1929 American League Debuts

Willie Mays played his first Major League game on May 25, 1951, and went 0-for-5 at the plate. He started his career 1-for-25 and told his manager, "I can't do it, Mr. Leo. You better bench me."

Casey Stengel played his first Major League game on July 27, 1912, and went 4-for-4 at the plate. He commented later in his life, "I broke in with four hits and the writers promptly decided they had seen the new Ty Cobb. It took me only a few days to correct that impression."

Both Mays and Stengel would continue their Major League careers down separate paths of greatness, but each still had to appear in that memorable first Major League game. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present what Cubs broadcaster Steve Stone once described as, "His first Major League debut."
"There is no Major League record held by a rookie. It's revealing to see just how far the rookie marks are below the single season marks. This is a testament to how difficult the game is to learn and play." - Luke Salisbury in The Answer is Baseball (1989)
American League Debuts

1929

n/a Bill Akers 1929 Detroit Tigers 09-08-1929 24
n/a Dale Alexander 1929 Detroit Tigers 04-16-1929 25
5 Earl Averill 1929 Cleveland Indians 04-16-1929 26
n/a Red Badgro 1929 St. Louis Browns 06-20-1929 26
n/a Frank Barnes 1929 Detroit Tigers 04-18-1929 29
n/a Elliot Bigelow 1929 Boston Red Sox 04-18-1929 31
n/a Bill Breckinridge 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 06-30-1929 21
27 Sammy Byrd 1929 New York Yankees 05-11-1929 22
n/a Jerry Byrne 1929 Chicago White Sox 08-31-1929 22
n/a Ed Carroll 1929 Boston Red Sox 05-01-1929 21
n/a Joe Cicero 1929 Boston Red Sox 09-20-1929 18
n/a Herb Cobb 1929 St. Louis Browns 04-21-1929 24
n/a Ed Connolly 1929 Boston Red Sox 09-20-1929 21
n/a Doc Cramer 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 09-18-1929 24
n/a Jim Cronin 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 07-04-1929 23
n/a Ray Dobens 1929 Boston Red Sox 07-07-1929 22
n/a Len Dondero 1929 St. Louis Browns 04-21-1929 25
n/a Ed Durham 1929 Boston Red Sox 04-19-1929 21
n/a Oscar Estrada 1929 St. Louis Browns 04-21-1929 25
n/a Rick Ferrell 1929 St. Louis Browns 04-19-1929 23
28 Liz Funk 1929 New York Yankees 04-26-1929 24
34 Ray Gardner 1929 Cleveland Indians 04-16-1929 27
n/a Charlie Gooch 1929 Washington Senators 04-18-1929 26
n/a Art Herring 1929 Detroit Tigers 09-12-1929 23
n/a Dutch Hoffman 1929 Chicago White Sox 04-23-1929 25
n/a Chief Hogsett 1929 Detroit Tigers 09-18-1929 25
- Dan Jessee 1929 Cleveland Indians 08-14-1929 28
n/a Roy Johnson 1929 Detroit Tigers 04-18-1929 26
15, 32 Art Jorgens 1929 New York Yankees 04-26-1929 23
n/a Chad Kimsey 1929 St. Louis Browns 04-21-1929 22
n/a Doc Land 1929 Washington Senators 10-06-1929 26
24 Lyn Lary 1929 New York Yankees 05-11-1929 23
n/a Ad Liska 1929 Washington Senators 04-17-1929 22
n/a Cloy Mattox 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 09-01-1929 26
n/a Paul McCullough 1929 Washington Senators 07-02-1929 30
n/a Eric McNair 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 09-20-1929 20
n/a Rudy Miller 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 09-19-1929 29
n/a Bud Morse 1929 Philadelphia Athletics 09-14-1929 25
n/a Bill Narleski 1929 Boston Red Sox 04-18-1929 29
30 Bots Nekola 1929 New York Yankees 07-19-1929 22
3 Dick Porter 1929 Cleveland Indians 04-16-1929 27
n/a Augie Prudhomme 1929 Detroit Tigers 04-19-1929 26
21, 30 Gordon Rhodes 1929 New York Yankees 04-29-1929 21
n/a Nolen Richardson 1929 Detroit Tigers 04-16-1929 26
n/a Ed Roetz 1929 St. Louis Browns 05-26-1929 23
n/a Jack Ryan 1929 Boston Red Sox 06-18-1929 24
n/a Don Savidge 1929 Washington Senators 08-06-1929 20
n/a Russ Scarritt 1929 Boston Red Sox 04-18-1929 26
31 Roy Sherid 1929 New York Yankees 05-11-1929 22
23 Milt Shoffner 1929 Cleveland Indians 07-20-1929 23
n/a Fred Stiely 1929 St. Louis Browns 10-06-1929 28
n/a Johnny Watwood 1929 Chicago White Sox 04-16-1929 23
n/a Ed Wineapple 1929 Washington Senators 09-15-1929 24
n/a Yats Wuestling 1929 Detroit Tigers 06-15-1929 25
n/a Whit Wyatt 1929 Detroit Tigers 09-16-1929 21
1929 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1929 season as this group of players made their Major League debut!

When Christy Mathewson made his Major League debut the newspaper wrote, "The untried semi-professional possessed great speed and plenty of confidence in himself, but could not control his curves."

Ray Jansen (four for five in his first game), Aubrey Epps (three for four in his first game) and Ed Irvin (two for three in his first game) all finished their career with lifetime batting averages which were greater than their career fielding percentages.
     

Baseball Almanac on Facebook

Copyright © 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved by Baseball-Almanac. Privacy Policy.Design by Geisler Young. Web hosting by Hosting 4 Less.
Part of the Baseball Almanac family: 755 Home Runs | Baseball Box Scores | Baseball Fever | Football Almanac | Pigskin Fever | Today in Baseball History.