With the 21st pick in the January Secondary draft, the Cleveland Indians select Duane Kuiper.

Kuiper, the cousin of future Indians pitcher Dick Bosman, will spend 12 years in the Majors, starting with his debut for the Tribe in 1974. After eight seasons manning second base for the club, he will be traded following the 1981 season to the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Ed Whitson.

Kuiper will spend four years on the west coast with the Giants before being released midseason in 1985.

He has since gone on to a lengthy and successful career as a broadcaster for the Giants. He might best be known for hitting just one home run (on August 29th, 1977, with Cleveland in the first inning off of Chicago’s Steve Stone) during his career that spanned 1,057 games and 3,754 trips to the plate.

Also on this date in Tribe history:

1994 – Brief member of the Cleveland Indians organization, Steve Carlton, is elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He earns 436 of the 456 votes possible. Former Indians Rookie of the Year winner Chris Chambliss does not receive a vote in his first and only year on the ballot.