April 3, 1966

The season hasn't started yet, and the New York Mets already are big winners. In a special lottery, the Mets win out over the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies -- the only three teams who had agreed to match the Atlanta Braves' original offer of $40,000 -- for the rights to sign USC right-hander, Tom Seaver.

The special drawing is held because Commissioner William Eckert had ruled Seaver's signing by the Braves' Richmond farm team, for a $40,000 bonus, was illegal. Atlanta had drafted Seaver. Eckert nullified the contract and fined Richmond $500 because USC already had started its season. Baseball rules say that a player can't be signed off a college campus once his team has started playing.