Starting Fresh: The Expansion of 1969

In part three of my six part series on major league expansion drafts, I examine the third and fourth expansion drafts in major league history, the 1969 expansion in which the American League and National League expanded to 12 teams each.

RULES
The American League and National League had pretty much the same guidelines for the drafts. Each existing club could protect 15 players off of their 40-man roster and protect three more after each round (a round consisted of five picks for each expansion club). Each team picked 30 players at $175,000 apiece.

THE FIRST PICKS
The Kansas City Royals owned the first pick in the American League’s draft and chose Baltimore pitcher Roger Nelson. Nelson spent five seasons with the Royals, his best season coming in 1972 when he finished with a record of 11-6. But it was the second selection, Don Mincher, who made the bigger impact. Mincher, a first baseman, was a contributor during Seattle’s only season in 1969. Mincher tied his single season record with 25 home runs and drove in a career high 78, in the process becoming an all-star for the second time in his career.

Seattle owned the third pick and made another impact selection in utility speedster Tommy Harper. Despite a .235 average, Harper stole an American League-high 73 bases and garnered a few MVP votes at season’s end as well. Harper’s 1970 season, with the Pilots now in Milwaukee, was even better. His average improved all the way up to .296 and he boosted his home run total from 9 to 31. The Royals picked Joe Foy with the fourth pick and while he drove in 71 runs in 1969, Foy brought in one of the first great Royals, as he was traded for Amos Otis after the ’69 season.

The National League opened up its expansion draft with the San Diego Padres selecting cannon armed right fielder Ollie ‘Downtown’ Brown. Brown posted consecutive seasons of 20+ homeruns after being drafted by San Diego and lasted 3 ½ seasons with the Padres before being traded to Oakland. Manny Mota became Canada’s first major league player after being drafted by the Montreal Expos at #2. Mota played in 31 games with Montreal before being sent to Los Angeles. Pitcher Dave Guisti (Padres) and outfielder Mack Jones (Expos) rounded out the first four picks.

IMMEDIATE CONTRIBUTORS (1969 SEASON)
Outside of their first two draft choices, Seattle didn’t get much more out of the expansion draft before they became the Brewers. Their third selection, Ray Oyler, was the Pilots everyday shortstop despite hitting a measly .165. Reliever Diego Segui was only one of the two Pilot pitchers to have a winning record at 12-6 (the other being Jim Bouton at 2-1). Segui pitched over 100 innings that season, most of them coming out of the bullpen.

The Royals were led offensively by two expansion picks: Lou Piniella and Mike Fiore. Piniella was Rookie of the Year in 1969, hitting .282 with 11 home runs and 68 RBIs. Sweet Lou was actually drafted by the Pilots in the draft and ended up in Kansas City via trade a few days before the start of the season. Fiore, a rookie first baseman from the Baltimore organization, hit twelve of his career thirteen home runs in the 1969 campaign with a .420 OBP. Wally Bunker, a former 19-game winner with Baltimore, anchored Kansas City’s rotation, going 13-12 with a 3.23 ERA.

San Diego didn’t have one regular who batted over .270 (team average: .225) so they relied on power to generate their runs. First baseman Nate Colbert, selected from Houston, knocked 24 balls out of the park along with Brown, who hit 20. Still, Preston Gomez’s squad could only muster 2.89 runs per games, almost a full run behind second-to-last Montreal. The Expos had their offense supplied by two guys as well, Jones and newly acquired Rusty Staub. Coco Laboy, a late pick from St. Louis, led the team with 83 RBIs.

NOTABLE SELECTIONS
Piniella became a regular on the Yankee teams of the ‘70s and also was a two-time Manager of the Year in the American League after his playing days. Pinella wasn’t the only future manager to be drafted in the two expansion drafts. Cito Gaston, who would win two World Series rings with the Blue Jays as a manager, hit 29 home runs as an all-star with San Diego in 1970. The man Gaston replaced as manager in Toronto, Jimy Williams, was drafted by Montreal. The Expos also took their future general manager and current Angels GM, Bill Stoneman.

Hoyt Wilhelm, the great knuckleballer, was drafted in the late rounds by Kansas City but was traded to California before he even wore a Royals uniform. Another great, shortstop Maury Wills, was drafted by Montreal 21^st overall and became the first batter in Expos history, but he too was traded, to Los Angeles were he would finish his career. Jesus Alou was also taken by Montreal but was part of the trade that allowed the Expos to acquire Staub.

INAUGURAL SEASONS
The only high point in the Pilots’ season came on opening day, when they defeated California. That was one of their 64 wins of the season as they finished with a 64-98 record in their only season in King County, before moving to Milwaukee. The only thing the Pilots are known for today is being the franchise at the center of reliever Jim Bouton’s Ball Four. The Royals did a lot better in that they posted both a better record and enjoyed a longer stay than their American League expansion rivals. They posted 69 wins with a very young ball club, one that would pave the way for the club’s first playoff appearance seven years later. Catcher Ellie Rodriguez was the only Royal representative at the all-star game. The Padres and Expos both finished at the bottom of the National League’s barrel with 110 losses. The Nos z’Amours (our beloved ones), as the Quebec media began to call the Expos, captured the country’s attention with a great start, capped off by Bill Stoneman’s no-hitter against the Phillies in mid-April. But the Expos’ pitching began to betray the club and the team went on a horrid 20-game losing streak, starting in mid-May, that sunk them for good.