This day in baseball: Earl Averill’s Opening Day homer

On Opening Day, April 16, 1926, rookie Earl Averill became the first American Leaguer to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat. The Indians center fielder’s blast came on an 0-2 count against Detroit pitcher Earl Whitehill as Cleveland defeated the Tigers, 5-4.

EarlAverillGoudeycard
Earl Averill, 1933 Goudey card (public domain)

2 thoughts on “This day in baseball: Earl Averill’s Opening Day homer

  1. I find that Goudey card just amazingly beautiful. A similar thing happened last week. A guy for the Twins got his first big league hit in the first inning – a double off the wall and then the Twins batted around and he hit a homer his second time up, also in the first inning.

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