{"id":525,"date":"2008-06-20T06:00:03","date_gmt":"2008-06-20T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/20\/starting-fresh-the-expansion-of-1977\/"},"modified":"2008-06-20T06:02:26","modified_gmt":"2008-06-20T13:02:26","slug":"starting-fresh-the-expansion-of-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/20\/starting-fresh-the-expansion-of-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting Fresh: The Expansion of 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"

In part four of my six part series on major league expansion drafts, I examine the fifth expansion draft in major league history, the 1977 expansion draft for the newest members of the American League, the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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RULES<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe rules were similar to the American League\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s previous two <\/span>expansion <\/span>drafts. After the first two players were taken at $75,000 apiece and the third at $50,000, the existing teams had to take two more players on top of the original seven, and they were valued at $125,000 each (the expansion teams were not required to draft these players.)<\/o><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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THE FIRST PICKS<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe second rendition of an American League club in Seattle<\/st1> began when the now named Mariners selected <\/st1>Kansas City<\/st1> outfielder Ruppert Jones. The 21-year old Jones was both Rookie of the Year and an all-star in his first full major league season, hitting 24 home runs and driving in 76. With their first selection, <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> took Bob Bailor. Bailor, who couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t crack a good <\/st1>Baltimore<\/st1> line-up, stepped in and hit .310 in 1977. The speedy Bailor also won the first two Blue Jay Player of the Year awards in team history.<\/o><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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The next two draft picks came in the form of pitching with Gary Wheelock going to the Mariners with the third pick and Jerry Garvin moving even farther up north from Minnesota<\/st1> to <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1>. Wheelock spent parts of two years with the Mariners and Garvin had his best season in 1977, going 10-18, and was out of the Jays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rotation two seasons later. Garvin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most memorable moment came in May of the expansion year when he picked off four Oakland Athletic baserunners.<\/o><\/span><\/p>\n

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IMMEDIATE CONTRIBUTORS (1977 SEASON) <\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Mariners picked three players during the draft that would hit 20+ home runs during the 1977 season. Outfielder Leroy Stanton, one of the steals of the draft being selected at the 40th<\/sup> slot, hit a team leading 27 jacks. He was joined by Jones (24) and first baseman Dan Meyer (22). Meyer and Stanton also shared the team lead with 90 RBIs. Pitcher Glenn Abbott, selected out of <\/st1>Oakland<\/st1>, led the staff in many categories. Abbott pitched over 200 innings and finished the season with a 12-13 record.<\/o><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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Unlike their expansion partners, the Jays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 did not get much offense from the draft. Roy Hartsfield\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s club finished at the bottom of the American League in both runs and big flies. Bailor and third baseman Roy Howell, acquired in May from Texas<\/st1>, both hit over .300 for <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1>. Bailor also shared the team RBI lead with first baseman Doug Ault, both players finishing with 64. Ault will always be remembered by Blue Jay fans for swatting two baseballs over the fence at Exhibition Stadium during the teams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first game in franchise history.<\/span> <\/span><\/o><\/p>\n

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NOTABLE SELECTIONS<\/span><\/strong>
\nJim Clancy left his mark on <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> more then any other player selected in the 1977 draft. Clancy broke into the Blue Jays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rotation in July of that season and would not relinquish his spot until he left via free agency to <\/st1>Houston<\/st1> after the 1988 season. Clancy was an all-star in 1982 and had three 15-win seasons while in a Jays uniform. Still regarded as one of the best pitchers in franchise history, Clancy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 128 wins and 2206 innings pitched are both good for 2nd<\/sup> all-time for <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1>. <\/o><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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The Blue Jays also selected Pete Vuckovich with the 19th<\/sup> overall pick, who spent the 1977 season as the teams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 closer, appearing in 53 games. Vuckovich would later go on to be a prominent starter with <\/st1>Milwaukee<\/st1> in the early-80s, winning the Cy Young award in 1982. Vuckovich also played slugger Clu Haywood in the baseball comedy, Major League<\/em>.<\/o><\/span><\/p>\n

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Many future baseball coaches were selected in the 1977 draft. Dave McKay, who was been a coach on Tony LaRussa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clubs since 1996, was picked by the Blue Jays with the first pick of the fifth round. The Mariners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 seventh selection, Dave Collins, was a first base coach for four different major league teams after his major league career ended. In addition to being the Jays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 primary catcher during the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc80s, Ernie Whitt is also currently the teams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 first base coach and managed the Canadian team at the 2004 Olympics and 2006 WBC. Another Jays pick, Otto V\u00c3\u00a9lez, coached for the Puerto Rican national team in the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc90s. <\/o><\/span><\/p>\n

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Also, Mariners selection Julio Cruz is now in his sixth season calling the M\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s games on the Spanish Radio Network. Cruz also holds the Mariners’ all-time stolen base record, stealing 290 bags in his seven seasons with the club.<\/o><\/span><\/p>\n

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While not an actual expansion pick, Diego Segui warrants mentioning. While going 0-7 for the Mariners in his final season in 1977, Segui is the only player in major league history to suit up for both <\/st1>Seattle<\/st1> clubs; Segui being an expansion pick by the original Pilots in 1969. <\/o><\/span><\/p>\n

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INAUGURAL SEASONS<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Mariners had the better season of the two clubs, narrowly avoiding 100 losses by going 64-98. Ruppert Jones was the only <\/st1>Seattle<\/st1> representative at the all-star game. Thanks to a collapse by Oakland<\/st1>, <\/st1>Seattle<\/st1> narrowly avoided last place in the American League West by a half of a game. <\/o><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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The Jays struggled in their first season, winning only 54 games, and finishing with the worst record in all of baseball. The club led the division early in April and continued to play .500 ball throughout the month. However, single digit win totals in July and September attributed to the team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poor record. Despite the Jays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 record, the team drew the 4th<\/sup> best attendance in the American League and won the 1977 season series over the Mariners, 6-4. <\/o><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In part four of my six part series on major league expansion drafts, I examine the fifth expansion draft in major league history, the 1977 expansion draft for the newest members of the American League, the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}