Daniel Nava
Posted by Andy on June 12, 2010
If I am reading things correctly on my iPhone it appears that Daniel Nava of the Boston Red Sox has just hit a grand slam on the first pitch of his major-league career. I believe Kevin Kouzmanoff did this a few years ago.
My apologies if my info is incorrect.
June 12th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
yesterday when Boof Bonser got his first out his era was 108.00.(he then cut it to 18) My question is what is the extreme for this? Has anyone been up to the majors for a day and had a career with a ridiculously high era?
June 12th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
I don't have a P-I account, so I can't see the names, but my search for careers with ERA > 100 yields three results, including one poor sap at 189.00!
June 12th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Boof's era was INFINITE after his first appearance this year. Hard to beat that.
June 12th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Well, since he's an American Leaguer, at least it wasn't hit against the
PhNever mind! I forgot!June 12th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Bill Duggleby and Jeremy Hermida also hit grand slams on their initial big league at-bats.
June 12th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
@3
20 pitchers have a career ERA of infinity. Position player Vic Davalillo is the most recent when he allowed a run without getting anyone out in 1969. Fred Bruckbauer was the last pure pitcher to do it for the Twins in 1961. The most earned runs allowed in a career without recording an out belongs to Doc Hamann and Bill Childers -- each gave up six earned runs.
June 12th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
According to the postgame writeup, Nava and Kouzmanoff are the only ones to do it. I love it when rare things happen relatively close together. Nobody had hit a grand slam on their first pitch in over 100 years, and then it happens twice in just a couple.
June 13th, 2010 at 1:07 am
>>>Nobody had hit a grand slam on their first pitch in over 100 years, and then it happens twice in just a couple.>>>
Are we sure about this? I don't think we have pitch detail for most of baseball history, so it's possible that it could have happened before.
June 13th, 2010 at 3:08 am
It is a cool thing to happen regardless of previous circumstances.
June 13th, 2010 at 5:25 am
@ 8 Yes, we are. According to baseball-almanac.com ( http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats5.shtml ):
"On April 21, 1898, Bill Duggleby became the first player on this page (players who homered in their first AB) whose home run was a grand slam. On June 25, 1968, Bobby Bonds hit a grand slam during his first Major League game (like Duggleby), but it was during his third at-bat. In 2005 Duggleby's record was finally (107 years later) tied by Marlins prospect Jeremy Hermida and in 2006 Kevin Kouzmanoff took it one step further when he became the first player ever whose first home run was a grand slam which was hit with the first major league pitch he ever saw!"
So no player hit a grand slam in his first ab from 1899-2004. Hence you have no reason for concern.
June 13th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Wilson Alvarez had a career ERA of infinity when he pitched his no-hitter.
June 13th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
I heard that he weighed 70 pounds in High School and it wasn't until after 2 years of college did he start to grow and now weighs 200 pounds. Was this the result of HGH? if so, is there any difference with someone who society would say "needs" HGH to be "normal" and someone who wants to use it just to get bigger and stronger?