1942 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."
"Always be cautious about rookie performances in September. They don't indicate what will happen in April." - Texas Rangers General Manager Tom Grieve
American League Debuts

1942

6 Buddy Blair 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 04-14-1942 31
34 Jim Castiglia 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 04-14-1942 23
24 Russ Christopher 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 04-14-1942 24
22 Stan Galle 1942 Washington Senators 04-14-1942 23
7 Billy Hitchcock 1942 Detroit Tigers 04-14-1942 25
6 Johnny Pesky 1942 Boston Red Sox 04-14-1942 23
11 Ken Richardson 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 04-14-1942 26
12 Bud Sketchley 1942 Chicago White Sox 04-14-1942 23
- Thurman Tucker 1942 Chicago White Sox 04-14-1942 24
14 Tony Criscola 1942 St. Louis Browns 04-15-1942 26
9 Otto Denning 1942 Cleveland Indians 04-15-1942 29
34 Al Kvasnak 1942 Washington Senators 04-15-1942 21
35 Ray Poat 1942 Cleveland Indians 04-15-1942 24
31 Hardin Cathey 1942 Washington Senators 04-16-1942 22
36 Leo Wells 1942 Chicago White Sox 04-16-1942 24
17 Charlie Fuchs 1942 Detroit Tigers 04-17-1942 29
38 Hank Borowy 1942 New York Yankees 04-18-1942 25
36 Mel Queen 1942 New York Yankees 04-18-1942 24
21 Phil McCullough 1942 Washington Senators 04-22-1942 24
21 Bill Kennedy 1942 Washington Senators 05-01-1942 23
27 Frank Biscan 1942 St. Louis Browns 05-03-1942 22
21 Ellis Clary 1942 Washington Senators 06-07-1942 25
11 Bruce Konopka 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 06-07-1942 22
32 John Sullivan 1942 Washington Senators 06-07-1942 21
19 Stan Ferens 1942 St. Louis Browns 06-10-1942 27
25 Eddie Kearse 1942 New York Yankees 06-13-1942 26
16 Larry Eschen 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 06-16-1942 21
29 Bob Savage 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 06-24-1942 20
10, 66 Ray Scarborough 1942 Washington Senators 06-26-1942 24
7 Johnny Lipon 1942 Detroit Tigers 08-16-1942 19
11 George Yankowski 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 08-17-1942 19
9 Hank Riebe 1942 Detroit Tigers 08-26-1942 20
- Bill Mueller 1942 Chicago White Sox 08-29-1942 21
6 Ray Hoffman 1942 Washington Senators 08-30-1942 25
- Val Heim 1942 Chicago White Sox 08-31-1942 21
19 Lou Bevil 1942 Washington Senators 09-02-1942 19
20 Jimmy Grant 1942 Chicago White Sox 09-08-1942 23
34 Len Perme 1942 Chicago White Sox 09-08-1942 24
31 Eddie Robinson 1942 Cleveland Indians 09-09-1942 21
15 Ted Sepkowski 1942 Cleveland Indians 09-09-1942 18
7 Pete Center 1942 Cleveland Indians 09-11-1942 30
2 Andy Gilbert 1942 Boston Red Sox 09-14-1942 28
31 Al Unser 1942 Detroit Tigers 09-14-1942 29
- Allie Reynolds 1942 Cleveland Indians 09-17-1942 25
- Ted Abernathy 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 09-19-1942 20
- Dewey Adkins 1942 Washington Senators 09-19-1942 24
- Dick Adkins 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 09-19-1942 22
- Joe Coleman 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 09-19-1942 20
- Sam Lowry 1942 Philadelphia Athletics 09-19-1942 22
- Paul Calvert 1942 Cleveland Indians 09-24-1942 24
1942 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1942 season as this group of players made their Major League debut!

On the final day of the 1930 season, Dizzy Dean was called up and pitched a three-hitter. In Spring Training the following year, Dean had a fight with catcher Gabby Street and the franchise left him in the Minor Leagues all season long.

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."
     

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