First Call: Great Pittsburgh draft picks — not as obvious as Mario Lemieux - TribLIVE

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Wednesday’s “First Call” was inspired by the flashbacks so many were dedicating to Mario Lemieux.

Tuesday was the anniversary of his draft selection by the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 1984. And that got me thinking of how many home runs the Penguins hit with their high draft choices.

If you are coming up with an all-time Penguins team, you don’t have to stray far from their own top-10 draft choices to build much of the roster.

Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal, Jaromir Jagr, Pierre Larouche, Konstatin Kolt…

Sorry. Got carried away.

The Steelers certainly have a plethora of great first-rounders that went onto the Hall of Fame. And the Pirates have the likes of Barry Bonds and Andrew McCutchen to their credit.

But what about after the first round? The less obvious picks. The guys who were legends that may not have come in with as much acclaim on draft day.

For each of the three pro sports franchises in town, here’s my choice for the best draft choice after the first round.

Steelers: Mel Blount (CB/3rd round/1970)

The Steelers pick is the hardest one. It gets easier when you disqualify first-round Hall of Famers such as Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Rod Woodson, Lynn Swann, Troy Polamalu and Mean Joe Greene.

Not to mention that Roethlisberger fellow. He panned out pretty well, too.

It gets harder when you consider that the likes of Mike Webster, Antonio Brown, John Stallworth, Hines Ward, Ernie Stautner, Dermontti Dawson, Jack Lambert and Jack Ham were all picked after Round 1.

Just to name a few.

My pick is Blount, though. I often get accused of listing Blount too high on some of these “best of” Steelers lists.

Hall of Fame. The 100th anniversary team. Six All-Pro nominations. Defensive Player of the Year in 1975. Four Super Bowls.

That’s a pretty good resume.

And cornerback is so hard to play. Yes, even back then it was tough. Even when Blount basically got to make up his own rules.

And his game seems to translate over eras so well, I tend to elevate him on my selection process when topics of Steelers legends come up.

Plus, to get him in the third round out of Southern?

I will not throw near Mel Blount.
I will not throw near Mel Blount.
I will not throw near Mel Blount.
I will not throw near Mel Blount.
I will not throw near Mel Blount.
I will not throw near Mel Blount.
I will not throw near Mel Blount.#TDTuesday #SteelersHistory pic.twitter.com/77k0xpnrs8

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) March 14, 2018

Great value. Great find by the great Bill Nunn.

Pirates: Dave Parker (OF/14th round/1970)

Picking “The Cobra” as the Pirates choice is the easiest of the three teams.

You can’t build an all-time Pirates team without Parker being on it. And most of those who make the roster were in the big leagues before the MLB Entry Draft came into existence back in 1965.

Besides Parker, those who may be listed on such a team after the draft either weren’t originally drafted by the Pirates or were first-rounders.

Namely Andrew McCutchen and Barry Bonds.

So, we go with Parker here. An MVP, two batting titles and three Gold Gloves make a pretty good case.

The World Series ring doesn’t hurt either.

A little belated birthday present after Parker turned 69 yesterday.

World Series Champs!

Dave Parker helps lead the @Pirates to the 1979 title. #TheCobra pic.twitter.com/YZNXFRqONX

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) December 13, 2019

“When the leaves turn brown, I’ll be wearing the batting crown!”

Penguins: Kris Letang (Defenseman/3rd round/2005)

OK, back to the Penguins.

Yes, Letang’s critics will hate this pick. Mark Recchi is in the Hall of Fame. Matt Murray won two Stanley Cups as a goalie, and Michel Briere is — sadly — in the “what could have been” category.

Bash him all you want, Letang is the right call. He’s got three rings. He’s owns every Penguins record on the books for a defenseman.

Letang’s 808 games played in a Pittsburgh uniform are +105 on second place (Brooks Orpik). As a Penguin, he’s got 19 more goals, 78 more assists and 97 more points than the legendary Paul Coffey.

For all the heat Letang takes, those numbers are overwhelming.

Oh, and he did this in the 2016 Stanley Cup clinching game.

Kris Letang’s Cup-winning goal in 2016 in San Jose. You just knew there was no way they would lose this Game Six. #PensQuarantineTheater pic.twitter.com/GFm1itIaj0

— Steve Mears (@MearsyNHL) March 27, 2020

That’s gotta count for something, no?

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Categories: Penguins/NHL | Pirates/MLB | Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz