6TH WORST DAY IN BRAVES HISTORY: JUNE 7TH, 1981
WORST. DRAFT. EVER.
(Note: much of this was written by Grant Bisbee for SB Nation)
The draft the Atlanta Braves had in 1981 was like a pitcher going 0-for-50 for a season. Think about all of the awful-hitting pitchers you’ve watched.Randy Johnson, for instance. Even he could squeak out a few hits each season. The Braves couldn’t even draft a player that was the equivalent of a slow dribbler down the line that wouldn’t go foul.
The Braves selected 48 players that year, and not a single one played a day in the big leagues—the only time in draft history that a team has whiffed on all its picks.
Among 34 players taken in the June, regular phase, only one advanced even as high as Triple-A. It didn’t help the Braves cause that they didn’t have second- or third-round picks that year, but they rolled the dice on their top pick, Washington high-school outfielder Jay Roberts, a University of Washington football recruit who didn’t even play baseball his senior year -- partaking instead in track and field. Not surprisingly, Roberts hit just .187 with nine home runs in four minor-league seasons, none above Class A.
Fifty-one picks between the three phases of the draft. Zero major leaguers. How does this happen? Well, there are different ways to run a draft. Some are more successful than others. Using your first pick, the 12th-overall pick in the draft, on a player who doesn’t play baseball might be an iffy strategy:
"Everyone thought the Braves were crazy," said Sam Bakotich, the sports editor of The Chronicle in Centralia and who covered (Jay) Roberts’ career. "But they drafted what they thought was the best athlete available. They thought they could teach him how to hit a curveball. He could beat the hell out of a fastball, but he didn’t have much luck with a curveball."
Everyone was right. To be fair to the Braves, there weren’t a lot of successful picks right after Roberts. Still, they defied the odds by not getting anyone at all who played in the majors, even for just a Moonlight Graham cameo.
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The Braves' 2nd went round pick went to the Mets for Claudell Washington; their 3rd round pick went to the Yankees for signing Gaylord Perry.
So, who were the individuals responsible for the disaster of the 1981 draft?
The Director of Scouting was the legendary Paul Snyder. Roberts was “scouted” by the veteran former Yankees catcher Charlie Silvera and crosschecked by Bob Wadsworth (Braves Scout 1981-84).
How the hell did it happen?
Jay Roberts, called a "man among boys" as a prep athlete, leading the state in rushing for a state championship team in Centralia, Wash. Helping the baseball team out, this outfielder played just one baseball game his senior year. A Braves' scout (Silvera?) was at that game, in which he hit a home run, walked twice and stole three bases – and Atlanta made him the 11th draftee overall in 1981, and he accepted a $65,000 signing bonus.
He hit .187 in four minor-league seasons before giving up and going back to football. He was a linebacker for the Huskies, lettering three seasons (1984, '86, '87). He would run afoul of the law more than once and was ostracized by his alma mater. Then in 1998, at the age of 35, he rolled his car on Interstate 90 and was killed on Sept. 26. The accident received little mention in the Seattle media, and Baseball Reference still thinks he is alive.
More futility followed Roberts' pick.
Henry Aaron may be the greatest player in the history of the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, but his son Lary was part of one of the most infamous moments in franchise history. A 32nd-round pick of the Braves in 1981, the younger Aaron was a fringe element in the most-futile draft in baseball history. His Florida A&M teammate, the son of late Braves g.m. Bill Lucas, was also drafted.
One they did not sign was 13th round selection Kevin Towers. A juco pitcher, he instead went to BYU and was drafted and signed by the Padres the following season. He would work his way through the ranks and eventually became the club’s General Manager from 1995-2009.
In that role, he was most famous (infamous) in Atlanta for stonewalling the Braves in what seemed like a season-long quest to acquire Jake Peavy .
The Braves failed to sign the 10th, 12th-16th, 18th, 23rd, 26th-28th round picks.
Worst. Draft. Ever.
LINK TO ENTIRE 1981 DRAFT
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