[fintstone]

What is it about Democratic politicians and the truth?

Governor Threw a Curveball on Baseball Career
Editor and Publisher
By E&P Staff

Published: November 24, 2005 2:15 PM ET

NEW YORK The draft was controversial in the 1960s, but four decades later it is now proving troublesome for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. The Albuquerque Journal has determined that the governor has lied about his draft status--baseball draft that is.

Richardson has long maintained he was drafted as a pitcher in 1966 by the Kansas City (now Oakland) Athletics. The media, including The New York Times and Associated Press, have gone along with this.

Richardson alluded to it in a brief biography released when he ran for Congress in 1982, and the Clinton White House mentioned it in a 1997 release when Richardson was about to be named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

But an Albuquerque Journal probe has found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A's, or any other team. In today's paper tthe governor acknowledged the error.

"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," Richardson said.

He explained that he was, indeed, a star pitcher in high school and played at Tufts University, and was "scouted by several major league teams."

Richardson later developed arm trouble, ending any possible pro career. Before that, he said scouts had told him he "would or could" be drafted. "In my mind, that meant I had been drafted," Richardson said.