1947 American League Baseball Debuts / Rookies by Baseball Almanac

1947 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 1947
#	Name (sort)	Team (sort)	Debut (sort)	Age (sort)
27	Leslie Aulds	1947 Boston Red Sox	05-25-1947	26
5	Matt Batts	1947 Boston Red Sox	09-10-1947	25
32	Merl Combs	1947 Boston Red Sox	09-12-1947	27
29	Cot Deal	1947 Boston Red Sox	09-11-1947	24
17, 35	Sam Dente	1947 Boston Red Sox	07-10-1947	25
20	Harry Dorish	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-15-1947	25
23	Tommy Fine	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-26-1947	32
28	Billy Goodman	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-19-1947	21
14	Sam Mele	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-15-1947	25
17	Mel Parnell	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-20-1947	24
29	Strick Shofner	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-19-1947	27
42	Chuck Stobbs	1947 Boston Red Sox	09-15-1947	18
32	Al Widmar	1947 Boston Red Sox	04-25-1947	22
28	Pete Gebrian	1947 Chicago White Sox	05-06-1947	23
17	Gene Bearden	1947 Cleveland Indians	05-10-1947	26
14	Larry Doby	1947 Cleveland Indians	07-05-1947	23
36	Joe Frazier	1947 Cleveland Indians	08-31-1947	24
29	Ernest Groth	1947 Cleveland Indians	09-11-1947	25
3	Lyman Linde	1947 Cleveland Indians	09-11-1947	26
17	Al Rosen	1947 Cleveland Indians	09-10-1947	23
28	Bryan Stephens	1947 Cleveland Indians	05-15-1947	26
29	Les Willis	1947 Cleveland Indians	04-28-1947	39
20	Vic Wertz	1947 Detroit Tigers	04-15-1947	22
14	Rugger Ardizoia	1947 New York Yankees	04-30-1947	27
3	Allie Clark	1947 New York Yankees	08-05-1947	24
32, 50	Ralph Houk	1947 New York Yankees	04-26-1947	27
26	Don Johnson	1947 New York Yankees	04-20-1947	20
36	Jack Phillips	1947 New York Yankees	08-22-1947	25
20	Spec Shea	1947 New York Yankees	04-19-1947	26
30	Dick Starr	1947 New York Yankees	09-05-1947	26
6, 41	Dick Adams	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	05-20-1947	27
28	Lou Brissie	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	09-28-1947	23
5	Ferris Fain	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	04-15-1947	26
28	Nellie Fox	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	06-08-1947	19
20, 30	Tom Kirk	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	06-24-1947	19
15, 30, 39	Austin Knickerbocker	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	04-19-1947	28
31	Mickey Rutner	1947 Philadelphia Athletics	09-11-1947	28
36	Walter Brown	1947 St. Louis Browns	05-16-1947	32
15	Willard Brown	1947 St. Louis Browns	07-19-1947	32
19	Ray Coleman	1947 St. Louis Browns	04-22-1947	24
15	Perry Currin	1947 St. Louis Browns	06-29-1947	18
31	Bud Swartz	1947 St. Louis Browns	07-12-1947	18
7	Hank Thompson	1947 St. Louis Browns	07-17-1947	21
23	Scott Cary	1947 Washington Senators	05-01-1947	24
22	Buzz Dozier	1947 Washington Senators	09-12-1947	19
-	Cal Ermer	1947 Washington Senators	09-26-1947	23
25	Eddie Lyons	1947 Washington Senators	09-15-1947	24
19	Hal Toenes	1947 Washington Senators	09-17-1947	29
23, 32	Junior Wooten	1947 Washington Senators	09-16-1947	23
#	Name (sort)	Team (sort)	Debut (sort)	Age (sort)
1947 American League Debuts

1947 N.L. Debuts

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1947 season as this group of players made their Major League debut!

On April 13, 1954, Hank Aaron made his Major League debut and went 0-for-5. However, in his own autobiography Aaron wrote that he went 0-for-4.

Five-for-five debuts? Believe it or not it has happened twice: On June 30, 1894 Fred Clarke of the Louisville Colonels and on May 16, 1933, Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators made their Major League debuts and both went five-for-five at the plate.

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