|
June 15, 1938
The Oakland Oaks won what amounted to be a coin toss for the right to draft a slugging teenaged outfielder from San Diego named Ted Williams, and that's exactly what they did with the first pick in today's rookie draft. Williams, who projects as an eventual batting champion, home run champion, or both, will report directly to Oakland, where he'll play right field and bat in the heart of the lineup.
The Los Angeles Angels quickly snapped up lefthander Hal Newhouser with the second pick. Newhouser, too, looks like he'll be a great player one day, but at age 17, he'll need quite a bit of seasoning.
Dizzy Trout, another highly regarded pitcher, was chosen fourth overall by Brooklyn. The Baltimore Orioles chose a line-drive machine from Japan, 1B Tetsuharu Kawakami, at #6, right before the St. Louis Cardinals selected powerful LF Charlie Keller.
The Chicago White Sox were pleasantly surprised to see CF Barney McCosky still on the board when their turn came up at #18. And the Oaks never imagined a player as promising as 1B Mickey Vernon would still be available in the second round, so they grabbed him while they could.
|