I'm not a big draft person. I don't follow the schools during the season, don't pay attention to mock drafts or anything like that. When the Jays drafted David Cooper this year, I did a quick scan around the internet to see who the hell David Cooper is, and that's usually the extent of my interest.

But this year, it was impossible not to note the top pick - Tim Beckham, a high school shortstop, was picked by the Tampa Bay Rays, who are currently the AL wild card leaders. As if they didn't have enough young talent... I try not to get too enthusiastic about the Rays, because they've fooled me before, but entering this season it was obvious that they should have their best team ever, and so far they are fitting the bill.

On paper, they look as good as they are playing - which raises the question, how the hell did they lose 96 games last year?

But I'll be positive about the Rays today, and compare them to the 1991 Atlanta Braves, who went from last place in 1990 to the seventh game of the World Series in 1991. The Minnesota Twins did the same thing that year, but they still had the core of the team that won the Series in 1987; the Braves, for the six years, had been about as bad as any team can be. They were horrible, as bad as the Rays have been. In 1990, they were loaded with talent - David Justice won the Rookie of the Year Award, Smoltz and Glavine had solid years in their early 20's, Steve Avery was the top prospect in the minors, Chipper Jones was chosen with the #1 pick in the June draft - and lost 97 games.

And so in 1991, they had the #2 pick in the draft. It was the last top ten pick in team history - 14 straight division titles will do that. They picked an outfielder, Mike Kelly, who never amounted to much; the Rays will not likely have the same success on the field the next few years that the Braves had, but at least they can hope that Mr. Beckham will turn out better than Mr. Kelly did.

So here's a quick trip down draft history - teams that had a top pick in the draft while having a magical season on the field. For some teams, it was the beginning of a long, successful run; for others, success was fleeting.

The first amateur draft was held in 1965; the Kansas City Athletics, possibly the worst team in baseball history and on their way to a 103-loss season, had the first pick and took Rick Monday. It was a fruitful draft for the Athletics, who also took Sal Bando in the 6th round and Gene Tenace in the 20th.

1967 was the year of the Impossible Dream, when the lowly Red Sox rose off of the doormat and won the pennant. They also had the #3 pick in the draft, and took a pitcher named Mike Garman; he made his debut at age 19, but didn't do much with the Sox. He was dealt to the Cardinals in the deal that brought Reggie Cleveland to Boston, and had a couple of real nice years in the bullpen.

The Chicago Cubs lost 103 games in 1966; the next year, their second under Leo Durocher, they leapt forward and won 87 games. The remained a quality team for several more years, and had the #2 pick in the draft, taking a shortstop named Terry Hughes. He only had 86 ABs in the majors, was purchased by the Cardinals, then traded him along with Reggie Cleveland to the Red Sox for Mike Garman.

Another famous Miracle team was the 1969 Mets, who were really horrible the first seven years of their existence, but this season won the World Series. In 1968 they had only lost 89 games, and only had the #4 pick in the draft; they took a right-handed pitcher named Randy Sterling who won one game in the majors. Predictably, they passed on some pretty good pitchers, the best of whom was Bert Blyleven, taken by the Twins in the 3rd round, #55 overall.

1974 was a nice year for the Atlanta Braves. It started off, of course, with Hank Aaron tying and then breaking Babe Ruth's career home run record. They then won 88 games; they were never really in the race, due to the dominance of the Dodgers and Reds, but they had been bad the two previous seasons, and were horrible for the rest of the decade. Their success was fueled by the pitching staff, led by Phil Niekro's 21 wins, and one of baseball's great one-year wonders, Buzz Capra, and won 16 games and the ERA title. To top it off, they had the #5 pick in the draft, and took Dale Murphy.

The 1977 White Sox have become legendary. The previous season they had lost 97 games, the worst record in the league. That was the year of Paul Richards' return to Chicago, one of the more notorious "experiments" in White Sox history. Richards moved Goose Gossage to the starting rotation, and he lost 17 games. The season ended with 50-year-old Minnie Minoso getting into three games, and getting one hit in eight at bats.

1977 was different. Richards was replaced by Bob Lemon; Harry Caray was joined in the radio booth by Jimmy Piersall. They were great fun, as were some of the players that the Sox acquired during the offseason - Oscar Gamble, Richie Zisk and Eric Soderholm in particular, also Steve Stone and Lerrin LaGrow. They won 90 games and finished second in the league in homers; the magic only lasted for one year, but in the June draft they had the #1 pick, and took a young outfielder named Harold Baines.

The 1980 Oakland Athletics are one of the more interesting teams in the baseball history. In 1979, they lost a whopping 108 games; they then hired Billy Martin to manage, and the next season won 83 games. Yes, this was the year of Billy Ball, when Rick Langford threw 28 complete games, Mike Norris 24 and Matt Keough 20. Norris was probably the best pitcher in the league. They were better in 1981, winning a division and LDS before losing to the Yankees in the LCS. And then the pitchers got hurt and it was over. In this year's draft, they had the #4 pick - and took Mike King, a pitcher who never reached the majors.

They don't really belong here, but they're the home team. The Toronto Blue Jays in 1982 had an unremarkable record - 78-84, tied for last in the division. But it was a huge step forward; after five seasons, the team's high-water mark was a 95-loss season in 1980. In 1981 they began the year 16-42 before the strike mercifully put the season on hiatus; they less awful, but still pretty bad, when they returned.

In 1982, they hired Bobby Cox to manage. Dave Stieb was the best starting pitcher in the league. They even had a winning record (41-37) after the All-Star break. For the next decade, they would be one of the best teams in baseball. They also had the #2 pick in the June draft, and infamously took shortstop Augie Schmidt, who never played in the majors.

The 1984 Cubs won the division - the first time that they had made the playoffs since 1945. They won 96 games, ending a string of six straight losing seasons. During that stretch, they had both #1 overall pick (Shawon Dunston in 1982) and a #2 overall (Joe Carter in 1981). This year, while coming so close to the World Series, they also had the #3 pick; but although much of what they did at the major league level turned out brilliantly, the pick was wasted on a left-handed pitcher named Drew Hall. He won three games for the Cubs, then was dispatched to Texas as part of the massive Rafael Palmeiro/Mitch Williams/Jamie Moyer deal.

The next season, good things started to happen in Cincinnati. They won 89 games, ending an ugly three-year run of losing seasons. Second-year manager Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's career hits record. Has-been outfielder Dave Parker had a monster comeback season, leading the NL with 125 RBI. Rookie Tom Browning won 20 games - the last rookie pitcher to do so. They were flush with young talent; superprospect Eric Davis was 23, while Paul O'Neill made his debut at 22. John Franco - yes, he was once 24 years old - went 12-3 with a 2.18 ERA out of the bullpen. To top it off, they had the #4 pick in the draft, and took shortstop Barry Larkin.

Things didn't turn out quite as expected; they finished again 2nd in 1986, and again in 1987, and yet again in 1988. Eric Davis proved to be a spectacular player, but also injury prone; the pitching staff was severely weakened by a career-ending injury to ace Mario Soto. The bottom fell out in 1989 when they lost 87 games, and manager Rose was given a lifetime suspension for gambling on baseball. And then, in 1990, they won the World Series - and Davis, Larkin, O'Neill and Browning were all a big part of it.

The 1986 Cleveland Indians are among the more infamous teams of my lifetime. If you are under 30, it is probably difficult to imagine how bad things were in Cleveland in 1985; they lost 102 games, and averaged only 8,089 fans per game, their third straight season under ten thousand. They seemed to be utterly hopeless - and then in 1986 they won 84 games. They led the league in runs scored, led by Joe Carter's 121 RBI. The pitching staff improved from "horrible" to merely "bad", thanks to the additions of 28-year-old knuckler Tom Candiotti and 47-year-old knuckler Phil Niekro.

They even moved up to 9th in the AL in attendance. In the June draft they had the #2 pick, and did pretty well, getting left-hander Greg Swindell, who pitched for 17 seasons but had his best years with Cleveland. You may know the rest - next spring, Sports Illustrated picked them to win the division. Instead, they lost 101 games and finished last. Almost everybody took a step back; they dropped to 12th in the league in runs scored, and the pitching completely imploded. The manager was fired, attendance dropped back to last in the league. And they never recovered; the Indians' next winning season was in 1994, by which time a completely new roster was in place.

The same year, a very similar story played out in San Francisco, although the end results were much different. The Giants in 1985 were every bit as bad as the Indians, losing 100 games after losing 96 the year before. The pitching was mediocre, the offence was horrible. Attendance at the Stick was almost as bad as in Cleveland. They had the #2 pick in the 1985 June draft, and took college first baseman Will Clark. The next season, they won 83 games.

When we think of the 1986 Giants, we tend to think of manager Roger Craig, who taught all of his pitchers how to throw the split-fingered fastball. The pitching did get better, but the offence made a huge improvement. Clark fast-tracked to the majors and had a solid rookie year. Rookie second sacker Robby Thompson also had a good year, while 24-year-old third baseman Chris Brown hit .317. Young outfielder Candy Maldonado surprised everybody with a good season.

Unlike the Indians, they didn't slide back. In 1987, they got even better, and won the division. Clark was a monster at the plate, while another young slugger, Kevin Mitchell, was acquired in a trade. Those two players led the team to the pennant in 1989. The only disappointment was Brown, who after a great start to his career stopped hitting. But the Giants in 1986 had had the 3rd overall pick in the draft, and they made good use of it, taking young third baseman Matt Williams. At age 21, Williams was already balding - he was also ready to start hitting the first of his 378 career homers.

The 1991 Twins went from worst-to-first, but in some ways the 1987 team's achievement was more of a miracle. They had the second-worst record in the league in 1986, and it had been a decade since they last fielded a good team. They had a good core of young players (Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Frank Viola, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky) but the offence was mediocre and the pitching was terrible. Part of that was due to good pitchers having bad years (Viola) but a lot of it was lack talent.

The next season they were a little better; Viola had a great year, the big bats all took advantage of the rabbit ball that season. The team made a move to get back to .500... wait a minute, what am I talking about? They won the freaking World Series! I suppose that we can debate how "great" team the Twins were; they won only 85 games, and were actually outscored by their opponents on the season. But they won the Series, and they won it again four years later. They also had the #3 pick in the June draft, taking pitcher Willie Banks.

I'm not sure if the 1989 Orioles belong on this list. It's not like they had been bad for a long time; they had won the World Series in 1983, and had just three losing seasons in a row. But man, those were bad seasons. Start in 1986, with Earl Weaver's ill-fated comeback attempt. Move on to 1987, and Cal Ripken Sr.'s ill-fated managing career. And then 1988, when they started 0-21 and lost 107 games. They hired Frank Robinson to manage, took Gregg Olson with the #4 pick in the June draft, and traded Eddie Murray to the Dodgers.

In June 1989, almost everything was wonderful. They were in first place; they took stud right-hander Ben McDonald with the #1 pick in the draft. Olson, their top pick from a year ago, won the Rookie of the Year Award. They were in first place until August 31, then were finally passed for good by the Blue Jays. In 1990, they resumed losing; in June draft they only had the #20 pick, and for the third straight year picked a right-handed pitcher: they didn't get one of the top picks, but they did get Mike Mussina.

The 1980's were the Decade of Parity, but man, it seems like there was a worst-to-first story every year. The 1990 Pirates were a team that had been brutally horrible for several years; they picked Barry Bonds with the #6 pick in 1985, then Jeff King with the #1 pick in 1986. They acquired, no wait, robbed at gun point, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, Doug Drabek and others in trades. They hired Jim Leyland to manage, won 85 games in 1988 - and the next season performed one of the great bellyflops in baseball history, losing 88 games.

The dark winter of 1989 followed, when the Barry Bonds-for-Andres Thomas trade rumours surfaced. They stayed the course, and won three straight division titles starting in 1990. They also had the #5 pick in the draft, taking right-hander Kurt Miller, whose career was derailed by injuries.

A funny thing happened in 1995 - the #1 and #3 overall picks went to a pair of teams that engaged in one of the great division races in baseball history. The Angels had been consistently mediocre for a decade, and just sucked in 1994; they got the #1 pick, and took outfielder Darin Erstad. Their division lead peaked at 11 games in early August, was still six games on September 12. The Mariners were horrible for 14 years, finally had their first winning season in 1991 - then turned around and lost 98 games the next season. A convenient time to suck, as they were then able to take Alex Rodriguez in the 1993 June draft.

In 1996, with A-Rod in the lineup, they came from way behind to catch the Angels and force a one-game playoff - which they won. They also had the #3 pick in the draft, and took outfielder Jose Cruz Jr.

Perhaps, as time passes, we will get a better handle on the Cubs of the past ten years, one of the stranger teams of my lifetime. It certainly seemed as though they had a high draft pick every goddamned year; they picked Kerry Wood with the #4 pick in 1997 while losing 94 games. In 1998, Sammy Sosa hit 65 homers, the team won 90 games and drafted Corey Patterson with the #3 pick. Sosa hit 63 homers the next season; the team lost 97 games, giving them another #3 pick (wasted on Luis Montanez).

In 2001, Sosa hit 64 homers, the team won 88 games and grabbed Mark Prior with the #2 pick. And then they lost 95 games, and in 2003 they came literally within a couple of inches of going to the World Series while taking someone named Ryan Harvey with the #6 pick. They actually had a couple of good years before losing 96 games in 2006, and so on. Right now, they're the best team in the NL, and might finally win a championship - although if the trend continues, they will follow up by losing 130 games in 2010.

Lastly, the Tigers, who won 95 games in 2006 following more than a decade of futility. They've had lots of top picks, and as always, some have worked out better (Justin Verlander, #2 in 2004) then others (Matt Anderson, #1 i 1997). In 2006 they took Andrew Miller with the #6 pick while going to the World Series, who they have since traded to the Marlins as part of the Miguel Cabrera deal.