A Day of Baseball Firsts

September 17th is one of those dates on the baseball calendar that absolutely jumps out at you. We've got several "famous firsts" from Baseball Hall of Famers all timestamped 9/17.

  • 1967: Reggie Jackson belts the first of his 563 career homers. The Kansas City A's rookie connects off California's Jim Weaver, in a game the Angels won 3-2.
  • 1955: Brooks Robinson makes his major league debut, getting two hits for the Orioles in a 3-1 win over the Washington Senators at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
  • 1941: Stan Musial plays in his first game for the Cardinals and goes 2-for-4 in a 3-2 win over the Boston Braves in the nightcap of a Sportsmen's Park doubleheader. Stan's first hit, a two-RBI second inning double off Jim Tobin was the the first of a remarkable 3630 career hits.  
  • 1912: Casey Stengel makes his major league debut -- and for a guy who was a good but not great player, it was an impressive afternoon -- four singles, a walk, two stolen bases, and two RBIs in Brooklyn's 7–3 win over Pittsburgh.
(My image of Reggie Jackson is from the 2012 Yankees Old Timers Day.)

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