New Era Of Draft Began With Griffey

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The following story was also published in our Hall of Fame commemorative magazine, which you can purchase here.

When the Seattle Mariners drafted Ken Griffey Jr. with the No. 1 pick in 1987, draft history was achieved. Never before had the first player selected in June been the son of a big leaguer—an active big leaguer, no less.

Two years later, when Griffey, then 19, became Seattle’s Opening-Day center fielder, he and his father, Ken Sr., 38, accomplished another first. They became the only father-son act ever to play in the majors simultaneously. The elder Griffey spent the 1989 season as a first baseman-outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds.

But that was hardly the last of their exploits as a father-son tandem. On Aug. 31, 1990, after the elder Griffey had been acquired from the Reds two days earlier, they earned the distinction of appearing together in the same game, in the same outfield for the Mariners.

And then to top it all off, in a classic circumstance that gave new meaning to the phrase, “Like father, like son,” the Griffeys homered in the same game, back-to-back in the first inning on Sept. 14, 1990. Ken Sr. went deep to left-center field at Anaheim Stadium, and Ken Jr. followed suit by driving a 3-0 pitch to almost the exact same spot, making for one of the most-electrifying moments in major-league history.

Over the balance of the 1990 season, Griffey Sr. hit .377 playing alongside his son. He also hit .296 overall in a 19-year major-league career, and yet there was no doubt in his mind, from the very day Ken Jr. was drafted, who was the best player in the family.

“He’s got more power than I’ll ever have,” the elder Griffey said. “He hits a lot harder. At his age now, he’s a lot faster than I ever was.

“I’m very proud of my son because he accomplished this on his own. I really didn’t get to see him develop very much because I was away. He learned and he watched me over the years and picked up a few things.”

While Griffey and his father agreed to terms with the Mariners on a $160,000 bonus the night before the 1987 draft was conducted, there was doubt that Seattle, selecting first overall for the third time in its undistinguished 10-year history, would spend their first pick on Griffey, or any high school player.

Earlier that spring, Mariners owner George Argyros announced his intention to sell the club with the purpose of turning around and buying the San Diego Padres. As the draft approached and with the Mariners franchise still in limbo, there were questions whether Argyros was committed to paying top dollar to get the best player possible.

“We have sufficient funds to get the top player,” assured club president Chuck Armstrong. “And I mean the top player, not the player we can sign.”

The pending sale of the Mariners never came to pass, but there were further concerns that Argyros, known for meddling in his team’s affairs, was reluctant to use the first pick on a high school talent because of the pressing need to obtain a player who could contribute in the short term. Argyros was pushing for his lieutenants to take Cal State Fullerton righthander Mike Harkey.

In the end, the wisdom of general manager Dick Balderson, scouting director Roger Jongewaard and chief scout Bob Harrison prevailed. The choice was Griffey—and the Mariners were rewarded many times over through the years. Griffey was even credited for saving baseball in Seattle as he soon evolved into a franchise player and the marquee talent in the game.

Griffey was the first of 1,263 players drafted in 1987. That topped the previous record of 1,169 for a June draft, set in 1967. The sharp increase stemmed from a streamlining of the draft process, from four phases to one, all-encompassing phase. Not only were both January drafts abolished, but the June secondary phase was wiped out as well.

Consolidating the draft into a single phase had universal support on many counts, not the least of which was the potential savings in bonus payments.

Griffey’s $160,000 bonus was $20,000 less than what top pick Jeff King received in 1986, and $19,000 below the amount Bobby Witt received as the highest-paid player two years earlier. Moreover, each of the first eight picks in 1987 coincidentally received amounts ranging from $160,000 to $165,000.

A year later, with collusion exposed, signing bonuses began moving to record levels and never stopped growing over the next two decades as a period of runaway inflation transformed the draft into a new realm.