1937 National League Baseball Debuts / Rookies by Baseball Almanac

1937 National 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."

"Always be cautious about rookie performances in September. They don't indicate what will happen in April." - Texas Rangers General Manager Tom Grieve

National League Debuts 1937
#	Name (sort)	Team (sort)	Debut (sort)	Age (sort)
6	Vince DiMaggio	1937 Boston Bees	04-19-1937	24
16	Lou Fette	1937 Boston Bees	04-26-1937	30
23	Jim Turner	1937 Boston Bees	04-30-1937	33
22	Link Wasem	1937 Boston Bees	05-05-1937	26
30	Gibby Brack	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	04-23-1937	29
7	Lindsay Brown	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	07-13-1937	25
8	Paul Chervinko	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	05-30-1937	26
-	George Cisar	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	09-09-1937	25
24	Jake Daniel	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	07-24-1937	26
-	George Fallon	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	09-27-1937	23
-	Bert Haas	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	09-09-1937	23
4	Tony Malinosky	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	04-26-1937	27
-	Art Parks	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	09-25-1937	25
-	Nick Polly	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	09-11-1937	20
-	Goody Rosen	1937 Brooklyn Dodgers	09-14-1937	25
41	John Bottarini	1937 Chicago Cubs	04-22-1937	28
49	Kirby Higbe	1937 Chicago Cubs	10-03-1937	22
43	Newt Kimball	1937 Chicago Cubs	05-07-1937	22
8	Joe Marty	1937 Chicago Cubs	04-22-1937	23
43	Dutch Meyer	1937 Chicago Cubs	06-23-1937	21
12	Red Barrett	1937 Cincinnati Reds	09-15-1937	22
1, 38	Gus Brittain	1937 Cincinnati Reds	07-22-1937	27
7	Harry Chozen	1937 Cincinnati Reds	09-21-1937	21
15	Harry Craft	1937 Cincinnati Reds	09-19-1937	22
17	Double Joe Dwyer	1937 Cincinnati Reds	04-20-1937	34
28	Paul Gehrman	1937 Cincinnati Reds	09-15-1937	25
29	Pinky Jorgensen	1937 Cincinnati Reds	09-14-1937	22
37	Dutch Mele	1937 Cincinnati Reds	09-14-1937	22
26	Arnie Moser	1937 Cincinnati Reds	06-20-1937	21
6	Jimmy Outlaw	1937 Cincinnati Reds	04-20-1937	24
27, 31	Johnny Vander Meer	1937 Cincinnati Reds	04-22-1937	22
16	Cliff Melton	1937 New York Giants	04-25-1937	25
41	Bob Allen	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	09-19-1937	23
41	Larry Crawford	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	07-21-1937	23
37	Howie Gorman	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	08-07-1937	24
45	Wayne LaMaster	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	04-19-1937	30
30	Hersh Martin	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	04-23-1937	27
20	George Scharein	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	04-19-1937	22
23	Del Young	1937 Philadelphia Phillies	04-19-1937	24
44	Ken Heintzelman	1937 Pittsburgh Pirates	10-03-1937	21
32	Bill Schuster	1937 Pittsburgh Pirates	09-29-1937	25
50	Jim Tobin	1937 Pittsburgh Pirates	04-30-1937	24
29	Nate Andrews	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	05-01-1937	23
30	Herb Bremer	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	09-16-1937	23
15	Jimmy Brown	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	04-23-1937	26
31	Johnnie Chambers	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	05-04-1937	25
22	Howie Krist	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	09-12-1937	21
8	Mickey Owen	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	05-02-1937	21
4	Don Padgett	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	04-23-1937	25
28	Tom Sunkel	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	08-26-1937	25
22	Abe White	1937 St. Louis Cardinals	07-10-1937	33
#	Name (sort)	Team (sort)	Debut (sort)	Age (sort)
1937 National League Debuts

1937 A.L. Debuts

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the National League during the 1937 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.

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