In 1968—just the fourth year of MLB’s amateur draft—the Dodgers pulled off what is questionably the best draft in baseball history. That year, they signed 11 future major leaguers, including Bobby Valentine, Bill Buckner, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Tom Paciorek, Geoff Zahn, Doyle Alexander, and Joe Ferguson. Those 11 played a combined 154 seasons in the majors, accrued 235.6 Wins Above Replacement, and made a combined 23 All-Star games—all of which are draft records. Collectively, the class accrued 11,231 hits and clobbered 1,139 home runs (also draft records) and won more than 300 games.
Entering 1968, the Dodgers were coming off a disastrous season. Following Sandy Koufax’s surprise retirement in the fall of ’66, the ’67 club won only 73 games and finished in eighth place. For years, the team had won on pitching, speed, and defense, but the loss of Koufax was too much to bear. The pitching was simply no longer good enough to overcome an offense that hit .236 with a meager 82 home runs. The Dodgers desperately needed offense. As scouting director Al Campanis prepared for the draft, he leaned on football executive Al LoCasale for drafting advice. Campanis and his group of venerable scouts prioritized bats. The philosophy shift paid huge dividends.
The Dodgers’ draft haul in ’68 changed the direction of the franchise. Along with Bill Russell (a product of the ’66 draft), Cey, Lopes, and Garvey formed an infield that would play together for an unprecedented eight and a half consecutive seasons. The foursome formed the nucleus of four pennant-winning teams, including the 1981 world champions. Other players from the ’68 class served as trade chips, bringing back the likes of Frank Robinson, Andy Messersmith, and Dusty Baker.
Tommy Lasorda, one of the game’s all-time dynamic personalities, played a vital role in developing the class of ’68. He managed most of them in Rookie ball and Triple-A and then followed them to Los Angeles, serving as third-base coach before succeeding Walter Alston as manager at the end of the 1976 season.
My latest book, Before They Wore Dodger Blue: Tommy Lasorda and the Greatest Draft in Baseball History, chronicles baseball’s shift to an amateur draft and examines how the Dodgers made draft history. The book also takes a deep dive into the 1970 season, when the elite group of prospects play for the Spokane Indians and defeat the Hawaii Islanders for the Pacific Coast League championship. The book was released on December 7, 2025, by August Publications and is available through any online bookseller, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.
