Sports

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … STEVE CHILCOTT – CATCHER METS TOOK RIGHT BEFORE REGGIE HAS NO REGRETS

HE thought he would become famous swinging a bat. Instead, Steve Chilcott wound up swinging a hammer for a living.

Life offers no guarantees – even if you are the No. 1 draft pick in the country.

In 1966, Chilcott a lefty-hitting high school catcher who was scouted by no less an authority than Casey Stengel, became the No. 1 pick in baseball. The Mets thought they had their catcher for the next 10 years. After getting their name picked out of a hat to earn the right to sign Tom Seaver two months earlier, though, the Mets’ luck ran out.

What becomes of a baseball rose that never blossoms?

“I became the answer to a great trivia question,” Chilcott tells me in a quiet voice from his home in Santa Barbara. Who was first player taken in the 1966 draft, one slot ahead of future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson?

Chilcott never played a day in the majors. Chilcott and Brien Taylor, selected No. 1 by the Yankees in 1991 before later injuring his shoulder in a bar fight, are the only overall No. 1 picks from 1965 through 1998 to never play a single game in the major leagues.

Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of baseball’s first June amateur draft. Unlike the NFL and NBA, the baseball draft has never caught on with fans. In this instant-information, fantasy-league age, that appears to be changing. MLB.com will provide pick-by-pick coverage of the draft. All that’s missing is Mel Kiper.

Chilcott, 56, is a modest man who says he only tells his story to close friends. He looks back over the last 39 years and says, “I’ve had a good life, although at first it was hard for me to find things to do because I had such a desire to be a professional athlete.

“I had to find my place in the world.”

He eventually did, becoming a carpenter, remodeling homes and being happily married for the last 25 years to his wife Brooke. They love to travel and have been everywhere from the South Pacific to the south of France. Steve’s father was a B-24 pilot, so their journey to Normandy took on special meaning. Brooke’s dad survived the Bataan Death March and the work camps, all 87 pounds of him, and was on the USS Missouri the day Japan surrendered. He became a Navy officer stationed in postwar Japan. He died recently. Brooke and Steve plan to honor his memory with a trip to Japan.

Life is not all about baseball.

It wasn’t that way for Steve Chilcott in 1966. If not for freak injuries, Chilcott felt he would have been part of the 1969 Miracle Mets.

“I was a little jealous of those guys; I could have been there” Chilcott says. He played in the minors with many of those Mets and hung out with the likes of Tug McGraw and Ron Swoboda.

In 1967, Chilcott was tearing up the Florida State League, a notorious pitcher’s league. He led the league with 20 doubles, and the team in nearly every offensive category, before suffering the injury that changed his life on July 23.

Previous accounts point to Chilcott hurting his shoulder diving into second base. It was not that simple. Chilcott was on first. There was a force at second. He saw the umpire raise his arm as he slid into the bag. He got up, started to jog off the field, then realized he had been called safe.

“I was about five feet from the bag,” he recalls. Chilcott awkwardly dove back to the base. The infielder fell on his right shoulder, his throwing shoulder. Chilcott was never the same.

Reggie, meanwhile, had been called to the majors in June by the Kansas City A’s and was on his way to 563 career home runs, a legendary nickname and a candy bar with his name on the wrapper.

Over the next three years, Chilcott took numerous cortisone shots and suffered 14 semi-dislocations until doctors finally decided to perform surgery on his right shoulder. His “rehab” consisted of the surgeon telling him, in a five-minute post-op conversation, of a few simple exercises, using a pencil as a prop.

“Rehab then wasn’t what it is now,” Chilcott says. “Weightlifting was frowned upon. Teams didn’t want muscles on their players. I remember one year Nolan Ryan came to camp a little more grown up and they were questioning him on what he was doing.”

Despite the loss of throwing and hitting strength, Chilcott didn’t quit. He later suffered a split kneecap when he fell on a sprinkler head. Eventually, he was traded to the Yankees and was hopeful of becoming Thurman Munson’s backup in 1972. One day in spring training, he called for a pitchout on a hit and run. The batter flicked at the outside pitch and tipped the baseball into Chilcott’s exposed throwing hand. Chilcott’s fingers became a broken, bloody mess. His hopes of making the Yankees ended. He was soon out of the game.

At the age of 23, Chilcott went back to California. He had invested a portion of his $90,000 signing bonus in real estate. He drifted a while before becoming a carpenter. After so many years of aching knees and an aching back swinging that hammer, he is now getting into real estate full-time.

He never played Shea Stadium as a Met, but his Class-A team Auburn did play the Yankees’ Binghamton squad in a game at Yankee Stadium. He had one great New York day, catching minor-league teammate Jerry Koosman.

“When I stood in the on-deck circle, I looked up at the facade to see where Mickey Mantle’s famous home run hit,” Chilcott, who grew up a Yankee fan, says of the Mick’s May 22, 1963 blast. Chilcott stared out at the monuments, too, and took it all in with a smile. “I got to stand in the same batter’s box as Mickey,” he says of the glowing memory. “The dirt in the box was perfect. You didn’t even have to dig your spikes in to get comfortable.”

The Mets’ minor leaguers beat the Yankees’ that day. Chilcott, then a dead pull hitter, lined a ground-rule double into the right field stands. The year was 1966. His right shoulder was strong. So were his dreams.

St. John’s pitchers are major prospects

The Major League Baseball draft will be conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. Live coverage of the teleconference can be accessed by fans at mlb.com beginning Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.

The Post’s Nick Parish takes a look at some of the top Metro-area players who are expected to be selected early:

Craig Hansen, RHP, St. John’s, Glen Cove, L.I.

Hansen is sure to go the highest of these local products, and there have been rumblings he may even break the Top 5. Why? Teams see Hansen, a closer, as the most ready in this draft for major league action. Quick promotions through the minors could mean Hansen would see time in the bigs before the end of this season. Reportedly, the Mets are interested.

Anthony Varvaro, RHP, St. John’s, Staten Island

Hansen’s teammate will be the next local drafted. The junior has been strong where the Red Storm needed him, with a good fastball and curve. His height (around 6-0) may give pause to organizations who want to try to increase his velocity, but the potential here is his aggressiveness and agility on the mound.

Pedro Alvarez, 3B/SS, Horace Mann H.S., Bronx

This left-hander is lauded for his powerful swing and the smooth fielding, and his 6-2, 195 build remind scouts of Carlos Baerga or Bobby Bonilla. He’ll be lucky to break into the third round, but expect the fourth or fifth.

Vin Mazzaro, RHP, Rutherford H.S., Rutherford N.J.

A power curve, a knuckle-curve and a fastball are what the top New Jersey high schooler relies on. Scouts compare his body to Greg Maddux and his delivery to Kevin Brown. Probably a fifth rounder.

Shooter Hunt, RHP, Ramapo H.S., Wyckoff, N.J.

Lean with a tight curve ball, Hunt is showing scouts good presence on the mound as well as a strong fastball.