1979 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

1979

2 Danny Ainge 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 05-21-1979 20
23 Brian Allard 1979 Texas Rangers 08-08-1979 21
39 Gary Allenson 1979 Boston Red Sox 04-08-1979 24
19 Rick Anderson 1979 New York Yankees 09-18-1979 25
17, 20 Bob Babcock 1979 Texas Rangers 07-22-1979 29
43 German Barranca 1979 Kansas City Royals 09-02-1979 22
34 Ralph Botting 1979 California Angels 06-28-1979 24
29 Roy Branch 1979 Seattle Mariners 09-11-1979 26
16 Tom Brookens 1979 Detroit Tigers 07-10-1979 25
5 Bobby Brown 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 04-05-1979 24
23 Derek Bryant 1979 Oakland Athletics 04-24-1979 27
2 John Castino 1979 Minnesota Twins 04-06-1979 24
25 Craig Chamberlain 1979 Kansas City Royals 08-12-1979 22
45 Tom Chism 1979 Baltimore Orioles 09-13-1979 24
43 Mike Chris 1979 Detroit Tigers 07-31-1979 21
31 Gary Christenson 1979 Kansas City Royals 09-01-1979 26
32 Bobby Clark 1979 California Angels 08-21-1979 24
38 Mark Clear 1979 California Angels 04-04-1979 22
15 Mark Corey 1979 Baltimore Orioles 09-01-1979 23
19 Rod Craig 1979 Seattle Mariners 09-11-1979 21
23 Tom Donohue 1979 California Angels 04-06-1979 26
49 Richard Dotson 1979 Chicago White Sox 09-04-1979 20
35 Craig Eaton 1979 Kansas City Royals 09-05-1979 24
41 Steve Eddy 1979 California Angels 06-13-1979 21
16 Butch Edge 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 08-13-1979 23
42 Mark Esser 1979 Chicago White Sox 04-22-1979 23
21 Terry Felton 1979 Minnesota Twins 09-28-1979 21
45 Bob Ferris 1979 California Angels 09-12-1979 24
44 Joel Finch 1979 Boston Red Sox 06-12-1979 22
23 Kirk Gibson 1979 Detroit Tigers 09-08-1979 22
27 Jerry Don Gleaton 1979 Texas Rangers 07-11-1979 21
34 Dan Gonzales 1979 Detroit Tigers 04-07-1979 25
37 Dan Graham 1979 Minnesota Twins 06-08-1979 24
21 Al Greene 1979 Detroit Tigers 07-23-1979 24
52 Mike Griffin 1979 New York Yankees 09-17-1979 22
7 Brian Harper 1979 California Angels 09-29-1979 19
9 John Harris 1979 California Angels 09-26-1979 25
35 Rickey Henderson 1979 Oakland Athletics 06-24-1979 20
29 Pedro Hernandez 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 09-08-1979 20
36 Guy Hoffman 1979 Chicago White Sox 07-04-1979 22
24 Gary Holle 1979 Texas Rangers 06-02-1979 24
41 Fred Howard 1979 Chicago White Sox 05-26-1979 22
50 La Marr Hoyt 1979 Chicago White Sox 09-14-1979 24
47 Phil Huffman 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 04-10-1979 20
2, 27 Darryl Jones 1979 New York Yankees 06-06-1979 28
35 Lynn Jones 1979 Detroit Tigers 04-13-1979 26
50 Brian Kingman 1979 Oakland Athletics 06-28-1979 24
12 Wayne Krenchicki 1979 Baltimore Orioles 06-15-1979 24
47 Rusty Kuntz 1979 Chicago White Sox 09-01-1979 24
26 Jim Lewis 1979 Seattle Mariners 09-12-1979 23
27 Renie Martin 1979 Kansas City Royals 05-09-1979 23
38 Jerry Narron 1979 New York Yankees 04-13-1979 23
50 Mike O'Berry 1979 Boston Red Sox 04-08-1979 24
32 Rick Peters 1979 Detroit Tigers 09-08-1979 23
46 Dan Petry 1979 Detroit Tigers 07-08-1979 20
29 Dan Quisenberry 1979 Kansas City Royals 07-08-1979 26
42 Chuck Rainey 1979 Boston Red Sox 04-08-1979 24
49 Win Remmerswaal 1979 Boston Red Sox 08-03-1979 25
56 Dave Righetti 1979 New York Yankees 09-16-1979 20
43 Jeff Rineer 1979 Baltimore Orioles 09-30-1979 24
48 Bruce Robbins 1979 Detroit Tigers 07-28-1979 19
32, 35 Dewey Robinson 1979 Chicago White Sox 04-06-1979 23
26 Randy Scarbery 1979 Chicago White Sox 04-16-1979 26
41 Dave Schuler 1979 California Angels 09-17-1979 25
50 Roger Slagle 1979 New York Yankees 09-07-1979 25
25, 12 Rick Sofield 1979 Minnesota Twins 04-06-1979 22
40 Kevin Stanfield 1979 Minnesota Twins 09-14-1979 23
37 Dave Stieb 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 06-29-1979 21
31 Dickie Thon 1979 California Angels 05-22-1979 20
30 John Tudor 1979 Boston Red Sox 08-16-1979 25
40 Pat Underwood 1979 Detroit Tigers 05-31-1979 22
21 Rafael Vasquez 1979 Seattle Mariners 04-06-1979 20
37 Jesus Vega 1979 Minnesota Twins 09-05-1979 23
35 Gary Ward 1979 Minnesota Twins 09-03-1979 25
24 Dennis Werth 1979 New York Yankees 09-17-1979 26
56 Sandy Wihtol 1979 Cleveland Indians 09-07-1979 24
35 Ted Wilborn 1979 Toronto Blue Jays 04-05-1979 20
33 Eric Wilkins 1979 Cleveland Indians 04-11-1979 22
1979 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1979 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."

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."
     

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