First At Bat Home Run Hitters

Tuesday's post on Cuno Barragan got me thinking whether there were other Cubs who homered in their first major league at bat. It turns out that there are five Cubs who accomplished the feat. Most of them are as well know to you as the immortal Cuno Barragon.

Paul Gillespie - Homered on September 11, 1942. He went on to play with the Cubs in 1944 and 1945, during the height of World War II. When the war ended and the real players came back, Gillespie was gone from the Cubs, and out of the majors. Oddly, he also homered in his final major league at bat., career bookend home runs. He hit a total of 6 career homers. I have no card of him, since he played in the pre-Topps era.

Frank Ernaga - Homered May 24, 1957. His homer was off of Hall of Famer Warren Spahn and he also tripled in his second at bat. He hit a decent .314 in 20 games in 1957. In 1958 he slumped to .125 in 9 games and was soon out of the majors. Topps thought so little of him that they did not issue a card of him.

Cuno Barragan - Homered September 1, 1961 - see Tueday's post

Carmelo Martinez - homered August 22, 1983. Martinez was the only real slugger in the group. He had a career total of 108 home runs, although only 6 were hit while he was with the Cubs.

Topps 1984 Carmelo Martinez



Jim Bullinger - homered June 8, 1992. Bullinger is one of only ten MLB pitchers to homer in his first at bat, and in fact he hit the first pitch he saw. Bullinger was drafted as a shortstop, so he wasn't completely lost at the plate. He ended up with 4 career home runs, not bad for a pitcher.

The only real memory I have of Jim Bullinger is the weird way he wore his stirrups and pants. You can see what I mean on both of these cards.

Topps 1993 Jim Bullinger



Topps 1995 Jim Bullinger



If you're interested, click here for a complete list of all the players who homered in their first at bat.