Posted on: Sunday, June 1, 2003

COLUMN

FERD LEWIS

Ferd Lewis
Staff columnist

It was 1982 and the University of Hawai'i baseball team thought it had a real steal in a promising high school recruit from Northridge, Calif., who didn't figure to go high in the Major League Draft.

"After his (recruiting) visit, we all thought, 'Eh, we got him!' " Les Murakami would say later.

When the shortstop-pitcher wasn't taken until the 19th round, the Rainbows felt even better — until they heard Kansas City was dangling more than mid-round money to get him.

Three years later, Bret Saberhagen was a 20-game winner, the American League Cy Young Award winner and the World Series MVP for the Royals.

And, not for the first time — or the last — were the Rainbows left to ponder the pitfalls of the annual draft and what might have been.

This year, more than most seasons, the Rainbows will be crossing their fingers that a promising recruiting year doesn't get derailed when the draft opens its two-day, 50-round run Tuesday.

Of the Rainbows' 15 signees, perhaps a third could be selected by the pros. UH fully expects to lose some and has taken the precaution of over-signing in anticipation of some attrition, much like how airlines overbook