Much has been made this season of MLB rookie (and Japanese-league) sensation Shohie Ohtani – as a hitter and a pitcher. As of today (April 25), Ohtani is 2-1, 4.43 in four games on the mounds and .333-3-11 in eleven contests at the plate.
April 25 is a good day to reflect on Ohtani’s prowress as a hurler and a hitter, since on this date in 1933, a 26-year-old rookie southpaw named Russ Van Atta took the mound for the defending World Champion New York Yankees – and made quite an impression on the mound and at the plate.
Van Atta was facing the Washington Senators in Washington’s Griffith Stadium. It significant to note that this was not the Washington Senators later described as “First in War. First in peace. Last in the American League.” This was the Washington Senators that had finished in the American League’s first division in each of the previous three years – averaging 93 victories per season – and would go on to win the 1933 AL pennant with a 99-53 record. On the day the 6′, 184-pound Van Atta made his debut, three future Hall of Famers were in the Senators’ lineup: left fielder Heinie Manush, right fielder Goose Goslin and shortstop Joe Cronin.
Van Atta had some pretty good players behind him as well. The New York lineup that day featured future Hall of Famers: Babe Ruth (right field); Lou Gehrig (first base); Earle Combs (center field); Joe Sewell (third base); Tony Lazzeri (second base); and Bill Dickey (catcher). The Yankees were the defending AL and World Series Champions and, in the previous seven seasons, had never finished lower than third (capturing four AL pennants). Their 91 wins in 1933, would land them in second place.
With nine future Hall of Famers on the field, it is somewhat surprising that the star of the game – both on the mound and in the batter’s box – was a rookie pitcher making his very first major league appearance. Van Atta not only pitched a complet-game shutout, he collected four hits of his own – and still holds a share of the American League record for most hits in an MLB debut.
In his fifth season of professional baseball (after playing college ball at Penn State),Van Atta earned his chance at breaking into the Yankees’ rotation with a 22-win season for the American Association Saint Paul Saints the year before. He made the most of it.
In his debut, Van Atta threw a complete-game, five-hit shutout. That in itself is a pretty spectacular first MLB appearance, when you consider he was facing the eventual AL Champions. But Van Atta did more than that, he also went four-for-four at the plate, scored three runs, drove in one and recorded a successful sacrifice bunt. (The Yankees won 16-0.) Van Atta went on to have a pretty good rookie season overall. He won 12 games and lost only four (tying for the AL lead in winning percentage), posting a 4.18 ERA and ten complete games. He also hit .283 (17-for-60), with eight runs scored and seven RBI.)
It would, unfortunately, prove to be the best season of what was a short (seven-season) MLB career. In the winter following his rookie performance, Van Atta injured his pitching hand breaking a window to save his family dog (trapped in a house fire) – and the feeling never fully returned to his fingers. Van Atta left MLB with a 33-41 record (5.60 ERA) and a .228 average (47-for-208), with 24 runs scored and 17 RBI. But, oh, that sparkling debut. And he did save the family dog.
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