1971 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."
"You never forget your first hit in the Major Leagues. It was in my third at bat. That was kind of a relief. You could start off 0-for-34." - Ralph Kiner
American League Debuts

1971

20 Juan Beniquez 1971 Boston Red Sox 09-04-1971 21
17 Cecil Cooper 1971 Boston Red Sox 09-08-1971 21
38 Buddy Hunter 1971 Boston Red Sox 07-01-1971 23
35 Rick Miller 1971 Boston Red Sox 09-04-1971 23
4 Ben Oglivie 1971 Boston Red Sox 09-04-1971 22
1 Bruce Christensen 1971 California Angels 07-17-1971 23
42 Andy Hassler 1971 California Angels 05-30-1971 19
15 Rudy Meoli 1971 California Angels 09-09-1971 20
18 Billy Parker 1971 California Angels 09-09-1971 29
51 Terry Forster 1971 Chicago White Sox 04-11-1971 19
44, 50 Rich Hinton 1971 Chicago White Sox 07-17-1971 24
16 Ken Hottman 1971 Chicago White Sox 09-11-1971 23
44 Pat Jacquez 1971 Chicago White Sox 04-18-1971 23
19 Ron Lolich 1971 Chicago White Sox 07-18-1971 24
46 Stan Perzanowski 1971 Chicago White Sox 06-20-1971 20
9 Lee Richard 1971 Chicago White Sox 04-07-1971 22
49 Mark Ballinger 1971 Cleveland Indians 08-06-1971 22
25 Kurt Bevacqua 1971 Cleveland Indians 06-22-1971 24
14 Chris Chambliss 1971 Cleveland Indians 05-28-1971 22
40 Jim Clark 1971 Cleveland Indians 07-16-1971 24
47 Ed Farmer 1971 Cleveland Indians 06-09-1971 21
10 Gomer Hodge 1971 Cleveland Indians 04-06-1971 27
51 Bob Kaiser 1971 Cleveland Indians 09-03-1971 21
50 Chuck Machemehl 1971 Cleveland Indians 04-06-1971 24
45 Jim Foor 1971 Detroit Tigers 04-09-1971 22
36 Bill Gilbreth 1971 Detroit Tigers 06-25-1971 23
46 Marvin Lane 1971 Detroit Tigers 09-04-1971 21
37 Chuck Seelbach 1971 Detroit Tigers 06-29-1971 23
43 Jack Whillock 1971 Detroit Tigers 08-29-1971 28
41 John Young 1971 Detroit Tigers 09-09-1971 22
27 Lance Clemons 1971 Kansas City Royals 08-12-1971 24
20 Monty Montgomery 1971 Kansas City Royals 09-14-1971 25
19 Rick Auerbach 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 04-13-1971 21
40 Jerry Bell 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 09-06-1971 23
8 Rob Ellis 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 06-18-1971 20
52 Bill Parsons 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 04-13-1971 22
15 Darrell Porter 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 09-02-1971 19
41, 53, 67 Jim Slaton 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 04-14-1971 20
16 Ron Theobald 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 04-12-1971 27
9 Al Yates 1971 Milwaukee Brewers 05-13-1971 25
4 Steve Braun 1971 Minnesota Twins 04-06-1971 22
23 Ray Corbin 1971 Minnesota Twins 04-06-1971 22
16 Bob Gebhard 1971 Minnesota Twins 08-02-1971 28
32 Steve Luebber 1971 Minnesota Twins 06-27-1971 21
7 Paul Powell 1971 Minnesota Twins 04-07-1971 23
1 Eric Soderholm 1971 Minnesota Twins 09-03-1971 22
19 Jim Strickland 1971 Minnesota Twins 05-19-1971 24
46 Roger Hambright 1971 New York Yankees 07-19-1971 22
43 Terry Ley 1971 New York Yankees 08-20-1971 24
21 Rusty Torres 1971 New York Yankees 09-20-1971 22
11 Dwain Anderson 1971 Oakland Athletics 09-03-1971 23
25 George Hendrick 1971 Oakland Athletics 06-04-1971 21
16 Jim Panther 1971 Oakland Athletics 04-05-1971 26
18 Pete Broberg 1971 Washington Senators 06-20-1971 21
10 Bill Fahey 1971 Washington Senators 09-26-1971 21
14 Jim Mason 1971 Washington Senators 09-26-1971 21
15, 21 Tom Ragland 1971 Washington Senators 04-05-1971 24
2 Lenny Randle 1971 Washington Senators 06-16-1971 22
20 Rick Stelmaszek 1971 Washington Senators 06-25-1971 22
24 Mike Thompson 1971 Washington Senators 05-19-1971 21
1971 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1971 season as this group of players made their Major League debut!

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.

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."
     

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.