14 Yankees who homered in their MLB debut and where their careers went

NEW YORK — A home run in a first big league game is one of baseball’s rarest introductions. For the Yankees, a franchise more than a century old, it has happened only 14 times.

George Lombard Jr. became the newest name on that list Tuesday night. The 21-year-old shortstop drove a fifth-inning pitch into the left-center-field seats in a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, his first major league hit and the swing that pushed a select club to 14.

The group spans 113 years. The Yankees list includes a Hall of Famer, a three-time MVP, a pair of teammates who made history in the same inning, and several players whose entire careers barely outlasted the moment.

Half of the 14 have arrived since 2014, a sharp modern cluster after only seven such debuts in the previous century. Lombard’s blast is the latest sign that the Yankees keep producing these first-night fireworks.

The Yankees distinction is narrow and often confused with a related feat, homering in one’s first at-bat. Five of the 14 did both. The full list, in order, runs from Harry Williams in 1913 to Lombard in 2026, and each name carries a very different career behind it.

The early names, 1913 to 1980

Harry Williams opened the Yankees list on Aug. 7, 1913, with a solo homer off Detroit’s Joe Lake at the Polo Grounds. His career was brief. He played only 1913 and 1914, hitting .192 with two home runs, which means his debut blast was half his lifetime total.

Yogi Berra came next, and his path could not have been more different. On Sept. 22, 1946, Berra hit a two-run homer off Philadelphia’s Jesse Flores for his first big league hit. He went on to a Yankees career of 358 home runs, three American League MVP awards, 18 All-Star selections, a record 10 World Series titles as a player and a Hall of Fame plaque in 1972.

John Miller’s two names on the ledger are among the sport’s strangest. On Sept. 11, 1966, he homered off Boston’s Lee Stange in his first at-bat at Fenway Park. He hit only one more home run in his career, and it came in his final at-bat in 1969. Those bookend blasts were his only two big league homers.

John Ellis provided the list’s only inside-the-park home run. On May 17, 1969, he drove a two-run shot off Bob Priddy in a 6-0 Yankees win, then caught the shutout behind the plate for the Yankees. Ellis played 13 seasons and finished with 69 home runs.

Joe Lefebvre closed out the early era on May 22, 1980, with a solo homer off Toronto’s Dave Stieb. He homered again the next day, a fast start for a Yankees rookie who would spend six seasons in the majors before a long career in coaching and scouting.

The modern surge, 1985 to 2017

Dan Pasqua kept the tradition alive on May 30, 1985, with a solo homer off California’s Ron Romanick in his second at-bat. He hit 117 home runs across 10 seasons with the Yankees and White Sox.

Marcus Thames authored one of the most memorable entries. On June 10, 2002, he homered on the first big league pitch he ever saw, a two-run shot off Randy Johnson. Thames played 10 big league seasons, hit 115 home runs and later became a hitting coach, including a stint with the Yankees.

Zelous Wheeler’s moment came on July 3, 2014, a solo homer off former Yankee Phil Hughes in his second at-bat. His major league career lasted just that one season, but he went on to hit 135 home runs in Japan.

Mason Williams homered off Baltimore’s Ubaldo Jiménez on June 12, 2015, a two-run shot for his first hit. A shoulder injury soon interrupted his Yankees rookie year. He appeared in seven big league seasons for four teams.

Then came the play that reshaped the record. On Aug. 13, 2016, against the Tampa Bay Rays, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge homered in back-to-back plate appearances, both in their first major league at-bats. It was the first time teammates had ever done that in consecutive trips to the plate.

Austin’s solo shot off Matt Andriese opened the scoring. Judge followed immediately with a 446-foot drive to center. Austin played parts of four big league seasons before continuing his career in Japan. Judge became the face of the franchise, a three-time AL MVP and, by 2026, the team’s injured captain.

Clint Frazier joined the Yankees list on July 1, 2017, with a seventh-inning homer off Houston’s Tony Sipp. Paired with an earlier double, it made him the first Yankee to record both a double and a home run in his debut. Injuries, including concussion symptoms, shadowed his seven-season career.

Debut dates and opponents per Baseball-Reference and MLB. Yankees years reflect each player’s tenure with the club; Thames returned in 2010 after his 2002 debut.

The new wave, 2023 and 2026

Jasson Domínguez set a franchise mark on Sept. 1, 2023. At 20 years and 206 days, he became the youngest Yankee to homer in his debut, a two-run shot off Justin Verlander in his first at-bat. It was only the second time a player had homered off a reigning Cy Young Award winner in his first career at-bat. The other was Thames, off Johnson.

Lombard now completes the Yankees group. His solo homer off Hunter Dobbins traveled 392 feet and gave the Yankees a lead they never lost in a shutout. At 21 years and 63 days, he is the third-youngest Yankee to homer in his debut, behind only Domínguez and Ellis.

Lombard added more than the bat. He handled five clean chances and helped turn two double plays, the kind of all-around debut that fuels the comparisons to shortstops past. His career is one game old. The others on the list show how many directions it could go.

What the list reveals

The 14 debuts share a few threads. Eight of the home runs were solo shots and six came with a runner aboard. The Yankees went 11-2 in the 13 games involved, since Austin and Judge debuted together. The only losses came in the debuts of Mason Williams at Baltimore and Frazier at Houston.

Five players homered in their very first at-bat: Miller, Thames, Austin, Judge and Domínguez. The rest, including Lombard, needed a plate appearance or two to find the moment. Berra, Pasqua, Wheeler, Mason Williams and Lombard all went deep in their second at-bat.

The clustering is striking. Seven names entered the list over 89 years, from Williams in 1913 to Thames in 2002. Seven more arrived in the 12 seasons from 2014 through 2026, five of them in a four-year burst from 2014 to 2017. Whether that reflects better prospects, more aggressive promotions or simple chance, the pace has quickened.

For now, Lombard stands at the end of the line, the 14th name and the freshest. His homer tied him to Berra, Judge and a dozen others who announced themselves the moment they arrived. What comes next is the part the list cannot yet tell.

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