"Don't I look all adorable when I suck my thumb?"
Posted on 11/29/2005 8:34:24 AM PST by Rodney King
Gov. Bill Richardson is coming clean on his draft record _ the baseball draft, that is, admitting that his claim to have been a pick of the Kansas City A's in 1966 was untrue.
For nearly four decades, Richardson, often mentioned as a possible Democratic presidential candidate, has maintained he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics.
The claim was included in a brief biography released when Richardson successfully ran for Congress in 1982. A White House news release in 1997 mentioned it when he was about to be named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And several news organizations, including The Associated Press, have reported it as fact over the years.
But an investigation by the Albuquerque Journal found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A's, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team.
Informed by the newspaper of its findings, the governor acknowledged the error in a story in Thursday's editions.
"After being notified of the situation and after researching the matter ... I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A's," he said.
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos declined to comment when reached by the AP on Thursday.
Richardson, a right-handed pitcher who played at Tufts University, said he was actively scouted by several major league teams in the 1960s.
He insisted his name appeared on "a draft list of some kind" created by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. He named team scouts, whom he said told him that he "would or could" be drafted. The scouts have since died.
Richardson later developed arm trouble, eliminating any possible pro career.
In the summer of 1967, he played for the amateur Cape Cod League's Cotuit (Mass.) Kettleers. The words "Drafted by K.C." appear next to his name on a faded team program, the Journal reported.
"When I saw that program in 1967, I was convinced I was drafted," Richardson said. "And it stayed with me all these years."
Then-general manager Arnold Mycock said the biographical information was supplied by players or their college coaches.
On a biographical sheet Richardson completed for Tufts in his junior year, he wrote, "Drafted by Kansas City (1966), LA (1968)." He said he wrote those words because he believed they were true.
"I never tried to embellish this," he said. "I never tried to mask it."
Richardson, elected governor in 2002, is seeking a second term next year.
BTW, John Kerry is IRISH as well!
Maybe it was a stealth draft of some sort...And I forgot, "Love Story" was based on Al and Tipper Gore...
He's a democrat, thus no lie. Just mistaken is all. Move along, nothing here.
Would have probably been better for NM if he HAD been drafted. Maybe he wouldn't have fallen into politics.
susie
"Don't I look all adorable when I suck my thumb?"
This is pretty poor evidence. Sort of like showing a checking account journal that the checkholder enters all information into the checkbook. One cannot possibly determine when the information was entered into the journal. You'd have to review the cancelled checks for accuracy. Of course, all the scouts are dead. Whose handwriting is it?
RICHARDSON 1: "I'll ask myself if I was drafted...-to self- Was I drafted by the A's?"
RICHARDSON 2: "Good question, let me check...No, after all of these years you are mistaken."
RICHARDSON 1: "I'm glad we cleared this whole mess up...an honest mistake...Thanks."
RICHARDSON 2: "Don't mention it."
strike 3 for billyball
That's the only way to get all the queso off.
CLINTON: "Oral sex is not sex because I believe this to be true...and so it is."
see, I told you so....
Politicians don't lie.
His position was left wing pitcher
These are two lies not one. He was not drafted in '66 or '68...
Did ANYONE believe Richardson's explanation of the Los Alamos security breach? Remember Senators Byrd and Shelby tearing him a new one in a Senate hearing?
Perhaps he was drafted by Uncle Sam but chose to be a Dodger instead.
He wasn't picked because they had their eye on a certain Cuban baseball player.........
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