1976 Amateur Draft

The 1976 Amateur Draft was held on June 8th. The Houston Astros held the first selection and chose left-handed pitcher Floyd Bannister of Arizona State University. He would reach the majors by April of 1977 on his way to a long and productive career, although he was beaten to the majors by another left-handed college pitcher, Bob Owchinko, selected with the #5 pick by the San Diego Padres, who got his first taste of the majors that September.

In retrospect, the Detroit Tigers had a remarkable draft. While #2 overall pick Pat Underwood never did much in the majors, they selected two future Hall of Famers with subsequent picks, SS Alan Trammell in the 2nd round and P Jack Morris in the 5th round, not to mention All-Star pitcher Dan Petry in round 4. They also had the first overall pick in the January draft, and taken another solid major leaguer in OF Steve Kemp. They could have made it three Hall of Famers in June, as they also selected SS Ozzie Smith in the 7th round, but he didn't sign. He was then picked by the Padres in 1977, and was playing regularly in the big leagues by the start of 1978.

1976 First Round Picks

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Houston Astros	Floyd Bannister	LHP	Arizona State University (Col.)	Pierre, SD
2	Detroit Tigers	Pat Underwood	LHP	Kokomo High School (HS)	Kokomo, IN
3	Atlanta Braves	Ken Smith	3B	Youngstown East High School (HS)	Youngstown, OH
4	Milwaukee Brewers	Bill Bordley	LHP	Bishop Montgomery High School (HS)	Rolling Hills Estates, CA	Did not sign
5	San Diego Padres	Bob Owchinko	LHP	Eastern Michigan University (Col.)	Detroit, MI
6	California Angels	Ken Landreaux	OF	Arizona State University (Col.)	Los Angeles, CA
7	Chicago Cubs	Herm Segelke	RHP	El Camino High School (HS)	South Sacramento, CA
8	Chicago White Sox	Steve Trout	LHP	Thornwood High School (HS)	South Holland, IL
9	Montreal Expos	Bob James	RHP	Verdugo Hills High School (HS)	Sunland, CA
10	Minnesota Twins	Jamie Allen	3B-RHP	Davis High School (HS)	Yakima, WA	Did not sign
11	San Francisco Giants	Mark Kuecker	SS	Brenham High School (HS)	Brenham, TX
12	Texas Rangers	Billy Simpson	OF	Lakewood (CA) High School (HS)	Lakewood, CA
13	New York Mets	Tom Thurberg	OF-RHP	Weymouth South High School (HS)	South Weymouth, MA
14	Cleveland Indians	Tim Glass	C	Springfield South High School (HS)	Springfield, OH
15	St. Louis Cardinals	Leon Durham	1B	Woodward High School (Cincinnati) (HS)	Cincinnati, OH
16	New York Yankees	Pat Tabler	OF	McNicholas High School (HS)	Cincinnati, OH
17	Philadelphia Phillies	Jeff Kraus	SS	Colerain High School (HS)	Cincinnati, OH
18	Kansas City Royals	Ben Grzybek	RHP	Hialeah High School (HS)	Hialeah, FL
19	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mike Scioscia	C	Springfield (PA) High School (HS)	Morton, PA
20	Baltimore Orioles	Dallas Williams	OF	Abraham Lincoln High School (New York) (HS)	Brooklyn, NY
21	Pittsburgh Pirates	Jim Parke	RHP	Henry Ford II High School (HS)	Sterling Heights, MI
22	Boston Red Sox	Bruce Hurst	LHP	Dixie High School (St. George) (HS)	St. George, UT
23	Cincinnati Reds	Mark King	RHP	Owensboro Senior High School (HS)	Owensboro, KY
24	Oakland Athletics	Mike Sullivan	RHP	Gar-Field Senior High School (HS)	Woodbridge, VA	Did not sign

January 1976 amateur draft

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Hometown	Notes
1	Detroit Tigers	Steve Kemp	OF	University of Southern California (Coll.)
2	Houston Astros	Gary Wilson	RHP	Southern Arkansas University (Coll.)
3	Milwaukee Brewers	David Globig	OF	University of Minnesota (Coll.)
4	Atlanta Braves	William Free	RHP	Tuskegee University (Coll.)
5	California Angels	Steven Tebbetts	OF	Florida State University (Coll.)

Other Notable Selections

Mike Scott, Alan Trammell (2nd round); Dan Schatzeder (3rd round); Dan Petry, Rickey Henderson (4th round); Jack Morris, Ted Power (5th round); Wade Boggs (7th round); Ozzie Smith (7th round - did not sign); Dave Smith, Lary Sorensen (8th round); Rick Honeycutt (17th round); Ron Hassey (18th round); Jay Howell (31st round); Bob Walk (secondary phase); Jody Davis (3rd round, January draft); John Tudor (secondary phase, January draft)

Further Reading

• Anthony Castrovince: "Tigers once drafted 3 HOFers in same year: In '76, Detroit took Alan Trammell, Jack Morris and Ozzie Smith", mlb.com, May 29, 2020. [1]