1973 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."
"There is a certain amount of fascination to the big league debut of any athlete. Sometimes they are incredible successes. Sometimes they are frenetic failures." - Sportswriter Arthur Daley
National League Debuts

1973

38 Larry Christenson 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 04-13-1973 19
11 Hector Cruz 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 08-11-1973 20
8 Jerry Royster 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers 08-14-1973 20
2 Orlando Alvarez 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-01-1973 21
30 Dave Cheadle 1973 Atlanta Braves 09-16-1973 21
34 John D'Acquisto 1973 San Francisco Giants 09-02-1973 21
6 Bob Davis 1973 San Diego Padres 04-06-1973 21
27 Adrian Devine 1973 Atlanta Braves 06-27-1973 21
22 Dan Driessen 1973 Cincinnati Reds 06-09-1973 21
54 Barry Foote 1973 Montreal Expos 09-14-1973 21
21 Greg Gross 1973 Houston Astros 09-05-1973 21
29 Greg Heydeman 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-02-1973 21
16 Marc Hill 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 09-28-1973 21
46 Doug Konieczny 1973 Houston Astros 09-11-1973 21
16 Steve Ontiveros 1973 San Francisco Giants 08-05-1973 21
52 Tony Scott 1973 Montreal Expos 09-01-1973 21
31 Dave Winfield 1973 San Diego Padres 06-19-1973 21
34 Ray Burris 1973 Chicago Cubs 04-08-1973 22
30 Jim Crawford 1973 Houston Astros 04-06-1973 22
17 Tommy Cruz 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 09-04-1973 22
22 Mike Easler 1973 Houston Astros 09-05-1973 22
6 Jim Essian 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 09-15-1973 22
39 Dave Parker 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates 07-12-1973 22
10 Mike Phillips 1973 San Francisco Giants 04-15-1973 22
40 Dick Ruthven 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 04-17-1973 22
50 Eddie Solomon 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-02-1973 22
27 Craig Swan 1973 New York Mets 09-03-1973 22
47 Rich Troedson 1973 San Diego Padres 04-09-1973 22
49 Mike Wallace 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 06-27-1973 22
34 Bob Apodaca 1973 New York Mets 09-18-1973 23
45 Dave Augustine 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates 09-03-1973 23
35 Craig Caskey 1973 Montreal Expos 07-19-1973 23
10, 56 Jim Cox 1973 Montreal Expos 07-19-1973 23
19 Jim Dwyer 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 06-10-1973 23
30 Ken Griffey 1973 Cincinnati Reds 08-25-1973 23
6 Greg Harts 1973 New York Mets 09-15-1973 23
42 Ron Hodges 1973 New York Mets 06-13-1973 23
35 Randy Jones 1973 San Diego Padres 06-16-1973 23
32 Max Leon 1973 Atlanta Braves 07-18-1973 23
51 Larry Lintz 1973 Montreal Expos 07-14-1973 23
27 Gene Locklear 1973 Cincinnati Reds 04-05-1973 23
18 Jack Pierce 1973 Atlanta Braves 04-27-1973 23
45 Steve Rogers 1973 Montreal Expos 07-18-1973 23
12 Andre Thornton 1973 Chicago Cubs 07-28-1973 23
37 John Andrews 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 04-08-1973 24
38 Pepe Frias 1973 Montreal Expos 04-06-1973 24
8 Tom Lundstedt 1973 Chicago Cubs 08-31-1973 24
21 Bake McBride 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 07-26-1973 24
19 Brian Ostrosser 1973 New York Mets 08-05-1973 24
42 Frank Snook 1973 San Diego Padres 07-13-1973 24
33 Ed Armbrister 1973 Cincinnati Reds 08-31-1973 25
8 Rafael Batista 1973 Houston Astros 06-17-1973 25
5 Larry Cox 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 04-18-1973 25
32 Tom Dettore 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates 06-11-1973 25
53 John Montague 1973 Montreal Expos 09-09-1973 25
12 John Morlan 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates 07-20-1973 25
29, 28 Mike Rogodzinski 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 05-04-1973 25
41 Greg Shanahan 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-04-1973 25
39 Dave Wallace 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 07-18-1973 25
42 Matt Alexander 1973 Chicago Cubs 08-23-1973 26
56 Wenty Ford 1973 Atlanta Braves 09-10-1973 26
5 Tom Heintzelman 1973 St. Louis Cardinals 08-12-1973 26
29 Bruce Miller 1973 San Francisco Giants 08-04-1973 26
3 Mike Sadek 1973 San Francisco Giants 04-13-1973 26
9, 18 George Theodore 1973 New York Mets 04-14-1973 26
17 Curtis Brown 1973 Montreal Expos 05-27-1973 27
21 Ron Diorio 1973 Philadelphia Phillies 08-09-1973 27
38 Geoff Zahn 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-02-1973 27
9 Otis Thornton 1973 Houston Astros 07-06-1973 28
1973 National League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the National League during the 1973 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."

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.
     

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