April 29, 1901 - Pop Dillon and Kid Elberfeld hit homers
Slugger of the week
We all know there's nothing more exciting about interleague play than watching those sweet-swinging American League pitchers march up to home plate.
All right, so maybe we all don't know that. But trust us. It's great.
And for evidence, we just need to roll back the tape to last weekend in New York, when Devil Rays pitcher Esteban Yan headed for the batter's box for the first at-bat of his professional career.
Even though shortstop Felix Martinez had just thumped the previous pitch over the fence for his first career homer, Mets pitcher Bobby Jones threw Yan the obligatory first-pitch fastball. Then he -- and everyone else -- watched in shock as the ball disappeared over the left-field fence.
That made Yan just the fifth pitcher in history to homer on the first pitch of his first at-bat (and the first since Jay Gainer of the Rockies did it on May 14, 1993).
It also made Yan and Martinez only the fifth set of teammates ever to hit their first career homers back-to-back. The last set was Sal Butera and Bryn Smith of the Expos, on April 14, 1985.
Now the first set was that immortal multi-generational combo of Pop (Dillon) and Kid (Elberfield) of Detroit, on April 29, 1901. Of course, when they did it, about six players in the whole American League had ever hit a home run. So this was a far more prestigious feat. And Yan had been planning it all season, too.
We all know there's nothing more exciting about interleague play than watching those sweet-swinging American League pitchers march up to home plate.
All right, so maybe we all don't know that. But trust us. It's great.
And for evidence, we just need to roll back the tape to last weekend in New York, when Devil Rays pitcher Esteban Yan headed for the batter's box for the first at-bat of his professional career.
Even though shortstop Felix Martinez had just thumped the previous pitch over the fence for his first career homer, Mets pitcher Bobby Jones threw Yan the obligatory first-pitch fastball. Then he -- and everyone else -- watched in shock as the ball disappeared over the left-field fence.
That made Yan just the fifth pitcher in history to homer on the first pitch of his first at-bat (and the first since Jay Gainer of the Rockies did it on May 14, 1993).
It also made Yan and Martinez only the fifth set of teammates ever to hit their first career homers back-to-back. The last set was Sal Butera and Bryn Smith of the Expos, on April 14, 1985.
Now the first set was that immortal multi-generational combo of Pop (Dillon) and Kid (Elberfield) of Detroit, on April 29, 1901. Of course, when they did it, about six players in the whole American League had ever hit a home run. So this was a far more prestigious feat. And Yan had been planning it all season, too.
