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The 1967 draft - 1st round
Matlack (4th overall), John Mayberry (father of current Phil) (6th), Ted Simmons (10th) and Bobby Grich (20th) look, in hindsight, to be the best of that 1st round.
6 of the 20 picks never reached the majors which is right around a normal ratio; might even be better than in most years.
The 1st overall pick Blomberg (your typical Jewish boy from Georgia) did indeed go on to become the first ever DH although that was merely the result of the timing of 1973's opening day games. He could hit a bit (topped .300 three times) but was strictly a platoon type hitter* and that added to his lack of secondary skills were the main culprits in his limited career.
* Career = .304/.367/.500 vs RHP -- vs -- .215/.306/.272 vs LHP
That he only had 180 of his ~1,500 career PAs against LHPs could be seen as either the effect of his inability to hit lefties or the cause of it. Maybe the Yanx simply didn't believe he could and therefore never let him try which in turn led to a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
I remember there was this one spot early in a season where he was hitting over .400. The Yanx were desperate for good publicity in those days and so were trumpeting his BA for all the world to hear while neglecting to mention the part about him sitting out every game against pitchers they thought would give him trouble and therefore was forever teetering on the edge of even having enough ABs to qualify for the lead. He of course didn't hold onto that perch for long anyway.
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