In part one of my six part series on major league expansion drafts, I examine the first expansion draft in major league history, the 1961 expansion draft for the newest members of the American League, the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators.

RULES  
Every American League club had to make seven players from their active roster to the expansion teams as well as eight others from their 40-man roster. The expansion teams paid $75,000 for each of the 28 players they drafted as well as the option of drafting one non-roster player from each AL franchise for $25,000. 

THE FIRST PICKS  
The Angels had the first pick in the draft and drafted Yankee pitcher Eli Grba with the first pick. Grba went 6-4 the previous season with the American League pennant winning Yankees in his second full major league season. The Senators then went and selected another Yankee pitcher Bobby Shantz. Shantz, a former MVP with the Phillies, was 34 at the time of the draft. Pitchers would remain the theme for the first part of the draft, as the first twenty picks were spent on them. (Writer’s Note: This is probably the way the draft was set up, however, I couldn’t find anything to back that statement up.)  

Grba went 11-13 for the Angels in their expansion season, logging in over 210 innings on the mound with a respectable 4.25 ERA. However, Grba would never come close to matching those totals again, going 9-11 over the next two years with Los Angeles before retiring. The Senators first pick, Shantz, never even appeared in a game with Washington. Shantz, a seven time gold glover, was dealt to Pittsburgh in exchange for Bennie Daniels, Harry Bright and R.C. Stevens. Los Angeles’ second pick, Jerry Casale, pitched in fifteen games for the Angels before being traded toDetroit for Jim Donohue. Dave Sisler, Washington’s second selection, went 2-8 in his only season with the Senators before being traded to Cincinnati.  

IMMEDIATE CONTRIBUTORS (1961 SEASON)
Baltimore supplied the Senators with many regulars for Washington’s inaugural season. The ex-Orioles who were regulars for the expansion team were 38-year-old outfielder Gene Woodling (20^th pick), leftfielder Chuck Hinton (22^nd pick), and catcher Gene Green (23^rd pick). Woodling led the team with a .313 batting average; Hinton led the team with twenty-two steals in his rookie season and was a key contributor in the Senators first few seasons and Green led the club with 18 big flies. The draft also provided Washington with three other starters: first baseman Dale Long, shortstop Coot Veal and outfielder Marty Keough.  

Although not really an expansion pick, Daniels led the team with 12 wins after being acquired from the Pirates for Shantz and Dick Donavon, an additional selection from Chicago with the 56^th pick in the draft, posted a 2.40 ERA for the Senators. Sisler was also the team’s closer for the 1961 season. 

One of the more intriguing picks in the draft was that of the Angels selection of first baseman Steve Bilko, a minor league star for many years, including a three year stint with the Los Angeles Angels, then with the Pacific Coast League, where he amassed 148 home runs and 428 RBI between 1955 to 1957. The selection was really to draw fans to the seats, to watch the popular Bilko. But Bilko produced on the field for the Angels, hitting .279 with 20 home runs. The Angels got a lot of home run production in the expansion draft, including Bilko (20), Earl Averill (21), Ken Hunt (25), and Ted Kluszewski (15). Also making their debuts for the Angels late in September was expansion picks Jim Fergosi and Dean Chance (see below for more). 

Ken McBride, the Halos’ 8^th selection from Chicago, turned out to be their rotation workhorse. McBride led the team in ERA (3.65), Wins (12), Innings (241.7), Strikeouts (180), Starts (38) and Complete Games (11). McBride and Grba turned out to be a good 1-2 rotation punch for the Halos. 

NOTABLE SELECTIONS
Jim Fergosi, one of the better shortstops from the ‘60s, was selected from Boston in the expansion draft (23^rd pick). Fergosi won six all-star awards with the Angels in the ‘60s, where he became the face of the franchise in the earlier days. Chance was the first big pitching star for the Angels, winning the 1964 Cy Young award with an incredible 1.65 ERA.  

The Halos also picked aging pitcher Ned Garver, a one time twenty game winner for the hapless St. Louis Browns, with their 8^th pick, although Garver only appeared in 12 games with Los Angeles before retiring. Their twelfth selection, catcher Buck Rodgers went on to manage Montreal, Milwaukee and the Angels (twice); winning the National League Manager of the Year award with the Expos in 1987. Eddie Yost, ‘The Walking Man’, was also drafted by Los Angeles (a .394 OBP despite a .254 batting average.) 

The Senators didn’t have an expansion draft like the Angels did. While the Angels found Fergosi and Chance, the Senators never got a player out of the draft that helped them in the long term. Their only notable selection is Haywood Sullivan, who is most likely remembered as the less then popular general manager of the Boston Red Sox during the late ‘70s-early ‘80s.  

INAUGURAL SEASONS

The Angels went 70-91, a respectable record for an expansion team, and finished tied for seventh with the Minnesota Twins. Outfielder Leon Wagner posted a line of .280-28-79 after being acquired from Toronto (International League) in April. McBride and reliever Ryne Duren were American League all-stars.

The Senators went 61-100, finishing last in the American League. Their only all-star was Donavon and the team would record 100 losses for three straight seasons after 1961. Their only winning season in their ten years in Washington was in 1969, where the team went 86-76 under manager Ted Williams. The team moved to Arlington in 1972 and the franchise is still without a World Series win and has only made three playoff apperances.

“First in Peace, first in War, last in the American League” – unknown about the Senators.