1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft

The 1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft was held by Major League Baseball on October 10, 1961, to fill the rosters of the New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45s.^[c] These new franchises were set to enter the National League (NL) as part of the 1962 Major League Baseball expansion. Selections in the draft were limited to a pool of players designated by existing NL teams.^[3]

1961 Major League Baseball expansion draft
General information
Sport	Baseball
Date	October 10, 1961
Location	Cincinnati, Ohio[1]
Overview
45[a] total selections
League	National League[b]
Expansion teams	Houston Colt .45s New York Mets
Expansion season	1962
First selection	Eddie Bressoud (Houston Colt .45s)
← 1960 1968 →

Due to the poor performance of the Mets and Colt .45s after two seasons, another draft was held for the teams on October 10, 1963.^[4] The other existing NL clubs made four players from their 40-man roster available at $30,000 apiece. A maximum of eight players could be selected between the two clubs. However, only three selections were made, two by New York and one by Houston.^[4]

1961 draft

Colt .45s

Mets

1962 National League expansion teams

All-Star

Regular phase, $75,000 per player

Pick	Player	Position	Selected by	Previous team
1	Eddie Bressoud	IF	Houston Colt .45s	San Francisco Giants
2	Hobie Landrith	C	New York Mets	San Francisco Giants
3	Bob Aspromonte	IF	Houston Colt .45s	Los Angeles Dodgers
4	Elio Chacón	IF	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds
5	Bob Lillis	IF	Houston Colt .45s	St. Louis Cardinals
6	Roger Craig	P	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers
7	Dick Drott	P	Houston Colt .45s	Chicago Cubs
8	Gus Bell*	OF	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds
9	Al Heist	OF	Houston Colt .45s	Chicago Cubs
10	Joe Christopher	OF	New York Mets	Pittsburgh Pirates
11	Román Mejías	OF	Houston Colt .45s	Pittsburgh Pirates
12	Félix Mantilla	IF	New York Mets	Milwaukee Braves
13	George Williams	IF	Houston Colt .45s	Philadelphia Phillies
14	Gil Hodges*	1B	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers
15	Jesse Hickman	P	Houston Colt .45s	Philadelphia Phillies
16	Craig Anderson	P	New York Mets	St. Louis Cardinals
17	Merritt Ranew	C	Houston Colt .45s	Milwaukee Braves
18	Ray Daviault	P	New York Mets	San Francisco Giants
19	Don Taussig	OF	Houston Colt .45s	St. Louis Cardinals
20	John DeMerit	OF	New York Mets	Milwaukee Braves
21	Bobby Shantz*	P	Houston Colt .45s	Pittsburgh Pirates
22	Al Jackson	P	New York Mets	Pittsburgh Pirates
23	Norm Larker*	1B	Houston Colt .45s	Los Angeles Dodgers
24	Sammy Drake	IF	New York Mets	Chicago Cubs
25	Sam Jones*	P	Houston Colt .45s	San Francisco Giants
26	Chris Cannizzaro	C	New York Mets	St. Louis Cardinals
27	Paul Roof	P	Houston Colt .45s	Milwaukee Braves
28	Choo-Choo Coleman	C	New York Mets	Philadelphia Phillies
29	Ken Johnson	P	Houston Colt .45s	Cincinnati Reds
30	Ed Bouchee	1B	New York Mets	Chicago Cubs
31	Dick Gernert	1B	Houston Colt .45s	Cincinnati Reds
32	Bob Smith	OF	New York Mets	Philadelphia Phillies

Regular phase, $50,000 per player

Pick	Player	Position	Selected by	Previous team
33	Ed Olivares	IF	Houston Colt .45s	St. Louis Cardinals
34	Sherman Jones	P	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds
35	Jim Umbricht	P	Houston Colt .45s	Pittsburgh Pirates
36	Jim Hickman	OF	New York Mets	St. Louis Cardinals
37	Jim Golden	P	Houston Colt .45s	Los Angeles Dodgers

Premium phase, $125,000 per player

Pick	Player	Position	Selected by	Previous team
38	Joe Amalfitano	IF	Houston Colt .45s	San Francisco Giants
39	Jay Hook	P	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds
40	Turk Farrell	P	Houston Colt .45s	Los Angeles Dodgers
41	Bob Miller	P	New York Mets	St. Louis Cardinals
42	Hal Smith	C	Houston Colt .45s	Pittsburgh Pirates
43	Don Zimmer*	IF	New York Mets	Chicago Cubs
44	Al Spangler	OF	Houston Colt .45s	Milwaukee Braves
45	Lee Walls*	IF/OF	New York Mets	Philadelphia Phillies

* All-Star only before 1961 expansion draft

1963 draft

All-Star

Regular phase, $30,000 per player

Player	Position	Selected by	Previous team
Bill Haas	1B/OF	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers
Claude Raymond	P	Houston Colt. 45s	Milwaukee Braves
Jack Fisher	P	New York Mets	San Francisco Giants

See also

• Continental League, a proposed third major league that had planned to begin play in the 1961 season

Notes

1. An additional three selections were made in a supplemental draft held in October 1963.
2. This draft was limited to National League teams; while the National League and American League are commonly referred to collectively as Major League Baseball, across many decades, Major League Baseball has only existed as a legal entity since 2000.^[2]
3. The Houston Colt .45s were renamed as the Houston Astros in 1965, and moved to the American League in 2013.