Time for another edition of Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances or statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. This Tuesday, we’ll be looking a a few players who started their MLB careers by lining a baseball over the fence and into the record books.
Hit ‘Em Where They Ain’t – Except the Fans, Of Course
Let’s start with Keith McDonald, who had a very short, but pretty sweet and unicorn designation-worthy MLB career. McDonald’s MLB career stat line would include just eight games, 11 plate appearances (two walks), three hits in nine at bats (.333 average), three home runs, three runs scored and five RBI.
In the process of those eight games, McDonald became the only player with more than one MLB career hit, who can look back on major league career in which his every hit was a home run. He also became one of only two players – and the only National Leaguer – to homer in his first TWO major-league plate appearances.
The Cardinals selected 21-year-old McDonald (out of Pepperdine University) in the 24th round of the 1994 draft. From 1994 to 1999, McDonald (a catcher, this will be important in a bit) worked his way up from Rookie ball to Triple-A.
He started the 2000 season at Triple-A (Memphis Redbirds). He was hitting .246, with one home run and 17 RBI in early July, when he was called up to replace Cardinals’ injured backup catcher Eli Marrero.
McDonald got his first taste of MLB action on July 4 (in St. Louis), pinch-hitting (for SS Edgar Renteria) in the bottom of the eighth inning – with the Cardinals ahead by a 13-3 score. After hitting just one home run in 177 at bats at Triple-A that season, McDonald sent a 2-2 pitch out of the park to left-center.
McDonald did not play in the Reds/Cardinals July 5 tilt, but On July 6, he started at catcher against the Reds, batting in the number-eight spot. He got his first at bat in the bottom of the second, with the Cardinals trailing 3-2. He tied the game with a home run on a 1-0 pitch – becoming just the second MLB player ever to homer in their FIRST TWO plate appearances. (The other was St. Louis Browns’ LF Bob Nieman, who homered in his first two at MLB at plate appearances in his debut game – against the Red Sox in Fenway – on September 14, 1951.) By the way, McDonald went one-for-three in the July 6 game, adding a walk and another RBI.
McDonald’s next MLB appearance came on July 8. With the Cardinals hosting the Giants, McDonald replaced Matheny at catcher in the top of the ninth, with the Giants up 7-6. McDonald came to the plate in the bottom of the inning and drew a walk. He didn’t take the field again until July 13, when he again entered the game as a pinch hitter (this time in the top of the ninth with the Cardinals up 13-3 on the White Sox in Chicago). He grounded out to second. Two days later (July 15), still in Chicago, McDonald pinch hit again. This time, it came in the top of the ninth of a game in which the Cardinals trailed 15-5. McDonald popped a 3-1 pitch for a two-run home run. At this stage of his MLB career, he was three-for-six – with all three his hits leaving the yard. McDonald got only one more major-league at bat that season, a ninth-inning, pinch-hit fly out against the Twins on July 15.
Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over. On July 21, McDonald was sent back down to Memphis, where he finished the season .263-5-30 in 83 games. He appeared in just two more major-league games – in September of 2001 – going hitless in two at bats. McDonald then spent the next five seasons at AAA; playing in the Cardinals’, Cubs’, Pirates’, Rangers’ and Yankees’ systems. So, his final MLB stat line was .333-3-5 in eight games. His .333 average was result of three hits in nine careers at bats – again, all home runs. For more on Keith McDonald, click here.
It’s Miller time
Little did Yankee rookie leftfielder John Miller know (when he made his debut on September 11, 1966) that his entire MLB career would include as many at bats as Yankee Roger Maris had home runs in 1961. He also probably didn’t know he would bat his way into Yankee history in a way that could never be erased – becoming the first Yankee to homer in his first MLB at bat – as well as one of just two MLB players to homer in their first and last MLB at bats.
Miller made his MLB debut on September 11, 1966 – his fifth professional season – playing LF and batting seventh against Lee Stange and the Red Sox in Fenway. Miller had gone .294-16-59 at Double-A/Triple-A that season. In his first MLB at bat, in the bottom of the second inning, with a runner on first and two out, he hit a two-run home run to left.
That made Miller the first Yankee in history to go deep in his first MLB at bat. He would hold the distinction of being the only Bronx Bomber to go deep in his first MLB at bat for four decades – 36 seasons, actually. (Marcus Thames would be next on June 10, 2002).
It would be a while before Miller went deep again – but it would be another historic long ball. Miller, in fact, would not get another home run or RBI until September 23, 1969 – in the final at bat of his MLB career.
In 1966, Miller would play in six games for the Yankees, going 2-for-23 with nine strikeouts (and, of course, that one home run and two RBI). The following April, Miller was traded to the Dodgers. He spent 1967 and 1968 at Triple-A Spokane – putting up respectable numbers. In 1969, he made it back to the big leagues, getting in 26 games (just 38 at bats) for the Dodgers. In the first 37 of those at bats, Miller collected seven hits (one double and six singles), scored twice, but did not collect an RBI. Miller’s last at bat of the season (and what turn out to be the last at bat of his MLB career) came as a pinch hitter (September 23) in the eighth inning of a game at Cincinnati. The Dodgers, trailing 6-2 sent Miller to the plate for pitcher Al McBean. In that final MLB at bat, Miller stroked a solo home run off Reds’ starting pitcher Jim Merritt.
Just Aside
In the spirit of “with Baseball Roundtable one thing always seems to lead to another,” Al (Alvin O’Neal) McBean (see paragraph immediately above) was the winning pitcher in MLB’s only All-Hispanic All Star Game (played on October 12, 1963. For more on that historic game, click here.
That second homer made Miler one of two players in MLB history to homer in their first and final at bats. The other is Paul Gillespie – whose MLB career spanned three seasons during World War II (1942, 1944, 1945), all with the Cubs. Gillespie, a catcher, appeared in 89 games – hitting .283, with six home runs and 31 RBI; and went zero-for-six in the 1945 World Series.
Miller played in a total of just 32 major-league games, getting 61 at bats and just ten hits (.164 career average), two home runs and three RBI. With that output, however, Miller earned a special place in the MLB record books
Miller did go on to play three seasons (1970-72) in Japan, hitting .249 with 72 home runs and 222 RBI in 382 games for the Chunichi Dragons.
The Long and Short of It
As noted earlier, above three were 36 seasons between John Miller becoming the first Yankee to homer in his first at bat and Marcus Thames becoming the second. That’s the “long” of it. Now for the “short” of it.
On April 13, 2016, 24-year-old Tyler Austin made his MLB degut at 1B, batting seventh for the Yankees. In his first MLB at bat (bottom of the second), he popped a 2-2 pitch from the Rays’ Matt Andriese to deep right for a two-run home run. How long did it take for the next Yankees rookie to hit a dinger in his first MLB at bat? Just one hitter and four pitchers. Next up was a rookie RF named Aaron Judge, who hit a 1-2 pitch from Andriese to deep center for a home run in his first MLB at bat. Two rookies hitting first at bat home runs back-to-back – that’s still an MLB first and only.
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