Players who hit home runs on their first at-bat - Part 2
Baseball is full of players who have made mark in their specialised fields but no one can neglect those who have made a mark with the bat not only in their first outing but more specifically in their first at-bat. Joe Harrington was the first to start this
trend in 1895, Bill Duggleby followed in 1898 and then Johnny Bates registered his name on 1906.
The list is long and will also include the overview of the players career stats. Here are the next three hitter who also became the part of this list in the early stages of the game.
3. Luke Stuart
A three-game player Luke Stuart made his debut hit on July 28, 1921 playing for St. Louis Cardinals. Luke was the first American League Player to touch a home-run on his first at-bat but his feat remained unrecognised for more than seven decades. His accomplishment
was appreciated in the 1990s with the efforts of the SABR’s Records Committee.
Born on May 23, 1892 in Almanac City, Stuart played a long Minor League career but in the Majors he lasted for only three games. He launched a single hit in three at-bats of three games before he announced his retirement on August 9, 1921.
4. Walter Mueller
Among all of the above players, Walter had a distinction of launching a ball into the stands on his first ever pitch he faced in the Major League level. Playing as an outfielder for Pittsburgh Pirates in his first ever game on May 27, 1922, he received fame
at the National level with his amazing hit at that time.
Mueller was born on December 6, 1894 and debuted in the Majors at the age of 28. He was also the oldest player at that time to make this mark. He played four seasons, all with Pittsburgh of the National League and entered in 345 at-bats of 121 games but
made only one more home-run, both in his debut year. He scored 46 runs and 49 RBIs with .275 batting averages. He retired at the age of 31 on September 25, 1926. He passed away at the age of 76 in St. Louis on August 17, 1971.
5. Earl Averill
The only player in the list who was inducted in the baseball Hall of the Fame was Howard Earl Averill, who started his career with a first at-bat homer and shined for 12 years in three different teams. Born on May 21, 1902 in Snohomish Washington, the left-hand
batter started his career in 1929 with Cleveland Indians and stayed with the club for eleven years.
Averill made his appearance important in the Indians with his unstoppable fast hits. He was the first player of all the home-run hitters to play in the Majors for a long time. In his 13 year career, he made 1224 runs and 1164 RBIs on 2019 hits and also entered
his name in the list of top hitters, runners and RBI scorers.
He launched 238 home-runs in 6353 at-bats of 1669 games with an average of .318. He also made six All-Star team entries consecutively from 1933 to 1938. After making his entry for the Indians and Detroit in the American League he moved to the National League
with Boston Braves and finally retired on April 25, 1941 at the age of 39.
He passed away on August 16, 1983 at the age of 81.
Continued in Part 3
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