Major League Baseball

Mike Schmidt recalls 1971 draft, taken 1 spot behind Brett

Updated Jun. 18, 2020 1:05 p.m. ET

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The money, the scouting, the buzz, it was all different when Major League Baseball held its annual June draft a half-century ago. With this year’s picking set to start Wednesday night, Mike Schmidt remembers how it was when he was chosen in 1971. The Philadelphia Phillies took him in the second round as a shortstop out of Ohio University. The player chosen directly ahead of him? A high school shortstop in California named George Brett. Schmidt and Brett both made the Hall of Fame as third basemen — when they were drafted, the hot corner was ruled by Baltimore’s Brooks Robinson.

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