If it's early June, it means it's time for the Major League Baseball Draft.

The amateur draft as we know it was instituted in 1965 to help even the playing field for all teams in baseball. The idea was that the worst teams would draft first, and therefore, would conceivably, have the best chance at improving themselves via the draft.

In the years before the draft was instituted the Cubs had been the worst team in baseball for nearly twenty years. No-one was happier than they were to start up this new tradition. After all, it appeared their luck was finally going to change.

The Cubs had the sixth pick in that first draft (1965) and chose pitcher Rick James. Remember him? Probably not. He only pitched three big league games. The player chosen right after him was future all-star catcher Ray Fosse (photo). Strike one.

In 1966, they had the fifth overall pick and chose pitcher Dean Burke, who never made the majors. Outfielder Tom Grieve was chosen right after him. Grieve had nearly 2000 career at-bats in the major leagues. Strike two.

Would you believe the Cubs had 15 strikes in a row? Their best player drafted in the first round during those years was Scott Thompson in 1974. He had one good season. At best, he was a foul ball.

The rest were clear swings and misses. Check out this list of names drafted in the first round: Terry Hughes, Ralph Rickey, Gene Hiser (photo), Jeff Wehmeier, Brian Vernoy, Jerry Tabb, Brian Rosinski, Herman Segelke, Randy Martz, Bill Hayes, Jon Perlman, and Don Schulte.

Hughes was the second overall pick in 1967. He played two games for the Cubs in 1970. They could have had future all-stars Jon Matlack, John Mayberry or Ted Simmons instead. It's not like those guys were surprises. All of them were chosen in the top ten picks, and all of them eventually played in the World Series.

Who else did the Cubs pass on?

*In 1968, Gary Matthews was taken two picks later.

*In 1971, only eight teams picked after the Cubs in the first round, but six of them picked future Major Leaguers, including 150-game winner Rick Rhoden. The Cubs got Jeff Wehmeier.

*In 1976, three future Cubs were drafted in the first round by other teams drafting after the Cubs (Steve Trout, Leon Durham, and Pat Tabler) while the Cubs picked Herman Segelke. In order to acquire Durham (photo), by the way, the Cubs had to trade future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter.

*In 1978, Tom Brunansky was taken right after the Cubs picked Bill Hayes. Brunansky led his team to the World Series. Hayes got nine big league at-bats.

The Cubs had a few hits since the 80s (Joe Carter, Shawon Dunston, & Rafael Palmeiro), and a few more real bad misses. For instance, Mike Harkey was taken before Jack McDowell. Ty Griffin was taken the pick before Robin Ventura. Slugger Earl Cunningham was taken before the Red Sox picked Mo Vaughn.

In the 1990s, their drafting was embarrassingly bad once again. Cubs picked Lance Dickson (one pick before Rondell White), Doug Glanville (one pick before Manny Ramirez), Derek Wallace (two picks before Shannon Stewart), Brooks Kieshnick (two picks before Billy Wagner), and Jayson Peterson. Remember him? Me neither. They only had two good picks the entire decade; Kerry Wood in 1995 and Jon Garland in 1997. Unfortunately, they traded Garland for washed up reliever Matt Karchner.

In 2000, the Cubs picked shortstop Luis Montanez. He's still not in the majors. In '01, Mark Prior, although in all fairness, there was no way to anticipate what happened to him, (Granted, Mark Texiera was picked just a few slots later.) In '02 the Cubs picked Bobby Brownlie ahead of Jeff Franceour. In '03, the Cubs passed on Nick Markakis to pick Ryan Harvey. It's still too soon to judge the others, but if history is any indictation, I wouldn't count on great future achievements from pitcher Mark Pawelek, outfielder Tyler Colvin, or third baseman Josh Vitters.

Why have the Cubs been terrible for the last 43 years? Oh geez, I don't know. Think it might have something to do with the fact that 21 of their 42 first round picks never stepped foot in the big leagues.

Oh, but it goes even deeper than that.

Between 1965 (Don Kessinger) and 1985 (Shawon Dunston), the Cubs farm system didn't produce a single every day player. That's 20 years of nothing. Since then, they've produced a whopping total of five (Mark Grace, Palmeiro, Glanville, Patterson and Ryan Theriot).

Are the Cubs cursed or they are incompetent?

You be the judge.