Players who have hit home-runs on their first at-bat - Part 5
There is a big list of players who have sent the ball out of the part on their first ever at-bat in Major League baseball. It has always been an honour to be part of those who have accomplished this achievement and interestingly in recent years the trend
has increased.
A journey started with Joe Harrington on September 10, 1895 and is still on the way. Bill Duggleby was the first to launch a grand slam while Earl Averill was the one of the only two, who made into the Hall of the Fame. Walter Mueller, Clise Dudley and Eddie
Morgan are the first three to hit a home-run on their first ever pitch in the game.
The list will continue after Ace Parker, who was the second batter of the Philadelphia Phillies to accomplish this task.
Below is a look at two more batters in the list.
Gene Hasson
Charles Eugene Hasson was in-fielder for the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics and played in only two season after his home-run debut outing on September 9, 1937 against the Washington Senators. Born on July 20, 1915 the left-hand batter was appointed
in Athletics as an infielder at the age of 22.
Athletics lost the outing 6-13, in which Hasson entered in four at-bats, scored one homer and three RBIs. At the end of this season, he has appeared in 28 competitions for the Athletics and scored three home-runs along with 14 RBIs and 12 runs in 98 at-bats.
He started with a .500 batting average but dropped to .306 over 28 games in 1937.
He made a brilliant start in 1938 making 4-for-5 in the season opening competition against the same Washington Senators. This led him to a strong batting position in the club with .314 batting averages in the month of April. However, his performance suddenly
dropped in the next month. Wearing the Number 5 shirt in the season, he added 19 runs and 12 RBIs with one home-run over 19 outings.
His overall batting average was .293 over 47 games in two seasons. He retired from the game making his last appearance against the St. Louis Browns on May 11, 1938 when he went 1-for-5 with one RBI in a 5-9 loss.
Ernie Koy
Ernest Anyz Koy popularly known as Chief in baseball circles was the right-hand left-fielder, who played with four Major League Baseball clubs over a five year span from 1938 to 1942. The Texan native hitter made his MLB entry for the Brooklyn Dodgers playing
against Philadelphia Phillies on April 19, 1938. The 6ft tall hurler touched a fastball of the Phillies’ ace Wayne LaMaster for a home-run at his first at-bat in MLB.
He landed in all 142 games of the season and made 11 home-runs to score 78 runs and 76 RBIs on 521 at-bats with a .299 batting average. His 15 stolen bases were second while .468 slugging average was ninth in National League during that season. He spent
two more seasons with the Dodgers before been traded to St. Louis Cardinals on June 12, 1940. He recorded a .290 batting average making 135 runs and 143 RBIs along with 19 home-runs over 267 games with the Dodgers.
He played 24 more games with the Dodgers in 1940 and then moved to St. Louis Cardinals. He played as an out-fielder in 91 games during 1940 and 13 during 1941 before Cardinals sent him to the Reds. He played in only 67 of their games, in which he launched
two home-runs, scored 24 runs and earned 27 RBIs over 204 at-bats. 1942, when the Reds sold him to Philadelphia Phillies on May 2, came to be his last year in MLB. Making 94 appearances for Phillies in his last season, he made only 21 runs and earned 26 RBIs
along with 4 homers over 260 at-bats with a .242 batting average.
Ernie retired on September 27, 1942 after having made to sit on bench for the full game against his debutant club Brooklyn Dodgers.
Continued in Part 6
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