Loading ...June 2, 1988: The Reds select Livingston (AL) University SS Jeff Branson as their first choice in the amateur draft.
Branson was drafted in the second round. The Reds lost their first round pick for signing Eddie Milner as a free agent. The only future Cincinnati players drafted in 1988 were Branson and 19th round pick Jerry Spradlin. The Reds passed up Pete Rose, Jr. who was picked in the 12th round by the Baltimore Orioles.
All “Reds trivia” posts come from Greg Rhodes and John Snyder’s fabulous book, “Redleg Journal” (see link for purchasing) and are used with Greg’s permission.
Thanks again to Greg Rhodes for permission to use his material.
Holy crap, the Reds lost a FIRST-ROUND PICK for signing a 32-year-old Eddie Milner? Who had just batted .252/.328/.374 in 214 AB’s in San Fran?
I don’t remember that at all, but what an awful move!
Eddie had all of 51 AB’s left in his entire career at that point.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/milneed01.shtml
Yup, it is indeed true. (And again, as an aside… how cool is baseball-reference.com? There’s nothing that isn’t there.)
Here’s the first round of the 1988 draft:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=1988&round=1
The Giants got the #15 pick from the Reds and drafted high school SS Royce Clayton.
Very interesting… but again, what an awful move. Milner for the #15 pick in the draft (essentially). Wow.