Before the start of any new season in North America’s four major sports is a draft. Basically, this is Christmas for general managers, a day when these sports masterminds can get the benefits of their research by landing a franchise player with just a simple selection.
To toast those smart GMs who selected players who became stars in either the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. Here is my top 10 draft pick steals. (No particular order).
1. Joe Montana – 3rd round, 82nd pick – 1979 NFL draft.
Shoulder injuries in college made GMs skeptical about Montana, though he won a Cotton Bowl for Notre Dame, while fighting hypothermia in 1979.
These skeptic GMs missed out on a player who became one of the top five greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. In 15 years Montana completed 31 fourth-quarter comebacks, while winning four Super Bowls and three Super Bowl MVP awards. His career passing numbers in the Super Bowl speak for themselves; he completed 83 of 122 passes (68 per cent) for 1, 142 yards with 11 touchdowns, no interceptions and a QB rating of 127.8.
2. Tom Brady – 6th round, 199nd pick – 2000 NFL draft.
If you have ever watched Tom Brady’s NFL tryout highlights you can see why GMs were reluctant to select him early in the draft.
To be picked behind guys like Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Marc Bulger and Spergon Wynn has me shaking my head. While these other QBs struggled, Brady was too busy winning games. Arguably the best football player of the 2000-2010 decade, he led the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl titles while earning two league MVP awards and six Pro Bowl invitations.
3. Shannon Sharpe – 7th round, 192nd pick – 1990 NFL draft.
Shannon Sharpe may have talked smack during his 14-year career but the man could back it up. This brash tight end joins John Elway, Gary Zimmerman and Floyd Little as the only players from the Broncos in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sharpe was the all-time leader in receiving yards for a tight end until 1998 when Tony Gonzalez broke it and was the first tight end to amass more than 10, 000 yards in his career. Sharpe finished his NFL career as an eight time Pro Bowler, four-time All Pro and three-time Super Bowl winner.
4. Mike Piazza – 62nd round, 390th pick, – 1988 MLB draft.
The Los Angeles Dodgers landed a gem behind the plate by selecting Piazza with this pick. The 1993 National League Rookie of the Year also set a record for most home runs by a rookie catcher with 35. During his 16 years in the majors Piazza hit 30 or more home runs in nine seasons but his best offensive season in the majors was in 1997 when he tied the Major League record set by Bill Dickey for the highest batting average in a season ever by a catcher in the National League with .362.
5. Dominik Hasek – 10th round, 199nd – 1983 NHL draft.
I see why the “Dominator” wasn’t picked early in this draft class considering some of the players available such as Pat LaFontaine, Steve Yzerman and Cam Neely, players who ended up being dominant players for their hockey clubs. But to be picked behind such mediocre goalies such as Daren Puppa and Bob Essensa doesn’t make sense for a goalie who ended up winning two Hart Memorial Trophies, three William M. Jennings Trophy and six Vezinas as well as two Stanley Cup rings.
6. Albert Pujols – 13th round, 402nd overall – 1999 MLB draft.
Even though this draft class was loaded with great prospects like Josh Hamilton, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Ben Sheets, Barry Zito and Justin Morneau, it’s pathetic that one of the best sluggers of the millennium was drafted in the 13th round. Especially when you consider he has career averages in batting with .331, 123 RBIs and 40 home runs a season during his 11 years with the St. Louis Cardinals. Oh, and a couple of World Series titles. Right from the start Pujols proved his worth winning the NL Rookie of the Year. Since then he has earned a handful of silver slugger awards to go with three National League Most Valuable Player Awards and two Gold Gloves for his defence at first base.
7. George Gervin – 3rd round, 40th pick – 1974 NBA draft.
The first guard ever to win three scoring titles in a row was drafted by the Phoenix Suns out of Eastern Michigan. His career scoring average of 26.2 points per game is among the best as is his combined NBA/ABA total of 26, 595 points. During his career, Gervin recorded a remarkable streak of scoring double figures in 407 consecutive games.
8, 9, 10. Three players from the 1984 NHL draft.
There is no way you can argue with the first selection in this draft, a guy by the name of Mario Lemieux. It’s crazy that some of the players were picked before Hall of Famers Patrick Roy, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille. These three best players were perhaps the best players at their position during their careers and in the top 10 in NHL history.
Patrick Roy – 3rd round, 51st pick
One of only a few goalies to ever win a Stanley Cup as a rookie, he is second all-time in goalie wins behind Martin Brodeur’s 551 wins. But Roy also won three Vezina trophies, five William M. Jennings trophies, three Conn Smythe trophies and four Stanley Cups.
Brett Hull – 6th round, 117th pick.
I don’t know why anyone would pass on the son of legendary Blackhawk Bobby Hull. What these teams ended up missing out on was one of the greatest goal scorers who ever played as he notched 741 goals in his 1,269 games. Hull managed to capture two Stanley Cups with the Dallas Stars and the other with the Detroit Red Wings.
Luc Robitaille – 9th round, 171st pick.
Lucky Luc set the NHL record for goals by a left winger (668) and points (1,394), as well the Kings’ franchise record for goals (577). With those stats it’s pretty easy to see why Robitaille was such a steal in his rookie season. He was named to eight All-Star teams and won a Stanley Cup.