit two home runs in a game, why didn't you hit three? If you have four hits in a game, why didn't you have five?"

The pressure can be just as great on the team shouldering the task of making that top pick.

In 1985, the White Sox, with the fifth overall pick, chose catcher Kurt Brown from Glendora High School in California. Brown never made it to the major leagues, but you may have heard of the next player chosen, Barry Bonds, taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates from Monday's alma mater, Arizona State.

Even after the Sox, with the first pick in the 1977 draft, chose Harold Baines, second-guessers still wondered if the Sox should have taken Paul Molitor, chosen by the Brewers as the third pick.

Will the feats of this year's Cubs pick, Jordan Wicks, or Sox pick, Colson Montgomery, match those of such Chicago first-rounders as Kris Bryant and Frank Thomas?

Or will they join the disappointments, the Corey Pattersons and Gordon Beckhams?

That discussion will have to wait for another day.