Agent Scott Boras, who is expected to engineer a record-breaking contract for free agent Alex Rodriguez this off-season that may be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, first came to national prominence with the 1983 baseball draft when he represented righthander Tim Belcher (Twins) and shortstop Kurt Stillwell (Reds), the top two selections that year.
Boras drove a hard bargain with the Twins, and never did get a deal done for Belcher—marking the last time that the No. 1 overall pick did not sign. But he did get Stillwell signed—for $135,000, the largest signing bonus in 1983.
Following are the 10 largest signing bonuses paid out that year. All players were first-round picks (order or selection noted in parentheses), but only one of the 10 was an unqualified success—see if you can spot which one: |
| |
| |
Player, Pos, Team (Order) |
Bonus |
| 1. |
Kurt Stillwell, ss, Reds (2) |
$135,000 |
| 2. |
Eddie Williams, 3b, Mets (4) |
130,000 |
| |
Matt Stark, c, Blue Jays (9) |
130,000 |
| 4. |
Roger Clemens, rhp, Red Sox (19) |
121,000 |
| 5. |
Robbie Wine, c, Astros (8) |
110,000 |
| 6. |
Darrel Akerfelds, rhp, Mariners (7) |
105,000 |
| 7. |
Jeff Kunkel, ss, Rangers (3) |
100,000 |
| |
Ray Hayward, lhp, Padres (10) |
100,000 |
| |
Eric Sonberg, lhp, Dodgers (18) |
100,000 |
| 10. |
Ron DeLucchi, of, Pirates (12) |
92,500 | |
| --ALLAN SIMPSON |
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