MLB First-timers of 1974

With the MLB Draft beginning tonight, now's the time to post something I noticed a while back.

Exactly half of the players who made their major league debuts in 1974 played in the '80s.

Of the 72 who made it past the decade line, 43 were still playing in 1985. Of the 72 whose careers are confined to the '70s, 42 didn't even make it to 1977, when two expansion teams surfaced.

When it comes to rookie seasons (teams with which players made MLB debuts are listed along with most common positions in careers):

• Twenty-seven (including Brewers SS Robin Yount, Rangers C Jim Sundberg, and Rangers 1B Mike Hargrove) went on to be 1974 rookies.
• Forty-two (including Expos C Gary Carter, Cards 1B Keith Hernandez, Bosox LF Fred Lynn, and Bosox DH Jim Rice) were 1975 rookies.
• Twenty-two (including Cards LF Jerry Mumphrey and Cards CF Larry Herndon) were 1976 rookies.
• Nine (including Expos LF Warren Cromartie) were 1977 rookies.
• Six (including Reds 3B Ray Knight) were 1978 rookies.
• Two (Mets LF Benny Ayala and Mets C Ike Hampton) passed the rookie requirements in 1979.
• One (Chisox RHP Jim Otten) finally met the rookie standards in 1980.
• Thirty-five would still be rookies if they suited up today.

The players just getting their cups of coffee were Erskine Thomason, a 26-year-old righthander who pitched the ninth inning for the Phillies September 18, and Rex Hudson, a 20-year-old righthander who put in two innings of mop-up work for the Dodgers July 27.

Yount was the youngest of the 144 and the one whose career lasted the longest; he played for 20 years.

Hernandez, a 42nd-round pick in the 1971 draft, made his debut with the Cardinals August 30, 1974, and played until the middle of 1990, while the Mets' Rich Puig, a fellow infielder and a first-round pick in the same draft, lasted less than two weeks in September.

All of those whose careers ended in 1980 are pitchers; middle infielder Stan Papi, an April call-up for the Cardinals, outlasted Sergio Ferrer -- a fellow middle infielder born just days before Papi and making his debut with the Twins six days earlier -- by two years (Ferrer's last season was '79, Papi's was '81).

Oscar Zamora, the Cuban righthander from Miami whom the Indians signed in 1965, began his career with the Cubs at 29 on June 18 and continued for 4 years. Jesus Hernaiz, the Puerto Rican righthander whom the Cubs signed in 1967, got called up to the Phillies when he was 29 and made his first appearance June 14, but was finished in the majors that year.

The top seven career home run hitters (Rice, Carter, Lynn, Expos C Larry Parrish, Yount, A's RF Claudell Washington, Hernandez) made All-Star teams at least once, as did the top eight in hits (Yount, Rice, Hernandez, Carter, Lynn, C.Washington, Parrish, Hargrove).

Twenty-five of these players made All-Star teams a combined 71 times. Carter, Rice, and Yount are the Hall of Famers in this group of 144, making up 2.1 percent of it (the group of 144, that is, not the Hall of Fame).

Feel free to start here and draw your own conclusions.

I'll have a look at the draft picks of June 1974, regardless of when (or even whether) they made their MLB debuts, sometime very soon.