Today is a very important day, one-seventh of a very important week. Major League Baseball’s official Opening Day, the first of many days during which 162-games will be played by each team, was yesterday. This is the first Opening Day in recent memory that has not been played a week or so early in some foreign land; because this has been the trend lately, I tend to view the first full day of games as baseball’s true “Opening Day”. That day is today.
A quick summary of last night’s game between the Braves and Phillies: Brett Myers sucked for Philly (Cole Hamels where art thou?) and Derek Lowe through a two-hitter for Atlanta. Couple that with a trio of homers from Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, and Jordan Schafer of the Braves and you’ve got yourselves a ball game.
Side Note A – Schafer hit his homer in the first at-bat of his major league career, becoming just the 99th player to do so. Others include:
| Player | Team | Date | Career HR |
| Joe Harrington | Boston Beaneaters | 09-10-1895 | 3 |
| Bill Duggleby | Philadelphia Phillies | 04-21-1898 | 6 |
| Johnny Bates | Boston Beaneaters | 4/12/1906 | 25 |
| Luke Stuart | St. Louis Cardinals | 8/8/1921 | 1 |
| Walter Mueller | Pittsburgh Pirates | 5/7/1922 | 2 |
| Earl Averill | Cleveland Indians | 4/16/1929 | 238 |
| Clise Dudley | Brooklyn Dodgers | 4/27/1929 | 3 |
| Gordon Slade | Brooklyn Dodgers | 5/24/1930 | 8 |
| Eddie Morgan | St. Louis Cardinals | 4/14/1936 | 1 |
| Ace Parker | Philadelphia Phillies | 4/30/1937 | 2 |
| Gene Hasson | Philadelphia Athletics | 9/9/1937 | 4 |
| Ernie Koy | Brooklyn Dodgers | 4/19/1938 | 36 |
| Heinie Mueller | Philadelphia Phillies | 4/19/1938 | 17 |
| Bill LeFebvre | Boston Red Sox | 6/10/1938 | 1 |
| Clyde Vollmer | Cincinnati Reds | 5/31/1942 | 69 |
| Paul Gillespie | Chicago Cubs | 9/11/1942 | 6 |
| Buddy Kerr | New York Giants | 9/8/1943 | 31 |
| Hack Miller | Detroit Tigers | 4/23/1944 | 1 |
| Whitey Lockman | New York Giants | 7/5/1945 | 114 |
| Eddie Pellagrini | Boston Red Sox | 4/22/1946 | 20 |
| Dan Bankhead | Brooklyn Dodgers | 8/26/1947 | 1 |
| George Vico | Detroit Tigers | 4/20/1948 | 12 |
| Les Layton | New York Giants | 5/21/1948 | 2 |
| Ed Sanicki | Philadelphia Phillies | 9/14/1949 | 3 |
| Ted Tappe | Cincinnati Reds | 9/14/1950 | 5 |
| Bob Nieman | St. Louis Browns | 9/14/1951 | 125 |
| Hoyt Wilhelm | New York Giants | 4/23/1952 | 1 |
| Wally Moon | St. Louis Cardinals | 4/13/1954 | 142 |
| Chuck Tanner | Milwaukee Braves | 4/12/1955 | 21 |
| Bill White | New York Giants | 5/7/1956 | 202 |
| Frank Ernaga | Chicago Cubs | 5/24/1957 | 2 |
| Don Leppert | Pittsburgh Pirates | 6/18/1961 | 15 |
| Cuno Barragan | Chicago Cubs | 9/1/1961 | 1 |
| Bob Tillman | Boston Red Sox | 5/19/1962 | 79 |
| John Kennedy | Washington Senators | 9/5/1962 | 32 |
| Buster Narum | Baltimore Orioles | 5/5/1963 | 3 |
| Gates Brown | Detroit Tigers | 6/19/1963 | 84 |
| Bert Campaneris | Kansas City Athletics | 7/23/1964 | 79 |
| Bill Roman | Detroit Tigers | 9/30/1964 | 1 |
| Brant Alyea | Washington Senators | 9/12/1965 | 38 |
| John Miller | New York Yankees | 9/11/1966 | 2 |
| Rick Renick | Minnesota Twins | 7/11/1968 | 20 |
| Joe Keough | Oakland Athletics | 8/7/1968 | 9 |
| Gene Lamont | Detroit Tigers | 9/2/1970 | 4 |
| Don Rose | California Angels | 5/24/1972 | 1 |
| Benny Ayala | New York Mets | 8/27/1974 | 38 |
| Reggie Sanders | Detroit Tigers | 9/1/1974 | 3 |
| John Montefusco | San Francisco Giants | 9/3/1974 | 4 |
| José Sosa | Houston Astros | 7/30/1975 | 1 |
| Dave McKay | Minnesota Twins | 8/22/1975 | 21 |
| Al Woods | Toronto Blue Jays | 4/7/1977 | 35 |
| Dave Machemer | California Angels | 6/21/1978 | 1 |
| Johnnie LeMaster | San Francisco Giants | 9/2/1975 | 22 |
| Tim Wallach | Montreal Expos | 9/6/1980 | 260 |
| Gary Gaetti | Minnesota Twins | 9/20/1981 | 360 |
| Carmelo Martínez | Chicago Cubs | 8/22/1983 | 108 |
| Mike Fitzgerald | New York Mets | 9/13/1983 | 48 |
| Andre David | Minnesota Twins | 6/29/1984 | 1 |
| Will Clark | San Francisco Giants | 4/8/1986 | 284 |
| Terry Steinbach | Oakland Athletics | 9/12/1986 | 162 |
| Jay Bell | Cleveland Indians | 9/29/1986 | 195 |
| Ricky Jordan | Philadelphia Phillies | 7/17/1988 | 55 |
| Junior Félix | Toronto Blue Jays | 5/4/1989 | 55 |
| José Offerman | Los Angeles Dodgers | 8/19/1990 | 57 |
| Dave Eiland | San Diego Padres | 4/10/1992 | 1 |
| Jim Bullinger | Chicago Cubs | 6/8/1992 | 4 |
| Jay Gainer | Colorado Rockies | 5/14/1993 | 3 |
| Mitch Lyden | Florida Marlins | 6/16/1993 | 1 |
| Rusty Greer | Texas Rangers | 5/16/1994 | 119 |
| Garey Ingram | Los Angeles Dodgers | 5/19/1994 | 3 |
| Jon Nunnally | Kansas City Royals | 4/29/1995 | 42 |
| Jermaine Dye | Atlanta Braves | 5/17/1996 | 264 |
| Dustin Hermanson | Montreal Expos | 4/16/1997 | 2 |
| Brad Fullmer | Montreal Expos | 9/2/1997 | 114 |
| Marlon Anderson | Philadelphia Phillies | 9/8/1998 | 54 |
| Carlos Lee | Chicago White Sox | 5/7/1999 | 218 |
| Guillermo Mota | Montreal Expos | 6/9/1999 | 2 |
| Esteban Yan | Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 6/4/2000 | 1 |
| Alex Cabrera | Arizona Diamondbacks | 6/26/2000 | 5 |
| Keith McDonald | St. Louis Cardinals | 7/4/2000 | 3 |
| Chris Richard | St. Louis Cardinals | 7/17/2000 | 34 |
| Gene Stechschulte | St. Louis Cardinals | 4/17/2001 | 1 |
| Marcus Thames | New York Yankees | 6/10/2002 | 76 |
| Miguel Olivo | Chicago White Sox | 9/15/2002 | 44 |
| Dave Matranga | Houston Astros | 6/27/2003 | 1 |
| Kaz Matsui | New York Mets | 4/6/2004 | 12 |
| Hector Luna | St. Louis Cardinals | 4/8/2004 | 9 |
| Greg Dobbs | Seattle Mariners | 9/8/2004 | 21 |
| Andy Phillips | New York Yankees | 9/26/2004 | 9 |
| Mike Jacobs | New York Mets | 8/21/2005 | 80 |
| Jeremy Hermida | Florida Marlins | 8/31/2005 | 44 |
| Mike Napoli | Anaheim Angels | 5/4/2006 | 15 |
| Adam Wainwright | St. Louis Cardinals | 5/24/2006 | 2 |
| Ryan Roberts | Toronto Blue Jays | 8/3/2006 | 1 |
| Kevin Kouzmanoff | Cleveland Indians | 9/2/2006 | 44 |
| Charlton Jimerson | Houston Astros | 9/4/2006 | 1 |
| Josh Fields | Chicago White Sox | 9/18/2006 | 24 |
| Elijah Dukes | Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 4/2/2007 | 10 |
| Mark Worrell | St. Louis Cardinals | 6/5/2008 | 1 |
| Lou Montañez | Baltimore Orioles | 8/6/2008 | 3 |
| Mark Saccomanno | Houston Astros | 9/8/2008 | 1 |
| Jordan Schafer | Atlanta Braves | 4/5/2009 | 1 |
What does that mean for Schafer’s career? Absolutely nothing. Just an interesting tidbit. Those 99 players hit an average of 44 home runs in their careers. 84 of 99 finished (84.8%) finished with fewer than 100. For 22 players, that one shot was the only round-tripper they would hit in their entire career.
Hoyt Wilhelm (a pitcher!) is the only Hall of Famer on that list; he never again hit one out during his entire 21-year career.
How about some of the names on that list, by the way? Rusty Greer? Junior Felix? Gary Gaetti? Gaetti is now the leader of his own non-profit organization.
By contrast, 42 players hit a homer on their last at-bat. The most famous example is Ted Williams. I’d like to note, however, that Jeff Tackett also accomplished this feat.
Side Note B – Look out for the Atlanta Braves. I know that it’s just one game, and confess that we’ll dive into this in more detail in a “season storylines” series premiering throughout this week, but with all the talk of the Mets and defending champion Phillies in the NL East, be wary of forgetting the Braves. Sure, there were plenty of player personnel disappointments this winter; there’s enough talent on that roster, though, for the Braves to be in the mix come September.
The moralae of the story are:
1) Don’t rush to pick up Jordan Schafer. Wait and see if he hits another one first.
2) We are treated with another exciting day, this time with 11 games (two unfortunately have already been PPD due to rain), many starting during your work day.
Since my schedule is relatively clear,
I’ll be providing random thoughts throughout the afternoon. Stay tuned.
CAPS LOCK CARL
