1984 American League Debuts

Willie Mays played his first Major League game on May 25, 1951, and went 0-for-5 at the plate. He started his career 1-for-25 and told his manager, "I can't do it, Mr. Leo. You better bench me."

Casey Stengel played his first Major League game on July 27, 1912, and went 4-for-4 at the plate. He commented later in his life, "I broke in with four hits and the writers promptly decided they had seen the new Ty Cobb. It took me only a few days to correct that impression."

Both Mays and Stengel would continue their Major League careers down separate paths of greatness, but each still had to appear in that memorable first Major League game. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present what Cubs broadcaster Steve Stone once described as, "His first Major League debut."
"There is no Major League record held by a rookie. It's revealing to see just how far the rookie marks are below the single season marks. This is a testament to how difficult the game is to learn and play." - Luke Salisbury in The Answer is Baseball (1989)
American League Debuts

1984

21, 59 Mark Brown 1984 Baltimore Orioles 08-09-1984 25
39 Ken Dixon 1984 Baltimore Orioles 09-22-1984 23
2 Vic Rodriguez 1984 Baltimore Orioles 09-05-1984 23
18 Larry Sheets 1984 Baltimore Orioles 09-18-1984 24
36 Nate Snell 1984 Baltimore Orioles 09-20-1984 32
28 Jim Traber 1984 Baltimore Orioles 09-21-1984 22
21 Roger Clemens 1984 Boston Red Sox 05-15-1984 21
38 Charlie Mitchell 1984 Boston Red Sox 08-09-1984 22
63 Stew Cliburn 1984 California Angels 09-17-1984 27
32 Darrell Miller 1984 California Angels 08-14-1984 26
37 Ron Romanick 1984 California Angels 04-05-1984 23
35 Dave Smith 1984 California Angels 09-18-1984 27
33 Daryl Boston 1984 Chicago White Sox 05-13-1984 21
37 Bob Fallon 1984 Chicago White Sox 04-26-1984 24
49 Jeff Barkley 1984 Cleveland Indians 09-16-1984 24
58, 34 Steve Farr 1984 Cleveland Indians 05-16-1984 27
11 Jeff Moronko 1984 Cleveland Indians 09-01-1984 25
17 Junior Noboa 1984 Cleveland Indians 08-22-1984 19
65 Jose Roman 1984 Cleveland Indians 09-05-1984 21
50 Ramon Romero 1984 Cleveland Indians 09-18-1984 25
33 Roy Smith 1984 Cleveland Indians 06-23-1984 22
54 Tom Waddell 1984 Cleveland Indians 04-15-1984 25
53, 16 Jerry Willard 1984 Cleveland Indians 04-11-1984 24
9 Doug Baker 1984 Detroit Tigers 07-02-1984 23
24 Scott Earl 1984 Detroit Tigers 09-10-1984 23
27 Barbaro Garbey 1984 Detroit Tigers 04-03-1984 27
25 Dwight Lowry 1984 Detroit Tigers 04-03-1984 26
48 Roger Mason 1984 Detroit Tigers 09-04-1984 25
49 Randy O'Neal 1984 Detroit Tigers 09-12-1984 24
37 Nelson Simmons 1984 Detroit Tigers 09-04-1984 21
28 Carl Willis 1984 Detroit Tigers 06-09-1984 23
23 Mark Gubicza 1984 Kansas City Royals 04-06-1984 21
58 Dave Leeper 1984 Kansas City Royals 09-10-1984 24
31 Bret Saberhagen 1984 Kansas City Royals 04-04-1984 19
50 Jim Scranton 1984 Kansas City Royals 09-05-1984 24
33, 41 Jack Lazorko 1984 Milwaukee Brewers 06-04-1984 28
5 Doug Loman 1984 Milwaukee Brewers 09-03-1984 26
26 Willie Lozado 1984 Milwaukee Brewers 07-16-1984 25
21 Keith Comstock 1984 Minnesota Twins 04-03-1984 28
21 Andre David 1984 Minnesota Twins 06-29-1984 26
1 Alvaro Espinoza 1984 Minnesota Twins 09-14-1984 22
31 Mike Hart 1984 Minnesota Twins 05-08-1984 26
17 Ed Hodge 1984 Minnesota Twins 05-01-1984 26
7 Dave Meier 1984 Minnesota Twins 04-03-1984 24
34 Kirby Puckett 1984 Minnesota Twins 05-08-1984 24
10 Jeff Reed 1984 Minnesota Twins 04-05-1984 21
36 Curt Wardle 1984 Minnesota Twins 08-30-1984 23
34 Scott Bradley 1984 New York Yankees 09-09-1984 24
67 Clay Christiansen 1984 New York Yankees 05-10-1984 25
66 Jim Deshaies 1984 New York Yankees 08-07-1984 24
56 Rex Hudler 1984 New York Yankees 09-09-1984 24
55 Stan Javier 1984 New York Yankees 04-15-1984 20
55 Victor Mata 1984 New York Yankees 07-22-1984 23
46 Mike Pagliarulo 1984 New York Yankees 07-07-1984 24
38 Jose Rijo 1984 New York Yankees 04-05-1984 18
20 Keith Smith 1984 New York Yankees 04-12-1984 22
52 Jeff Bettendorf 1984 Oakland Athletics 04-08-1984 23
28 Steve Kiefer 1984 Oakland Athletics 09-03-1984 23
52 Dave Leiper 1984 Oakland Athletics 09-02-1984 22
6 Mickey Tettleton 1984 Oakland Athletics 06-30-1984 23
13 Ivan Calderon 1984 Seattle Mariners 08-10-1984 22
21 Alvin Davis 1984 Seattle Mariners 04-11-1984 23
36 Lee Guetterman 1984 Seattle Mariners 09-12-1984 25
12 Mark Langston 1984 Seattle Mariners 04-07-1984 23
17 Jim Presley 1984 Seattle Mariners 06-24-1984 22
38 Danny Tartabull 1984 Seattle Mariners 09-07-1984 21
41 Dave Valle 1984 Seattle Mariners 09-07-1984 23
10 Kevin Buckley 1984 Texas Rangers 09-04-1984 25
45 Dwayne Henry 1984 Texas Rangers 09-07-1984 22
20, 46 Jeff Kunkel 1984 Texas Rangers 07-23-1984 22
17 Kelly Gruber 1984 Toronto Blue Jays 04-20-1984 22
54 Toby Hernandez 1984 Toronto Blue Jays 06-22-1984 25
27 Jimmy Key 1984 Toronto Blue Jays 04-06-1984 22
21 Ron Shepherd 1984 Toronto Blue Jays 09-05-1984 23
1984 American League Debuts


 

Find out which players bid farewell to their field's of dreams in the American League during the 1984 season as this group of players made their Major League debut!

Ray Jansen (four for five in his first game), Aubrey Epps (three for four in his first game) and Ed Irvin (two for three in his first game) all finished their career with lifetime batting averages which were greater than their career fielding percentages.

On the final day of the 1930 season, Dizzy Dean was called up and pitched a three-hitter. In Spring Training the following year, Dean had a fight with catcher Gabby Street and the franchise left him in the Minor Leagues all season long.
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