"Governor admits baseball claim false"

Governor admits baseball claim false
Published November 25, 2005

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- 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, Mr. 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 Mr.
Richardson successfully ran for Congress in 1982. A White House press
release in 1997 mentioned it when he was about to be named U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations. And several press organizations,
including the Associated Press, have reported it as fact over the
years.
But an investigation by the Albuquerque Journal found no record of
Mr. Richardson being drafted by the A's, who since have moved to
Oakland, or any other team.
Informed by the newspaper of its findings, the governor
acknowledged the error in a story in yesterday'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.
Mr. Richardson's spokesman Gilbert Gallegos declined to comment
when reached by the AP yesterday.
Mr. 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, who he said told him that he "would or could" be drafted.
The scouts have since died.
Mr. Richardson later developed arm trouble, eliminating any
possible professional baseball career.
In summer 1967, he played for the amateur Cape Cod Baseball
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,"
Mr. Richardson said. "And it stayed with me all these years."
The Cotuit Kettleers then-General Manager Arnold Mycock said the
biographical information was supplied by players or their college
coaches.
On a biographical sheet Mr. 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 thought they were true.
"I never tried to embellish this," he said. "I never tried to mask
it."
Mr. Richardson, elected governor in 2002, is seeking a second term
next year.