June 7, 1966: The Mets Draft Steve Chilcott -- Instead of Reggie Jackson

June 7, 1966: Major League Baseball holds its 2nd annual Amateur Draft. The top pick goes to the team that had the worst record the season before: The New York Mets.

They chose Steve Chilcott, a 17-year-old catcher from Antelope Valley High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Lancaster, California.

What happened to Steve Chilcott? A baserunning blunder wrecked his throwing shoulder. He never reached the major leagues, and he played his last professional game in 1972, only 24 years old. He moved to Santa Barbara, and became a firefighter and a contractor. In a 2005 interview, he said, "I've had a good life, although, at first, it was hard for me to find things to do, because I had such a desire to be a professional athlete. I had to find my place in the world."

With the 2nd pick, the Kansas City Athletics chose Reggie Jackson, an outfielder from Arizona State University.

There were other good picks in that draft. The Houston Astros chose pitcher Wayne Twitchell. The Boston Red Sox chose pitcher Ken Brett. The Washington Senators chose outfielder Tom Grieve. The Cleveland Indians chose pitcher John Curtis. The Cincinnati Reds chose pitcher Gary Nolan. The Pittsburgh Pirates chose shortstop (later 3rd baseman) Richie Hebner. The Chicago White Sox chose outfielder Carlos May.

That was just in the 1st Round. In the 2nd Round, the White Sox chose catcher Johnny Oates. In the 3rd Round, the St. Louis Cardinals chose pitcher Clay Kirby, and the Minnesota Twins chose 3rd baseman Steve Garvey. (He didn't sign with them. Two years later, the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him as a 1st baseman, and he signed with them.)

In the 5th Round, the Astros chose catcher Cliff Johnson, and the Pirates chose shortstop (later 2nd baseman) Dave Cash. In the 6th Round, the Pirates chose 2nd baseman Gene Clines. In the 8th Round, the Dodgers chose pitcher Charlie Hough. In the 9th Round, the California Angels chose pitcher Ken Forsch, and the Dodgers chose outfielder (later shortstop) Bill Russell.

With perhaps the most interesting pick in the draft, in the 10th Round, the New York Yankees chose a lefthanded pitcher from the University of Alabama: Ken Stabler. Instead of baseball, he chose football, and became a Hall of Fame quarterback with the Oakland Raiders. (John Elway, who later actually did play one season in the Yankee system, followed the same path.)

In the 15th Round, the Dodgers chose catcher (later 2nd baseman) Ted Sizemore. In the 19th Round, the Dodgers chose 3rd baseman Ron Cey. In the 20th Round, the Angels chose pitcher Dave LaRoche. In the 31st Round, the Chicago Cubs chose pitcher Bill Stoneman, and the Angels chose pitcher Bill Bonham. And in the 32nd Round, the Mets chose 2nd baseman Kurt Bevacqua.

So while Reggie turned out to be the best player in that Draft, he was far from the only good player who the Mets overlooked. But why did they overlook him? Arizona State head coach Bobby Winkles, who later managed the A's after Reggie left them, told him that the Mets were concerned that he was a black man with a white girlfriend. This was in 1966, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all laws against interracial marriage were unconstitutional.

In fact, Reggie's girlfriend, Jennie Campos, was a Mexican-American, who faced prejudice as well. Reggie and Jennie married, but it didn't last, as Reggie's wandering eye was as active as his batting eye. But he has managed to keep his private life mostly private. There have been no public stories about him mistreating women.

We can say that, as usual, the dumb Mets were so dumb in not taking Reggie. But the catcher they ended up with was Jerry Grote. How do we know a healthy Chilcott would have done better than Grote? We don't. So this is more about who they didn't take than about who they did.

With Reggie, the A's moved to Oakland in 1968, won 5 straight American League Western Division titles from 1971 to 1975, and won 3 straight World Series from 1972 to 1974. He signed with the Yankees for the 1977 season, and led them to back-to-back World Series wins, also winning an AL Eastern Division title in 1980 and an AL Pennant in 1981. After his relationship with team owner George Steinbrenner went from great to terrible, he signed with the Angels, and helped them to AL West titles in 1982 and 1986.

He retired with 563 career home runs, reached the postseason 11 times in 21 seasons, won 6 Pennants and 5 World Series, including the Series Most Valuable Player award twice, and was a 1st-year-of-eligibility electee to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Having Reggie wouldn't have helped the Mets much. Maybe it would have been better for Cub fans in 1969, since they probably wouldn't have had a big lead to blow, so it's less painful for them. And it would have reversed the result of the 1973 World Series, when Reggie homered in Game 7, and the A's beat the Mets.

But just as the A's players took their earliest possible chances to bolt from team owner Charlie Finley, his cheapness, and his micromanaging, the opposite happened with the similarly cheap president of the Mets, M. Donald Grant: He got rid of his good players before they demanded "too much." Can you imagine George Steinbrenner seeing Reggie Jackson playing the 1976 season for a National League team, and then going after a Mets legend, and making him a bigger star with the Yankees? So, having Reggie on their team might have ended up actually being more painful for Met fans.

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June 7, 1966 was a Tuesday. This was also the day civil rights activist James Meredith was shot. I have a separate entry for that event.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Fritz Peterson went the distance for the win. Bobby Richardson and Joe Pepitone hit home runs. Mickey Mantle went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Roger Maris went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 11-6 at Shea Stadium. Hank Aaron went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. He did not hit a home run for the Braves, but Joe Torre did. Dick Stuart, the power-hitting but horrible-fielding 1st baseman known as "Dr. Strangeglove," homered for the Mets.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Jim Bunning went the distance, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, no walks and 14 strikeouts. He beat Milt Pappas, whom the Reds had traded Frank Robinson to get. The only Reds run came on a home run by Leo Cárdenas. Pete Rose went 0-for-3.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Senators scored 2 runs in the top of the 12th inning, but in the bottom half, the O's scored 3, winning on an RBI single by Frank Robinson, who went 4-for-6. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Don Cardwell outpitches Bob Gibson. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Willie Stargell went 2-for-5. Lou Brock went 1-for-4.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Mickey Lolich outpitched Bob Sadowski. The only Sox run came on a home run by Tony Conigliario. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk. Al Kaline went 0-for-3.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Fergie Jenkins relieves Bob Hendley in the 5th inning, but gives up back-to-back home runs to Jim Lefebvre and Al Ferrara leading off the top of the 10th. It was Ferrara's 2nd homer of the game. Phil Regan is the winning pitcher, in relief of rookie Don Sutton. Ernie Banks went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-4.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-9 at the Astrodome in Houston. Willie Mays doubled, then left the game with an injury. His pinch-runner was Jesús Alou, who went to right field and went 3-for-4 with an RBI, as Ollie Brown moved from right to center.

* And the California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).