WHOLE NEW BALL GAME
Ken Singleton was drafted by the Mets long before John Gibbons, whose money-ball game wasn’t exactly up to speed at a time when prospects made a lot less.
While MLB’s annual draft of amateur free agents dominated the attention of the Blue Jays front office, manager John Gibbons tried to maintain his focus on the difficult — and becoming more difficult — task of winning ball games.
A proper evaluation of the Jays’ draft performance might not be made for years to come. In the meantime, the results on the field are likely keeping Gibbons up at night. Is help on the way from the draft? Not for at least another three or four years.
Gibbons, who turns 56 on Friday, took time out from his daily routine to look back on his own draft year in 1980, as a senior at MacArthur High School in San Antonio, Texas. The 17-year-old catcher had a commitment to be a Longhorn at University of Texas, but was chosen in the first round by the New York Mets, 24th overall. He didn’t have any high-profile adviser negotiating for him.
“I was at my high school field working out and somebody in the clubhouse came down and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a phone call,’ ” Gibbons recalled of the big day. “It was draft day and it was (Mets public relations director) Jay Horwitz.”
The Mets sent scout Jim Hughes down to Texas to reel in their stud prospect. Hughes scouted some great players for the Mets from 1969 to 1980 and went on to join the Jays’ staff, a group that struck gold in the first round for 11 consecutive years from the mid-1990s and beyond under GMs Pat Gillick and Gord Ash.
“A scout came over to my house,” Gibbons recalled. “My dad and I, we didn’t know what was going on. I had a chance to play pro ball. This scout, Jim Hughes, he comes in and sits down. He didn’t talk much at all. He said, ‘Well, we’re going to offer you $45,000.’ After that we were trying to make conversation, but it was going nowhere. He said that (amount is) probably the best we can do.”
The sophistication of today’s teenage prospects was not there back in 1980. Today, even before they are drafted, the high school and college players can see online exactly how many bonus dollars are assigned to each slot. When their name comes up, they know exactly what they should ask for.
“So (the scout) leaves,” Gib- bons said. “And I told my dad, I said, ‘Damn, I don’t know if they want me.’ My dad said to come up with a number and call him at his hotel and see what he says. So I said, ‘All right let’s ask for ($55,000).’ I called him at the hotel and I said I’ll take 55 and I’ll sign right now, and he said, ‘OK, I’ll be right there.’ My dad had to co-sign. I was still 17 and I went off to Kingsport (Tenn.).”
In hindsight, the Mets had a pretty solid draft in 1980. First overall, they chose Darryl Strawberry. Then at No. 23, just before Gibbons, they selected outfielder Billy Beane, currently GM of the A’s. To begin the second round, New York chose right-hander Jay Tibbs, who also became a solid major leaguer.
“So Tibbs and Strawberry came to Kingsport where I was, and Beane went to the New York-Penn League,” Gibbons said. “Strawberry and Tibbs get there and, after I got to know them, I asked them. I asked Straw, I said, ‘Hey what was their first offer to you?’ He had held out for six weeks. He said $45,000 and he was No. 1 pick in the nation. I think he ended up getting $230,000.
“Then I went to Instructional League and that’s where I met Beane. I asked him, ‘What did they offer you?’ and he said (45,000). He held out too — about the same length of time as Straw did — and he got, like, 140. Then I asked the guy who was picked behind me (Tibbs). I asked ‘What did they offer you?’ He said 45 and I asked ‘What did you sign for?’ and he said 95. I said, what a dumbass am I.”
That was a fascinating and eclectic crop for the Mets in 1980, one that also included a skinny middle infielder from Worcester, Mass. named J.P. Ricciardi, who went on to become GM of the Jays in 2002 and hired Gibbons as his bullpen catcher.
Then there was a 20-year-old left-hander from Toronto named Mark Zwolinski, my colleague who now covers baseball and hockey for the Star.
Yankees broadcaster Ken Singleton was at the Rogers Centre for the Jays-Yankees series and took time out to talk about his own experience as a switch-hitting outfielder from White Plains, N.Y., attending Hofstra University as a freshman and yearning to turn pro. The talented switch-hitter, who grew up admiring Mickey Mantle, was taken third overall by the Mets in January 1967.
Singleton went on to a fine playing career with the Mets, Expos and Orioles before returning to Montreal to start a successful broadcast career with hall of fame radio man Dave Van Horne. Singleton is with the YES Network now and plans on retiring after this season.
“I was so happy to be drafted, and then to be drafted by your hometown team,” Singleton recalled, “that it made it even more special because my dad was a big Mets fan. It wasn’t much (money). I just wanted to get going.”
Meanwhile in this year’s draft, some 51 years after Singleton was picked and 38 after Gibbons, the Jays’ first pick, 12th overall, was a lanky high school shortstop from Texas named Jordan Groshans. In the MLB slotting system, he is valued at just over $4.2 million. This game has really changed.