| TOP 10 DRAFT PICKS, 1965 |
Not since June 8, 1965, when baseball’s first draft was conducted amidst great intrigue and a carnival atmosphere at New York’s Commodore Hotel, with representatives of all 20 big league club on site to make 826 selections, has the baseball draft been conducted with greater fanfare as will occur this year when the draft makes it’s long-awaited debut on TV. ESPN2 will televise the first round this year, along with select supplemental first-rounders from Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.
With no track record to work from, teams conducted the 1965 draft largely by the seat of their pants and only 11 of 20 first-rounders were drafted and signed who eventually played in the big leagues, including No. 1 overall pick Rick Monday of the Kansas City A’s. His signing bonus of $100,000 was less than half what outfielder Rick Reichardt signed for with the Angels on the open market a year earlier. The first draft was such a crapshoot that four future Hall of Famers—Johnny Bench (Reds, 2nd round), Carlton Fisk (Orioles, 19th round), Nolan Ryan (Mets, 10th round) and Tom Seaver (Dodgers, 8th round)—weren’t drafted in the first round. In the case of Fisk and Seaver, neither player was even signed.
Following are the first 10 players drafted in 1965, and their signing bonuses. |
| |
| |
Player, Pos., Club |
Signing
Bonus |
| 1. |
Rick Monday, of, Athletics |
$100,000 |
| 2. |
Les Rohr, lhp, Mets |
50,000 |
| 3. |
Joe Coleman, rhp, Senators |
65,000 |
| 4. |
*Alex Barrett, ss, Astros |
40,000 |
| 5. |
Billy Conigliaro, of, Red Sox |
62,500 |
| 6. |
Rick James, rhp, Cubs |
40,000 |
| 7. |
Ray Fosse, c, Indians |
28,000 |
| 8. |
*John Wyatt, ss, Dodgers |
40,000 |
| 9. |
Eddie Leon, ss, Twins |
Did not sign |
| 10. |
*Doug Dickerson, of, Pirates |
25,000 | |
| * Did not play in major leagues |
| --Allan Simpson |
|