The less said about the Mets’ game in Houston last night, the better. Brett Baty was like the rest of us, watching New York’s bats struggle to get anything going against Framber Valdez. No shame in that, Valdez was phenomenal, but that’s the game the 2023 Mets get pitched against them that the 2022 Mets simply didn’t. They’re now farther out of first place at this stage of the season than they’ve been since 2003, but in a world of wild card multiball… it’s still a long way from over. So, here’s the Brett Baty home run chain.
Brett Baty hit his first home run off Jake Odorizzi, 8/17/22
Jake Odorizzi gave up his first home run to Carlos Santana, 9/23/12
Carlos Santana hit his first home run off J.D. Martin, 6/12/10
J.D. Martin gave up his first home run to Craig Counsell, 7/30/09
Craig Counsell hit his first home run off Todd Stottlemyre, 8/24/97
Todd Stottlemyre gave up his first home run to Ron Hassey, 4/28/88
Ron Hassey hit his first home run off Nolan Ryan, 5/12/78
Nolan Ryan gave up his first home run to Joe Torre, 9/11/66
Joe Torre hit his first home run off Joey Jay, 5/21/61
Joey Jay gave up his first home run to Willie Jones, 6/26/54
Willie Jones hit his first home run off Bob Chesnes, 9/20/48
Bob Chesnes gave up his first home run to Johnny Mize, 5/6/48
Johnny Mize hit his first home run off Harry Gumbert, 4/30/36
Harry Gumbert gave up his first home run to Lonny Frey, 9/21/35
Lonny Frey hit his first home run off Bill Swift, 5/6/34
Bill Swift gave up his first home run to Ripper Collins, 4/12/32
Ripper Collins hit his first home run off Ray Kremer, 5/9/31
Ray Kremer gave up his first home run to Rogers Hornsby, 4/22/24
Rogers Hornsby hit his first home run off Jeff Pfeffer, 5/14/16
Jeff Pfeffer gave up his first home run to Tex Erwin, 7/11/14
Tex Erwin hit his first home run off Lew Moren, 4/15/10
Lew Moren gave up his first home run to Cozy Dolan, 4/19/04
Cozy Dolan hit his first home run off Bill Duggleby, 6/19/02
Bill Duggleby gave up his first home run to Bill Joyce, 4/21/98
Bill Joyce hit his first home run off Henry Gruber, 6/28/90
Henry Gruber gave up his first home run to Roger Connor, 7/28/87
Roger Connor hit his first home run off Tommy Bond, 5/24/80
Tommy Bond gave up his first home run to Deacon White, 5/15/74
Deacon White hit his first home run off George Zettlein, 5/11/71
George Zettlein gave up his first home run to Ezra Sutton, 5/8/71
This was the first home run of Ezra Sutton’s career. The second came in the same game – for both of them. It was opening day in Chicago for Zettlein and the White Stockings of the National Association (forerunner of the National League, not forerunner of the Cubs or White Sox). The Cleveland Forest Citys trailed 14-2 in the fourth inning when Sutton hit his first homer, and 14-8 in the seventh when Sutton hit his second. The final was 14-12, the first of seven straight wins for Chicago to start 1871.
Chicago finished 19-9, two games behind the Philadelphia Athletics. Cleveland finished 10-19, winning the battle of the Forest Citys with the Rockford Forest Citys, who were dead last at 4-21.
We Can Pod It Out 138: Birthday