2007 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 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)
National League Debuts

2007

35 Joe Smith 2007 New York Mets 04-01-2007 23
7 Alejandro De Aza 2007 Florida Marlins 04-02-2007 22
33 Josh Hamilton 2007 Cincinnati Reds 04-02-2007 25
29, 42, 29 Don Kelly 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates 04-02-2007 27
36 Levale Speigner 2007 Washington Nationals 04-02-2007 26
14 Brian Barden 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 04-03-2007 26
5 Kory Casto 2007 Washington Nationals 04-03-2007 25
51 Jared Burton 2007 Cincinnati Reds 04-04-2007 25
47 Matt Chico 2007 Washington Nationals 04-04-2007 23
3 Jesus Flores 2007 Washington Nationals 04-04-2007 22
22 Matt Lindstrom 2007 Florida Marlins 04-04-2007 27
46 Joe Bisenius 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 04-05-2007 24
41 Kevin Cameron 2007 San Diego Padres 04-05-2007 27
44 Micah Owings 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 04-06-2007 24
40 Jon Coutlangus 2007 Cincinnati Reds 04-07-2007 26
37 Zack Segovia 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 04-08-2007 23
56 Henricus VandenHurk 2007 Florida Marlins 04-10-2007 21
46 Zach McClellan 2007 Colorado Rockies 04-16-2007 28
17, 20 Felix Pie 2007 Chicago Cubs 04-17-2007 22
62 Mike Schultz 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 04-20-2007 27
57 Rocky Cherry 2007 Chicago Cubs 04-23-2007 27
56 Kelvin Jimenez 2007 St. Louis Cardinals 04-27-2007 26
9 Hunter Pence 2007 Houston Astros 04-28-2007 24
59 Dennis Dove 2007 St. Louis Cardinals 04-30-2007 25
44 Alberto Arias 2007 Colorado Rockies 05-01-2007 23
53 Brad Salmon 2007 Cincinnati Reds 05-01-2007 27
18 Jarrod Saltalamacchia 2007 Atlanta Braves 05-02-2007 22
44 Yoel Hernandez 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 05-05-2007 27
10 Andy LaRoche 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers 05-06-2007 23
55 Tim Lincecum 2007 San Francisco Giants 05-06-2007 22
27 Carlos Gomez 2007 New York Mets 05-13-2007 21
27 Mark Reynolds 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 05-16-2007 23
99 Darren Clarke 2007 Colorado Rockies 05-18-2007 26
6 Tony Abreu 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers 05-22-2007 22
62 Mark McLemore 2007 Houston Astros 05-24-2007 26
8 Ryan Braun 2007 Milwaukee Brewers 05-25-2007 24
59 Mike Zagurski 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 05-25-2007 24
46, 61 Troy Cate 2007 St. Louis Cardinals 05-27-2007 26
19 Yunel Escobar 2007 Atlanta Braves 06-02-2007 24
35 Brian Esposito 2007 St. Louis Cardinals 06-02-2007 28
63, 13 Brendan Ryan 2007 St. Louis Cardinals 06-02-2007 25
14 Sean Barker 2007 Colorado Rockies 06-06-2007 27
59 Marcus McBeth 2007 Cincinnati Reds 06-06-2007 26
33, 63 Andy Cavazos 2007 St. Louis Cardinals 06-07-2007 26
34 Homer Bailey 2007 Cincinnati Reds 06-08-2007 21
36 Jailen Peguero 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 06-08-2007 26
36 Sean Gallagher 2007 Chicago Cubs 06-09-2007 21
18 Masumi Kuwata 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates 06-10-2007 39
12 Nate Schierholtz 2007 San Francisco Giants 06-11-2007 23
38 Kyle Kendrick 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 06-13-2007 22
39 Guillermo Rodriguez 2007 San Francisco Giants 06-13-2007 29
50 Clay Rapada 2007 Chicago Cubs 06-14-2007 26
16 Chase Headley 2007 San Diego Padres 06-15-2007 23
25 Brett Carroll 2007 Florida Marlins 06-17-2007 24
49 Yovani Gallardo 2007 Milwaukee Brewers 06-18-2007 21
56 Billy Petrick 2007 Chicago Cubs 06-27-2007 23
66 J.A. Happ 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 06-30-2007 24
61 Anderson Garcia 2007 Philadelphia Phillies 07-07-2007 26
37 Jo-Jo Reyes 2007 Atlanta Braves 07-07-2007 22
57 Jose Ascanio 2007 Atlanta Braves 07-13-2007 21
9 Jake Fox 2007 Chicago Cubs 07-19-2007 24
43 Manny Parra 2007 Milwaukee Brewers 07-20-2007 24
57 Eric Hull 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers 07-24-2007 27
26 John Lannan 2007 Washington Nationals 07-26-2007 22
50 Joe Thatcher 2007 San Diego Padres 07-26-2007 25
38 Joel Hanrahan 2007 Washington Nationals 07-28-2007 25
50 Phil Dumatrait 2007 Cincinnati Reds 08-02-2007 26
10 Justin Upton 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 08-02-2007 19
3 Eric Patterson 2007 Chicago Cubs 08-06-2007 23
15 Edwin Bellorin 2007 Colorado Rockies 08-07-2007 25
58 Mauro Zarate 2007 Florida Marlins 08-07-2007 24
38 Daniel Barone 2007 Florida Marlins 08-10-2007 24
40 Jack Cassel 2007 San Diego Padres 08-10-2007 27
51 Ross Wolf 2007 Florida Marlins 08-10-2007 24
24 Ian Stewart 2007 Colorado Rockies 08-11-2007 22
46 Manny Acosta 2007 Atlanta Braves 08-12-2007 26
63 Carmen Pignatiello 2007 Chicago Cubs 08-16-2007 24
56 Franklin Morales 2007 Colorado Rockies 08-18-2007 21
71 Juan Gutierrez 2007 Houston Astros 08-19-2007 24
65 Troy Patton 2007 Houston Astros 08-25-2007 21
10, 11 Craig Stansberry 2007 San Diego Padres 08-25-2007 25
58 Romulo Sanchez 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates 08-26-2007 23
64 Tom Shearn 2007 Cincinnati Reds 08-26-2007 29
60 Chin-lung Hu 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-01-2007 23
47 Joe Koshansky 2007 Colorado Rockies 09-01-2007 25
63 Jon Meloan 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers 09-01-2007 23
29 Nyjer Morgan 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates 09-01-2007 27
18 Steve Pearce 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates 09-01-2007 24
57 Mitch Stetter 2007 Milwaukee Brewers 09-01-2007 26
52 Mel Stocker 2007 Milwaukee Brewers 09-01-2007 27
20 Josh Anderson 2007 Houston Astros 09-02-2007 25
4 Emilio Bonifacio 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 09-02-2007 22
68 Harvey Garcia 2007 Florida Marlins 09-03-2007 23
40 Bill Murphy 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks 09-03-2007 26
59 Chris Seddon 2007 Florida Marlins 09-03-2007 23
55 Kevin Hart 2007 Chicago Cubs 09-04-2007 24
19 Joey Votto 2007 Cincinnati Reds 09-04-2007 23
53 Jonathan Albaladejo 2007 Washington Nationals 09-05-2007 24
36 Willie Collazo 2007 New York Mets 09-05-2007 27
57 Sam Fuld 2007 Chicago Cubs 09-05-2007 25
16 Justin Maxwell 2007 Washington Nationals 09-05-2007 23
52 Felipe Paulino 2007 Houston Astros 09-05-2007 23
46 J.R. Towles 2007 Houston Astros 09-05-2007 23
57 Eugenio Velez 2007 San Francisco Giants 09-05-2007 25
50 Dave Davidson 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates 09-06-2007 23
29 Ross Detwiler 2007 Washington Nationals 09-07-2007 21
56 Dan Giese 2007 San Francisco Giants 09-08-2007 30
65 Ryan Hanigan 2007 Cincinnati Reds 09-09-2007 27
45 Josh Newman 2007 Colorado Rockies 09-12-2007 25
18 Clint Sammons 2007 Atlanta Braves 09-12-2007 23
60 Erick Threets 2007 San Francisco Giants 09-12-2007 25
28 Brandon Jones 2007 Atlanta Braves 09-16-2007 23
12 Seth Smith 2007 Colorado Rockies 09-16-2007 24
34 Colt Morton 2007 San Diego Padres 09-21-2007 25
38 Carlos Muniz 2007 New York Mets 09-25-2007 26
1 Drew Macias 2007 San Diego Padres 09-29-2007 24
2007 National League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the National League during the 2007 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.

Did you know that on September 27, 1963 the Houston Colt .45s fielded an all-rookie lineup that included future stars Joe Morgan, Jerry Grote, and Rusty Staub?
     

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