1976 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

1976

42 Santo Alcala 1976 Cincinnati Reds 04-10-1976 23
16, 5 Fred Andrews 1976 Philadelphia Phillies 09-26-1976 24
47 Joaquin Andujar 1976 Houston Astros 04-08-1976 23
46 Tony Armas 1976 Pittsburgh Pirates 09-06-1976 23
4 Tucker Ashford 1976 San Diego Padres 09-21-1976 21
18 Brian Asselstine 1976 Atlanta Braves 09-14-1976 22
52 Bill Atkinson 1976 Montreal Expos 09-18-1976 21
38 Al Autry 1976 Atlanta Braves 09-14-1976 24
17 Doug Bair 1976 Pittsburgh Pirates 09-13-1976 27
29, 28 Rick Bosetti 1976 Philadelphia Phillies 09-09-1976 23
23 Leon Brown 1976 New York Mets 05-19-1976 27
3 Glenn Burke 1976 Los Angeles Dodgers 04-09-1976 23
33 Rick Camp 1976 Atlanta Braves 09-15-1976 24
26 Doug Capilla 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 09-12-1976 24
18 Mike Champion 1976 San Diego Padres 09-14-1976 21
16 Doug Clarey 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 04-20-1976 22
10 Andre Dawson 1976 Montreal Expos 09-11-1976 22
43 Mike Dupree 1976 San Diego Padres 04-13-1976 22
9 Mike Eden 1976 Atlanta Braves 08-02-1976 27
12 Gerry Hannahs 1976 Montreal Expos 09-08-1976 23
29 Al Javier 1976 Houston Astros 09-09-1976 22
56 Joe Keener 1976 Montreal Expos 09-18-1976 23
18 Joe Kerrigan 1976 Montreal Expos 07-09-1976 22
22 Jay Kleven 1976 New York Mets 06-20-1976 26
39 Bob Knepper 1976 San Francisco Giants 09-10-1976 22
40 Mike Krukow 1976 Chicago Cubs 09-06-1976 24
57 Larry Landreth 1976 Montreal Expos 09-16-1976 21
30 Rick Langford 1976 Pittsburgh Pirates 06-13-1976 24
34 Dan Larson 1976 Houston Astros 07-18-1976 22
51 Mark Lemongello 1976 Houston Astros 09-14-1976 21
12 Lee Mazzilli 1976 New York Mets 09-07-1976 21
39 Bo McLaughlin 1976 Houston Astros 07-20-1976 22
7 Sam Mejias 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 09-06-1976 24
48 Junior Moore 1976 Atlanta Braves 08-02-1976 23
3 Dale Murphy 1976 Atlanta Braves 09-13-1976 20
44 Bob Myrick 1976 New York Mets 05-28-1976 23
9 Bill Nahorodny 1976 Philadelphia Phillies 09-27-1976 23
44 Bob Owchinko 1976 San Diego Padres 09-25-1976 21
40 Mike Potter 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 09-06-1976 25
46 Mike Proly 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 04-10-1976 25
8 Ed Putman 1976 Chicago Cubs 09-07-1976 22
45 Frank Riccelli 1976 San Francisco Giants 09-11-1976 23
34 Pat Rockett 1976 Atlanta Braves 09-17-1976 21
29, 32 Gary Roenicke 1976 Montreal Expos 06-08-1976 21
45 Gil Rondon 1976 Houston Astros 04-10-1976 22
35 Joe Sambito 1976 Houston Astros 07-20-1976 24
45 Manny Sarmiento 1976 Cincinnati Reds 07-30-1976 20
48 Rick Sutcliffe 1976 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-29-1976 20
42 Bruce Sutter 1976 Chicago Cubs 05-09-1976 23
12 Jerry Tabb 1976 Chicago Cubs 09-08-1976 24
12 John Tamargo 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 09-03-1976 24
15 Alex Taveras 1976 Houston Astros 09-09-1976 20
19 Garry Templeton 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 08-09-1976 20
22 Wayne Tyrone 1976 Chicago Cubs 07-15-1976 25
48 Steve Waterbury 1976 St. Louis Cardinals 09-14-1976 24
24 Dave Wehrmeister 1976 San Diego Padres 04-16-1976 23
19 Joel Youngblood 1976 Cincinnati Reds 04-13-1976 24
40 Pat Zachry 1976 Cincinnati Reds 04-11-1976 23
1976 National League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the National League during the 1976 season as this group of players made their Major League debut!

Rich Amaral spent nine seasons in the Minor Leagues and upon his callup he commented, "I've been to every baseball park in America, except those in the American and National League."

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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