2001 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

2001

52 CC Sabathia 2001 Cleveland Indians 04-08-2001 20
24 Nate Cornejo 2001 Detroit Tigers 08-08-2001 21
53 Chris George 2001 Kansas City Royals 07-26-2001 21
2 Cesar Izturis 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 06-23-2001 21
7 Felipe Lopez 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 08-03-2001 21
28 Brandon Lyon 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 08-04-2001 21
5 Michael Cuddyer 2001 Minnesota Twins 09-23-2001 22
47, 72 Sean Douglass 2001 Baltimore Orioles 07-18-2001 22
37 Adam Johnson 2001 Minnesota Twins 07-16-2001 22
60 Nick Johnson 2001 New York Yankees 08-21-2001 22
50 Jorge Julio 2001 Baltimore Orioles 04-26-2001 22
50 Joe Kennedy 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 06-06-2001 22
49 Kyle Lohse 2001 Minnesota Twins 06-22-2001 22
63 Tim Raines, Jr. 2001 Baltimore Orioles 10-01-2001 22
39 Juan Rincon 2001 Minnesota Twins 06-07-2001 22
53 Angel Santos 2001 Boston Red Sox 09-08-2001 22
53 Jason Standridge 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 07-29-2001 22
3 Brent Abernathy 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 06-25-2001 23
57 Erick Almonte 2001 New York Yankees 09-04-2001 23
51 Mike Bacsik 2001 Cleveland Indians 08-05-2001 23
55 Danys Baez 2001 Cleveland Indians 05-13-2001 23
19 Grant Balfour 2001 Minnesota Twins 07-22-2001 23
4 Angel Berroa 2001 Kansas City Royals 09-18-2001 23
3 Larry Bigbie 2001 Baltimore Orioles 06-23-2001 23
43 Endy Chavez 2001 Kansas City Royals 05-29-2001 23
46 Jesus Colome 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 06-21-2001 23
45 Justin Duchscherer 2001 Texas Rangers 07-25-2001 23
59 Casey Fossum 2001 Boston Red Sox 07-28-2001 23
33 Steve Green 2001 Anaheim Angels 04-07-2001 23
40 Willie Harris 2001 Baltimore Orioles 09-02-2001 23
28 Ken Harvey 2001 Kansas City Royals 09-18-2001 23
12 Brandon Inge 2001 Detroit Tigers 04-03-2001 23
62 Sun Woo Kim 2001 Boston Red Sox 06-15-2001 23
15 Carlos Pena 2001 Texas Rangers 09-05-2001 23
61 Travis Phelps 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 04-19-2001 23
56 Juan Rivera 2001 New York Yankees 09-04-2001 23
1 Brian Roberts 2001 Baltimore Orioles 06-14-2001 23
44 Aaron Rowand 2001 Chicago White Sox 06-16-2001 23
10 Jared Sandberg 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 08-07-2001 23
27 Bobby Seay 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 08-14-2001 23
56 Brad Thomas 2001 Minnesota Twins 05-26-2001 23
62 Danny Wright 2001 Chicago White Sox 07-27-2001 23
26 Jeff Austin 2001 Kansas City Royals 06-26-2001 24
56 Rick Bauer 2001 Baltimore Orioles 09-02-2001 24
53 Joaquin Benoit 2001 Texas Rangers 08-08-2001 24
37 Brian Bowles 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 06-27-2001 24
24 Jermaine Clark 2001 Detroit Tigers 04-03-2001 24
55 Tony Cogan 2001 Kansas City Royals 04-02-2001 24
36 Bob File 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 04-14-2001 24
55 Josh Fogg 2001 Chicago White Sox 09-02-2001 24
25 Jay Gibbons 2001 Baltimore Orioles 04-06-2001 24
60 Brett Jodie 2001 New York Yankees 07-20-2001 24
23 Bobby Kielty 2001 Minnesota Twins 04-10-2001 24
54 Mike MacDougal 2001 Kansas City Royals 09-22-2001 24
11 Chris Magruder 2001 Texas Rangers 09-04-2001 24
21 Craig Monroe 2001 Texas Rangers 07-28-2001 24
57 Adam Pettyjohn 2001 Detroit Tigers 07-16-2001 24
49, 71 Pedro Santana 2001 Detroit Tigers 07-16-2001 24
22, 55 Victor Santos 2001 Detroit Tigers 04-09-2001 24
35 Josh Towers 2001 Baltimore Orioles 05-02-2001 24
46 Brad Voyles 2001 Kansas City Royals 09-08-2001 24
57 Ryan Drese 2001 Cleveland Indians 07-29-2001 25
11 Ryan Freel 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 04-04-2001 25
61 Brian Fuentes 2001 Seattle Mariners 06-02-2001 25
29 Shea Hillenbrand 2001 Boston Red Sox 04-02-2001 25
15 Paul Hoover 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 09-08-2001 25
62 Brandon Knight 2001 New York Yankees 06-05-2001 25
52 Bart Miadich 2001 Anaheim Angels 09-02-2001 25
17 Dustan Mohr 2001 Minnesota Twins 08-29-2001 25
43 Christian Parker 2001 New York Yankees 04-06-2001 25
39 Chad Paronto 2001 Baltimore Orioles 04-18-2001 25
9, 20 Scott Podsednik 2001 Seattle Mariners 07-06-2001 25
49 Mike Rivera 2001 Detroit Tigers 09-18-2001 25
48 Scott Seabol 2001 New York Yankees 04-08-2001 25
62 Scot Shields 2001 Anaheim Angels 05-26-2001 25
48 Roy Smith 2001 Cleveland Indians 05-26-2001 25
13 Ramon Vazquez 2001 Seattle Mariners 09-07-2001 25
60 Victor Zambrano 2001 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 06-21-2001 25
37 Larry Barnes 2001 Anaheim Angels 04-11-2001 26
30 Brandon Berger 2001 Kansas City Royals 09-09-2001 26
51 R.A. Dickey 2001 Texas Rangers 04-22-2001 26
22 David Eckstein 2001 Anaheim Angels 04-03-2001 26
36 Kris Foster 2001 Baltimore Orioles 08-03-2001 26
60 Geronimo Gil 2001 Baltimore Orioles 09-08-2001 26
65 Adrian Hernandez 2001 New York Yankees 04-21-2001 26
59 Donzell McDonald 2001 New York Yankees 04-19-2001 26
58 Matt Miller 2001 Detroit Tigers 05-08-2001 26
41, 52 Juan Moreno 2001 Texas Rangers 05-17-2001 26
30 Luis Pineda 2001 Detroit Tigers 08-04-2001 26
61 Ken Vining 2001 Chicago White Sox 05-23-2001 26
43 Chris Wakeland 2001 Detroit Tigers 09-04-2001 26
57 Cliff Brumbaugh 2001 Texas Rangers 05-30-2001 27
52 James Lofton 2001 Boston Red Sox 09-19-2001 27
12 Luis Lopez 2001 Toronto Blue Jays 04-29-2001 27
43 Jarrod Patterson 2001 Detroit Tigers 06-16-2001 27
51 Ichiro Suzuki 2001 Seattle Mariners 04-02-2001 27
47 Mark Lukasiewicz 2001 Anaheim Angels 05-11-2001 28
30 Andy Abad 2001 Oakland Athletics 09-10-2001 29
19 Jamie Burke 2001 Anaheim Angels 05-09-2001 29
17 Tom Wilson 2001 Oakland Athletics 05-19-2001 30
2001 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 2001 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.

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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