He had to do research to find out if he'd been drafted? What was he unconscious during the time period in question?
Before the real sports media period of the 1980s...there wasn't a national sports media outlet except for Sporting News. You can't even count Sports Illustrated because it was simply a glossy magazine and no indepth analysis. So you could be a fairly decent pitcher for the University of Southern Alabama and not even know that you were drafted in the 8th round of the draft, unless the team agent showed up at your door and had a contract. Lets face it....Less than 500 college players throughout the nation get a chance to sign up with the majors and start their climb via the minors. Half of these players will be gone within 18 months because they just don't have it. If they are lucky, they might advance to double-A and if real lucky...then onto triple-A.