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General  | Top Ten | 3/3/2009

'79 Draft Had Football Flavor

Allan Simpson
The signing period for the nation’s top college football recruits began today. Generally, there is intrigue in the proceedings from a baseball standpoint as many of the top signees are often dual-sport athletes who have excelled in high school in both football and baseball.

This year, the list of elite-level high-school football recruits who possess the talent to play baseball at the professional level—now or in the future—is rather slim.

The most prominent such athlete is North Carolina-bound outfielder Donavan Tate—currently ranked sixth by PG Crosschecker among top prospects for this year’s baseball draft. The Cartersville, Ga., high-school product is also ranked No. 90 on ESPN’s Scouts, Inc.’s list of the nation’s top 150 football recruits. Only three other players on the list are considered noteworthy baseball prospects.

That’s in stark contrast to 2006, when the list of top football signees who went on to be selected in the baseball draft in June of that year included the likes of Florida State wide receiver Riley Cooper (Phillies, 15th round),Washington quarterback Jake Locker (Angels, 40th round), Louisiana State wide receiver Jared Mitchell (Twins, 10th round) and Florida State quarterback D’Vontrey Richardson (Nationals, 35th round).

All four athletes would have been drafted considerably higher had only baseball been in the equation, and all have pursued football with more abandon in college than baseball. But they are all expected to be selected again in this year’s baseball draft—and may end up playing baseball in the long run, though the supremely-talented Locker may be a lockshot to pry away from a pending NFL career.

Little of the hype and fanfare that accompany today’s football signing period (and even the baseball draft) was even remotely evident 30 years ago, but perhaps the greatest collection of dual-sport athletes to ever emerge in one high school class came along in 1979. They were part of both that year’s football early-signing class and the prep baseball draft class.

We can look no further than the 1983 NFL draft for evidence. That was considered a landmark draft for quarterbacks by NFL standards, and John Elway and Dan Marino were among six QBs drafted in the first round. Running back Curt Warner also was a first-round pick in that draft. All three were heavily-solicited prep football recruits in 1979—and, coincidentally, were picked in that year’s baseball draft.

In all, the 1979 baseball draft produced at least 13 players who enjoyed or went on to enjoy outstanding college football careers—including 11 who subsequently were drafted by NFL teams or played in the NFL. By contrast, only three of the 13 played in the big leagues.

Elway, Jay Schroeder and John Leister were the only three to play professionally in both sports. Leister, a 20th-round pick of the New York Mets out of a Montana high school in 1979, is the only player from that draft to reach the top in both sports. After a career as an all-Big 10 QB at Michigan State, he played briefly for the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers; he later signed a baseball contract as a non-drafted free agent and went on to play briefly for the Boston Red Sox.

Elway is the most celebrated two-sport athlete in the 1979 draft. He didn’t sign at the time, but was drafted in the second round by the New York Yankees after his sophomore year at Stanford, signed a $75,000 bonus and played six weeks of minor-league baseball in the Yankees system before launching a Hall of Fame career as a quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Schroeder spent four years in the minors with the Toronto Blue Jays, none above Class A, before giving up baseball to engage in a 10-year NFL career. Both quarterbacks led teams to Super Bowl titles.

Interestingly, the Kansas City Royals selected both Elway (17th round) and Marino (4th round) in the 1979 draft. As blue-chip quarterback recruits, neither expressed more than a passing interest to play professional baseball out of high school and went on to distinguished footballs careers—both in college and the NFL.

Had he been considered more signable at the time, Elway almost certainly would have been an early first-round pick in the 1979 baseball draft. He was at least on par as a baseball prospect with Schoeder, who was the third overall pick that year. Schroeder reached an agreement with the Blue Jays on a $135,000 bonus in mid-August that year to play minor-league baseball in the summer and college football in the fall for UCLA, and his career took off when he abandoned baseball. The Washington Redskins selected him in the third round of the 1984 draft.

Schroeder wasn’t the only first-rounder in the ’79 baseball draft with a significant football connection. No. 1 overall pick Al Chambers was an all-state defensive end from Pennsylvania who had committed to play football at Arizona State—though that was considered more of a bargaining chip in his negotiations with the Seattle Mariners.

Rick Leach, the University of Michigan quarterback who finished third in the 1978 Heisman Trophy balloting, opted for a baseball career when he was drafted in the first round by the Detroit Tigers. He went on to play 10 years in the big leagues, and arguably had the best baseball career of all the football players selected in the 1979 draft.

Baseball’s fixation with football players at the time didn’t stop there, and the list of draft picks in 1979 included:

--Outfielder Jack Thompson, who in 1978 set a then-NCAA record for career passing yardage while a quarterback at Washington State. The Throwin’ Samoan was the first-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1979 NFL, though that didn’t stop Thompson’s home-state Mariners from selecting him in the 34th round of the baseball draft two months later.

--California prep righthander Scott Lindquist, a third-round pick of the Reds who stayed on as a quarterback at Northern Arizona for four years, even after the school dropped its baseball program after his freshman year. He was selected in the 12th round of the ’83 draft by the Oakland Raiders, though never played in an NFL game.

--Bowling Green outfielder Jeff Groth, a 33rd-round pick of the Atlanta Braves who opted for football and went on to spend seven years in the NFL as a wide receiver.

--Southern Illinois outfielder Kevin House, a 27th-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals who went on to play eight years in the NFL as a wide receiver.

--Massachusetts high school outfielder Hank Landers, a 24th-round pick of the Oakland A’s who became a record-setting QB at Brown, before later playing in the Milwaukee Brewers system.

--California high-school outfielder Mike Dotterer, grandson of ex-big leaguer Dutch Dotterer. He passed on an 18th-round offer from the Yankees in 1979 to play football and baseball at Stanford alongside Elway. Dotterer is the only athlete in school history to earn letters all four years in both sports, and was later selected in the eighth round of the NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders.

Overall, the 1979 draft was hardly a model for sound, astute drafting—and not just because of the draft picks it wasted on players who chose to pursue football careers. Not only did Chambers, the top pick, flame out quickly after hitting just .208 in only 57 big-league games, but the most productive draft picks that year were two late-round selections: 17th rounder Orel Hershiser and 19th-rounder Don Mattingly.

Oklahoma prep first baseman Todd Demeter, son of ex-big leaguer Don Demeter, was regarded as one of the top talents in that year’s draft. But he had a huge price tag and no one bit until the Yankees, with no first-round pick, took a stab at him late in the second round. It cost them a then-bonus record $208,000. The return? Demeter hit .173 in one 34-game trial in Double-A.

For sheer futility, however, no first-round pick in 1979—or in draft history, for that matter—may have matched Minnesota’s Kevin Brandt, a career .154 hitter. Brandt, a high-school selection from Wisconsin, was such a bust that he drew his release little more than a year after signing with the Twins.

The 1979 draft set its own record for futility when a record four first-round selections, including both Oakland A’s picks, went unsigned. In fact, Charlie Finley’s A’s signed only three of their first 16 selections that year.

Given all that futility, it’s only appropriate that the football players who were drafted in 1979 didn’t pan out either.

Here’s our take on the 10 most prominent athletes with dual-sport connections that were drafted in 1979:
Rank Player Pos. Drafted by (Round) Football connection
1. #John Elway OF Royals (18) No. 1 pick ‘83 draft; NFL Hall of Famer
2. #Dan Marino RHP Royals (4) First-round pick ‘83, NFL Hall of Famer
3. #Jay Schroeder C Blue Jays (1) Quarterback, NFL (1985-94)
4. #Curt Warner OF Phillies (32) No. 3 overall pick, ’83 NFL draft
5. *Rick Leach OF Tigers (1) Third in 1978 Heisman voting
6. *#John Leister RHP Mets (20) All-Big 10 QB; played in NFL, MLB
7. #Jack Thompson OF Mariners (34) First-round pick, 1979 NFL draft
8. #Kevin House OF Cardinals (27) Wide receiver, NFL (1980-87)
9. #Jeff Groth OF Braves (33) Wide receiver, NFL (1979-85)
10. Scott Lindquist RHP Reds (3) 12th-round pick, Oakland Raiders (1983)
 
*Played Major League Baseball
#Played in National Football League
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