Yesterday, Jimmy Rollins homered on the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning.

Here are all the players up to 2006 to homer on the first pitch of their team's half of the first inning:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     1   1 1903-10-02    WS     2 Patsy Dougherty   BOS  PIT Sam Leever        tied   0-0  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Inside-the-park Home Run to CF (Deep CF-RF) 
     2   1 1909-10-13    WS     5 Davy Jones        DET @PIT Babe Adams        tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0   -       1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep CF) 
     3   1 1942-10-05    WS     5 Phil Rizzuto      NYY  STL Johnny Beazley    tied   0-0  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Home Run (Deep LF)        
     4   1 1948-10-10    WS     5 Dale Mitchell     CLE  BSN Nels Potter       down   0-3  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Home Run (Deep RF)        
     5   1 1953-10-04    WS     5 Gene Woodling     NYY @BRO Johnny Podres     tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0   -       1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep LF) 
     6   1 1954-09-30    WS     2 Al Smith          CLE @NYG Johnny Antonelli  tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0   -       1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep LF) 
     7   1 1958-10-02    WS     2 Bill Bruton       MLN  NYY Bob Turley        down   0-1  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Home Run (Deep RF)        
     8   1 1968-10-06    WS     4 Lou Brock         STL @DET Denny McLain      tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0   -       1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep CF-RF) 
     9   1 1969-10-11    WS     1 Don Buford        BAL  NYM Tom Seaver        tied   0-0  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Home Run (Deep RF)        
    10   1 1969-10-14    WS     3 Tommie Agee       NYM  BAL Jim Palmer        tied   0-0  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Home Run (Deep CF)        
    11   1 1972-10-20    WS     5 Pete Rose         CIN @OAK Catfish Hunter    tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0   -       1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Deep CF-RF) 
    12   1 1973-10-07    ALCS   2 Bert Campaneris   OAK @BAL Dave McNally      tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0   -       1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (LF-CF) 
    13   1 1973-10-16    WS     3 Wayne Garrett     NYM  OAK Catfish Hunter    tied   0-0  b 1 ---   0   -       1 Home Run (Deep RF)        

Here's the link through if you want to see how the search was done.

Rollins was the first guy in a long time to do it, and joins Campaneris as the only ones not to do it in the World Series. Also check out the list of pitchers to give up the feat--obviously no shame in that. (Would anybody here mind having had the career of Catfish Hunter, or Jim Palmer, or Tom Seaver, or many others on that list?)

Incidentally, looking through the box scores above, the team hitting that leadoff homer is just 8-6 in the ensuing games (this includes the Phillies' loss yesterday.)

I'd like to add a personal note too. I have managed to make at least one post every day since Sean started this blog, but my streak ends this weekend, as I am going on a no-computers vacation. I very much appreciate the loyal readership that has been established here, and I'm sorry that I won't make any posts until Tuesday. But I'm sure some of the other authors here will, and I'll re-join the fun next week.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 7:41 am and is filed under Game Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.