1977 Major League Baseball draft explained

1977 Major League Baseball draft
First:	Harold Baines Chicago White Sox
First Round:	26
Prev:	1976
Next:	1978

The 1977 Major League Baseball draft took place prior to the 1977 MLB season. The draft saw the Chicago White Sox select Harold Baines first overall.

First round selections

= All-Star

= Baseball Hall of Famer

The following are the first round picks in the 1977 Major League Baseball draft.^[1]

1	Harold Baines	Chicago White Sox	OF	St. Michaels, Maryland
2	Bill Gullickson	Montreal Expos	RHP	Orland Park, Illinois
3	Paul Molitor	Milwaukee Brewers	SS
4	Tim Cole	Atlanta Braves	LHP
5	Kevin Richards	Detroit Tigers	RHP
6	Terry Kennedy	St. Louis Cardinals	C	Florida State University
7	Richard Dotson	California Angels	RHP
8	Brian Greer	San Diego Padres	OF
9	David Hibner	Texas Rangers	SS	Howell, Michigan
10	Craig Landis	San Francisco Giants	SS
11	Bruce Compton		OF
12	Randy Martz	Chicago Cubs	RHP
13	Andrew Madden	Boston Red Sox	RHP
14	Ricky Adams	Houston Astros	SS
15	Paul Croft	Minnesota Twins	OF
16	Wally Backman	New York Mets	SS	Beaverton, Oregon
17	Craig Harris	Oakland Athletics	RHP
18	Anthony Nicely	Pittsburgh Pirates	OF
19	Drungo Hazewood	Baltimore Orioles	OF
20	Bob Welch	Los Angeles Dodgers	RHP	Eastern Michigan
21	Mike Jones	Kansas City Royals	LHP	Pittsford, New York
22	Scott Munninghoff	Philadelphia Phillies	RHP	Cincinnati, Ohio
23	Steve Taylor	New York Yankees	RHP	Delaware
24	Tad Venger	Cincinnati Reds	3B	Newhall, California
25	Tom Goffena	Toronto Blue Jays	SS	Sidney, Ohio
26	Dave Henderson	Seattle Mariners	OF	Dos Palos, California

Other notable selections

= All-Star

= Baseball Hall of Famer

^[2]

Round	Pick	Player	Team	Position
2	29	Kevin Bass	Milwaukee Brewers	OF
2	38	Terry Francona	Chicago Cubs	1B
2	42	Mookie Wilson	New York Mets	OF
3	54	Scott Sanderson	Montreal Expos	RHP
4	84	Jim Gott	St. Louis Cardinals	RHP
4	85	Brian Harper	California Angels	C
4	86	Ozzie Smith	San Diego Padres	SS
5	106	Tim Raines	Montreal Expos	OF
5	124	Mickey Hatcher	Los Angeles Dodgers	OF
9	233	Jesse Barfield	Toronto Blue Jays	OF
11	270	Chili Davis	San Francisco Giants	OF
15	389	Danny Ainge	Toronto Blue Jays	INF
16	416	Tony Phillips	Seattle Mariners	INF/OF
17	429	Gary Redus	Boston Red Sox	OF
36	762	Tom Niedenfuer	Los Angeles Dodgers	RHP

• Did not sign

Background

The White Sox surprised some when they passed on right-handed pitcher Bill Gullickson, a native of nearby Orland Park, Illinois, and selected outfielder Harold Baines as the number one pick in the draft. White Sox owner Bill Veeck had seen Baines play little league baseball in Maryland and had followed his progress through the years. After spending three seasons in the minors, Baines was a fixture in the White Sox lineup for 10 seasons.

With Gullickson available, Montreal selected the pitcher second overall, and eventually pitcher Scott Sanderson in the third round and outfielder Tim Raines in the fifth.

Shortstop Tom Goffena from Sidney, Ohio became the Toronto Blue Jays' first draft pick as he was chosen 25th in the first round. The Seattle Mariners picked 26th and took outfielder Dave Henderson from Dos Palos, California as their first draft pick. The Blue Jays also picked Danny Ainge out of Brigham Young University in the 15th round. Ainge, who was also drafted by the NBA's Boston Celtics, later quit baseball for a career in basketball as a player, coach and executive.^[3]

External links

• Complete draft list from The Baseball Cube database

Notes and References

1. Web site: MLB First Round Draft Picks - 1977 . 2008-04-02 .
2. Web site: 1977 Baseball Draft by Baseball Almanac. www.baseball-almanac.com. 2018-05-22.
3. Web site: Background on the 1977 MLB Draft. 2008-04-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080402021303/http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/draft/index.jsp?feature=decade1970s. 2 April 2008 . live.