1991 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

1991

58 Francisco de la Rosa 1991 Baltimore Orioles 09-07-1991 25
51 Stacy Jones 1991 Baltimore Orioles 07-30-1991 24
14 Chito Martinez 1991 Baltimore Orioles 07-05-1991 25
11 Luis Mercedes 1991 Baltimore Orioles 09-08-1991 23
42 Mike Mussina 1991 Baltimore Orioles 08-04-1991 22
53 Arthur Rhodes 1991 Baltimore Orioles 08-21-1991 21
41 Jeff Tackett 1991 Baltimore Orioles 09-11-1991 25
17 Wayne Housie 1991 Boston Red Sox 09-17-1991 26
51 Josias Manzanillo 1991 Boston Red Sox 10-05-1991 23
43 Kevin Morton 1991 Boston Red Sox 07-05-1991 22
54 Jeff Plympton 1991 Boston Red Sox 06-15-1991 25
42 Mo Vaughn 1991 Boston Red Sox 06-27-1991 23
22 Eric Wedge 1991 Boston Red Sox 10-05-1991 23
16 Bob Zupcic 1991 Boston Red Sox 09-07-1991 25
59 Kyle Abbott 1991 California Angels 09-10-1991 23
30 Ruben Amaro, Jr. 1991 California Angels 06-08-1991 26
36 Chris Beasley 1991 California Angels 07-20-1991 29
44 Chris Cron 1991 California Angels 08-15-1991 27
40 Mark Davis 1991 California Angels 07-02-1991 26
38 Kevin Flora 1991 California Angels 09-27-1991 22
28 Esteban Beltre 1991 Chicago White Sox 09-03-1991 23
41 Jeff Carter 1991 Chicago White Sox 07-31-1991 26
50 Brian Drahman 1991 Chicago White Sox 04-16-1991 24
42 Tom Drees 1991 Chicago White Sox 09-03-1991 28
43 Ramon Garcia 1991 Chicago White Sox 05-31-1991 21
39 Roberto Hernandez 1991 Chicago White Sox 09-02-1991 26
24 Warren Newson 1991 Chicago White Sox 05-29-1991 26
47 Don Wakamatsu 1991 Chicago White Sox 05-22-1991 28
46 Bruce Egloff 1991 Cleveland Indians 04-13-1991 26
6 Jose Escobar 1991 Cleveland Indians 04-13-1991 30
73 Wayne Kirby 1991 Cleveland Indians 09-12-1991 27
58 Garland Kiser 1991 Cleveland Indians 09-09-1991 23
64 Tom Kramer 1991 Cleveland Indians 09-12-1991 23
10 Mark Lewis 1991 Cleveland Indians 04-26-1991 21
6 Ever Magallanes 1991 Cleveland Indians 05-17-1991 25
62, 50 Jeff Mutis 1991 Cleveland Indians 06-15-1991 24
28 Eddie Taubensee 1991 Cleveland Indians 05-18-1991 22
59, 6, 25 Jim Thome 1991 Cleveland Indians 09-04-1991 21
42 Mike Dalton 1991 Detroit Tigers 05-31-1991 28
32 Dan Gakeler 1991 Detroit Tigers 06-09-1991 27
16 Dave Haas 1991 Detroit Tigers 09-08-1991 25
25 Shawn Hare 1991 Detroit Tigers 09-06-1991 24
46 John Kiely 1991 Detroit Tigers 07-26-1991 26
21 Scott Livingstone 1991 Detroit Tigers 07-19-1991 26
41 Rusty Meacham 1991 Detroit Tigers 06-29-1991 23
39 Stu Cole 1991 Kansas City Royals 09-05-1991 25
50 Archie Corbin 1991 Kansas City Royals 09-10-1991 23
31 David Howard 1991 Kansas City Royals 04-14-1991 24
58 Joel Johnston 1991 Kansas City Royals 09-05-1991 24
57 Mike Magnante 1991 Kansas City Royals 04-22-1991 25
9 Bobby Moore 1991 Kansas City Royals 09-05-1991 25
53 Jorge Pedre 1991 Kansas City Royals 09-07-1991 24
51 Harvey Pulliam 1991 Kansas City Royals 08-10-1991 23
7 Tim Spehr 1991 Kansas City Royals 07-18-1991 25
47 Jim Austin 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 07-04-1991 27
39 Matias Carrillo 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 05-23-1991 28
21 Cal Eldred 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 09-24-1991 23
59 Chris George 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 10-01-1991 25
28 Doug Henry 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 07-15-1991 27
43 Jim Hunter 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 05-17-1991 26
53 Mike Ignasiak 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 08-22-1991 25
18 Jim Olander 1991 Milwaukee Brewers 09-20-1991 28
23 Willie Banks 1991 Minnesota Twins 07-31-1991 22
1 Jarvis Brown 1991 Minnesota Twins 07-02-1991 24
11 Chuck Knoblauch 1991 Minnesota Twins 04-09-1991 22
58 Denny Neagle 1991 Minnesota Twins 07-27-1991 22
60 Darrin Chapin 1991 New York Yankees 09-21-1991 25
36 Mike Humphreys 1991 New York Yankees 07-29-1991 24
43 Jeff Johnson 1991 New York Yankees 06-05-1991 24
40 Scott Kamieniecki 1991 New York Yankees 06-18-1991 27
14 Pat Kelly 1991 New York Yankees 05-20-1991 23
48 John Ramos 1991 New York Yankees 09-18-1991 26
12 Carlos Rodriguez 1991 New York Yankees 06-16-1991 23
41 Wade Taylor 1991 New York Yankees 06-02-1991 25
51 Bernie Williams 1991 New York Yankees 07-07-1991 22
38 Dana Allison 1991 Oakland Athletics 04-12-1991 24
53 John Briscoe 1991 Oakland Athletics 04-18-1991 23
45 Scott Brosius 1991 Oakland Athletics 08-07-1991 24
55 Kevin Campbell 1991 Oakland Athletics 07-19-1991 26
22 Kirk Dressendorfer 1991 Oakland Athletics 04-13-1991 22
45 Johnny Guzman 1991 Oakland Athletics 06-08-1991 20
37 Joe Slusarski 1991 Oakland Athletics 04-11-1991 24
59 Todd Van Poppel 1991 Oakland Athletics 09-11-1991 19
50 Bruce Walton 1991 Oakland Athletics 05-11-1991 28
57 Ron Witmeyer 1991 Oakland Athletics 08-25-1991 24
8 Rich Amaral 1991 Seattle Mariners 05-27-1991 29
56 Dave Fleming 1991 Seattle Mariners 08-06-1991 21
45 Chris Howard 1991 Seattle Mariners 09-15-1991 25
52 Calvin Jones 1991 Seattle Mariners 06-14-1991 27
26 Patrick Lennon 1991 Seattle Mariners 09-15-1991 23
23 Pat Rice 1991 Seattle Mariners 05-18-1991 27
4 Monty Fariss 1991 Texas Rangers 09-06-1991 23
33 Donald Harris 1991 Texas Rangers 09-04-1991 23
3 Jose Hernandez 1991 Texas Rangers 08-09-1991 22
44 Barry Manuel 1991 Texas Rangers 09-06-1991 26
38 Terry Mathews 1991 Texas Rangers 06-21-1991 26
39 Rob Maurer 1991 Texas Rangers 09-08-1991 24
56 Mark Petkovsek 1991 Texas Rangers 06-08-1991 25
7 Ivan Rodriguez 1991 Texas Rangers 06-20-1991 19
52 Wayne Rosenthal 1991 Texas Rangers 06-26-1991 26
18 Tony Scruggs 1991 Texas Rangers 04-08-1991 25
14 Derek Bell 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 06-28-1991 22
35 Denis Boucher 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 04-12-1991 23
19 Ray Giannelli 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 05-04-1991 25
66 Juan Guzman 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 06-07-1991 24
41 Pat Hentgen 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 09-03-1991 22
26 Vince Horsman 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 09-05-1991 24
54 Randy Knorr 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 09-05-1991 22
33 Ed Sprague 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 05-07-1991 23
40 Mike Timlin 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 04-08-1991 25
53 David Weathers 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 08-02-1991 21
1 Eddie Zosky 1991 Toronto Blue Jays 09-02-1991 23
1991 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1991 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."

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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