2004 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

2004

65 Dusty Bergman 2004 Anaheim Angels 06-09-2004 26
60 Scott Dunn 2004 Anaheim Angels 09-11-2004 26
52 Matt Hensley 2004 Anaheim Angels 05-04-2004 25
35 Casey Kotchman 2004 Anaheim Angels 05-09-2004 21
23 Dallas McPherson 2004 Anaheim Angels 09-10-2004 24
16 Denny Bautista 2004 Baltimore Orioles 05-25-2004 23
14 Jose Bautista 2004 Baltimore Orioles 04-04-2004 23
35 Daniel Cabrera 2004 Baltimore Orioles 05-13-2004 22
49 John Maine 2004 Baltimore Orioles 07-23-2004 23
63 Val Majewski 2004 Baltimore Orioles 08-20-2004 23
11, 39 Darnell McDonald 2004 Baltimore Orioles 04-30-2004 25
47 Aaron Rakers 2004 Baltimore Orioles 09-08-2004 27
40 Eddy Rodriguez 2004 Baltimore Orioles 05-31-2004 22
59 Abe Alvarez 2004 Boston Red Sox 07-22-2004 21
52 Jamie Brown 2004 Boston Red Sox 05-20-2004 27
55 Lenny DiNardo 2004 Boston Red Sox 04-23-2004 24
39 Andy Dominique 2004 Boston Red Sox 05-25-2004 28
67 Anastacio Martinez 2004 Boston Red Sox 05-22-2004 25
53 Phil Seibel 2004 Boston Red Sox 04-15-2004 25
20 Kevin Youkilis 2004 Boston Red Sox 05-15-2004 25
57 Jeff Bajenaru 2004 Chicago White Sox 09-04-2004 26
54 Felix Diaz 2004 Chicago White Sox 05-13-2004 23
49 Arnie Munoz 2004 Chicago White Sox 06-19-2004 21
10 Shingo Takatsu 2004 Chicago White Sox 04-09-2004 35
39 Wilson Valdez 2004 Chicago White Sox 09-07-2004 26
56 Cliff Bartosh 2004 Cleveland Indians 05-15-2004 24
64 Fernando Cabrera 2004 Cleveland Indians 08-20-2004 22
55 Francisco Cruceta 2004 Cleveland Indians 09-21-2004 23
57 Kyle Denney 2004 Cleveland Indians 09-14-2004 27
53 Jeremy Guthrie 2004 Cleveland Indians 08-28-2004 25
49 Jake Robbins 2004 Cleveland Indians 09-20-2004 28
24 Grady Sizemore 2004 Cleveland Indians 07-21-2004 21
32 Kazuhito Tadano 2004 Cleveland Indians 04-27-2004 24
26 Curtis Granderson 2004 Detroit Tigers 09-13-2004 23
40 Nook Logan 2004 Detroit Tigers 07-21-2004 24
51 Roberto Novoa 2004 Detroit Tigers 07-29-2004 24
55 Ryan Raburn 2004 Detroit Tigers 09-12-2004 23
30 Chris Shelton 2004 Detroit Tigers 04-15-2004 23
45 Lino Urdaneta 2004 Detroit Tigers 09-09-2004 24
1, 3 Andres Blanco 2004 Kansas City Royals 04-17-2004 20
2 John Buck 2004 Kansas City Royals 06-25-2004 23
58 Shawn Camp 2004 Kansas City Royals 04-05-2004 28
31 Byron Gettis 2004 Kansas City Royals 05-27-2004 24
30 Ruben Gotay 2004 Kansas City Royals 08-03-2004 21
23 Zack Greinke 2004 Kansas City Royals 05-22-2004 20
37 Justin Huisman 2004 Kansas City Royals 04-25-2004 25
31 Donnie Murphy 2004 Kansas City Royals 09-18-2004 21
3 Paul Phillips 2004 Kansas City Royals 09-09-2004 27
50 Jimmy Serrano 2004 Kansas City Royals 08-07-2004 28
24 Rich Thompson 2004 Kansas City Royals 04-07-2004 24
3 Mike Tonis 2004 Kansas City Royals 06-20-2004 25
59 Jorge Vasquez 2004 Kansas City Royals 08-13-2004 26
59 Eduardo Villacis 2004 Kansas City Royals 05-01-2004 24
18 Jason Bartlett 2004 Minnesota Twins 08-03-2004 24
28 Jesse Crain 2004 Minnesota Twins 08-05-2004 23
31 J.D. Durbin 2004 Minnesota Twins 09-08-2004 22
54 Matt Guerrier 2004 Minnesota Twins 06-17-2004 25
1 Jason Kubel 2004 Minnesota Twins 08-31-2004 22
7 Joe Mauer 2004 Minnesota Twins 04-05-2004 20
32 Terry Tiffee 2004 Minnesota Twins 09-01-2004 25
57 Alex Graman 2004 New York Yankees 04-20-2004 26
57, 61 Brad Halsey 2004 New York Yankees 06-19-2004 23
60 Sam Marsonek 2004 New York Yankees 07-11-2004 26
68 Dioner Navarro 2004 New York Yankees 09-07-2004 20
61 Juan Padilla 2004 New York Yankees 07-16-2004 27
39 Andy Phillips 2004 New York Yankees 09-14-2004 27
56, 57 Scott Proctor 2004 New York Yankees 04-20-2004 27
64 Joe Blanton 2004 Oakland Athletics 09-21-2004 23
46 Santiago Casilla 2004 Oakland Athletics 08-09-2004 24
47 Ramon Castro 2004 Oakland Athletics 06-21-2004 24
57 Justin Lehr 2004 Oakland Athletics 06-20-2004 26
6 Mike Rose 2004 Oakland Athletics 10-01-2004 28
33 Nick Swisher 2004 Oakland Athletics 09-03-2004 23
57 Scott Atchison 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-31-2004 28
32 Cha Seung Baek 2004 Seattle Mariners 08-08-2004 24
48 Travis Blackley 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-01-2004 21
53 Greg Dobbs 2004 Seattle Mariners 09-08-2004 26
33 Bucky Jacobsen 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-16-2004 28
26 Justin Leone 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-02-2004 27
22 Jose Lopez 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-31-2004 20
30 Mickey Lopez 2004 Seattle Mariners 09-06-2004 30
56 Bobby Madritsch 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-21-2004 28
37 Clint Nageotte 2004 Seattle Mariners 06-01-2004 23
58 Jeremy Reed 2004 Seattle Mariners 09-08-2004 23
59 Rene Rivera 2004 Seattle Mariners 09-22-2004 21
52 George Sherrill 2004 Seattle Mariners 07-16-2004 27
43 Matt Thornton 2004 Seattle Mariners 06-27-2004 27
41 Randy Williams 2004 Seattle Mariners 09-11-2004 28
59 Jorge Cantu 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 07-17-2004 22
57 Bartolome Fortunato 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 06-29-2004 29
43 Joey Gathright 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 06-25-2004 23
57 Scott Kazmir 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 08-23-2004 20
47 Franklin Nunez 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 08-14-2004 27
35, 9 B.J. Upton 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 08-02-2004 19
53 John Webb 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 08-02-2004 25
50 Frank Francisco 2004 Texas Rangers 05-14-2004 24
24 Adrian Gonzalez 2004 Texas Rangers 04-18-2004 21
57 Travis Hughes 2004 Texas Rangers 09-26-2004 26
44 Kameron Loe 2004 Texas Rangers 09-26-2004 22
49 Sam Narron 2004 Texas Rangers 07-30-2004 23
57 Nick Regilio 2004 Texas Rangers 07-09-2004 25
49 Ryan Snare 2004 Texas Rangers 08-06-2004 25
49 Chris Young 2004 Texas Rangers 08-24-2004 25
8 Russ Adams 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 09-03-2004 24
49 Dave Bush 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 07-02-2004 24
39 Gustavo Chacin 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 09-20-2004 23
17 Eric Crozier 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 09-04-2004 26
54 Jason Frasor 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 04-16-2004 26
21 Gabe Gross 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 08-07-2004 24
35 Brandon League 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 09-21-2004 21
59 Adam Peterson 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 06-24-2004 25
18 Simon Pond 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 04-07-2004 27
16 Guillermo Quiroz 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 09-04-2004 22
15 Alex Rios 2004 Toronto Blue Jays 05-27-2004 23
2004 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 2004 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.

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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