August 27, 1974: Benny Ayala becomes first Met and first Puerto Rican to homer in first major-league at-bat

Outfielder Benny Ayala came to the plate 951 times in his big-league career; 86 percent of the righty batter’s appearances were against lefties. It’s no surprise that 35 of his 38 regular-season home runs came off southpaws – as did his crowning blow as a pro, his two-run shot off John Candelaria in Game Three of the 1979 World Series.

Yet the first of Ayala’s homers, on August 27, 1974, came off a righty, Tom Griffin of the Houston Astros. Ayala became the first National League player since Cuno Barragan in 1961 to homer in his first big-league at-bat. His first big-league team, the New York Mets, entered the NL in 1962, so he became the first Met to join this club. Ayala was also the first Puerto Rican player in the majors to achieve the distinction.

Ayala, a 23-year-old fourth-year pro, was the reigning MVP and home run leader of the Puerto Rican Winter League. He’d also shown power in spring training 1974, homering off veterans Woodie Fryman and Bob Gibson.1 But he wasn’t quite ready for the majors. Near the end of camp, the Mets sent Ayala down to their top affiliate, Tidewater (Norfolk, Virginia).

According to Ayala, he started poorly with the Tides. He was batting only against left-handers until August 15, when the Mets played an exhibition game against Tidewater in Norfolk. He said Mets manager Yogi Berra wanted to see how he would do against a righty.2 Ayala responded by hitting a ninth-inning homer off righty Jerry Cram for the Tides’ only run.3 “I really took off after that,” he said. Indeed, in the following days he pushed his average up 17 points to .274 and hit three homers, bringing his total to a team-high 11.

The Mets called Ayala up on August 27 after their regular left fielder, Cleon Jones, injured his knee the night before.4 Ayala thought at first that he would drive up to New York from Norfolk, but then he was told that he would be starting. So he caught a plane and got a ride to Shea Stadium. He’d eaten only a doughnut all day.5

That Tuesday night, 20,934 turned out to watch New York take on Houston. Both teams were trailing badly in their divisional races. The Mets (55-70) were in fifth place in the NL East. The Astros were above .500 (66-61), yet their fourth-place standing in the NL West was 14 games behind the first-place Dodgers, whereas the Mets were “only” 10 back of the division-leading Pirates.

Berra chose an unusual starting pitcher for the evening contest, bullpen ace Tug McGraw. But McGraw was having an off-year, and he had made the occasional spot start over the years. This outing was the first of three in a row for him as the starter. “There wasn’t anybody else, so I got nominated,” said the always playful McGraw.6

That wasn’t exactly true, but the Mets did have trouble that season finding a fourth man in their rotation behind Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack. George Stone and Craig Swan were both injured for much of the year; Berra made do with swingmen Harry Parker, Ray Sadecki, and Bob Apodaca. Parker had started 14 of his 15 prior outings but had been shelled in three of his last four starts, including his most recent, three nights before. He served entirely in relief for the rest of the season.

McGraw’s mound opponent, Griffin, entered the game with a record of 12-6 and an ERA of 3.31. The 26-year-old, who was in his sixth of 13 big-league seasons, was en route to setting his single-season highs in wins, innings pitched, and starts.

The game’s big moment came in the second inning, when Ayala, batting sixth in the order, stepped in against Griffin with one out and nobody on. Ayala was wielding a bat – which he still has – borrowed from catcher Joe Nolan, his teammate with the Tides and later the Baltimore Orioles. He worked the count to 3-and-1.7 Then he pulled a drive down the line, and he knew he’d gotten all of it. The ball stayed inside the foul pole and landed in “the front row box seats in the left field loge section above the auxiliary signboard where the sign reads 341 feet.”8

Before the game, Ayala asked his fellow Puerto Rican, second baseman Félix Millán, what Griffin threw. “He said fastball but not too fast, slider and curve and that all his pitches are the same speed. I thought, ‘Well, that will be good for me because I don’t like it when they keep changing speeds.’”9

A contributor to the Ultimate Mets fan website remembered Ayala’s appearance on Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner’s postgame show, Kiner’s Korner. He kept repeating that he got a high fastball.

Another Ultimate Mets contributor provided further detail. “We were sitting in the left-field mezzanine at Shea among this group of 10 or 12 of Benny Ayala’s cousins and extended family who were thrilled to see him in his first major-league game. When he homered in his first at-bat they went BERSERK, hugging and kissing everyone around, including me and my father of course. It was a great memory that I was able to recount with my dad that always drew a smile.”

Ayala’s homer gave the Mets a lead they would not relinquish. After the next batter grounded out, New York loaded the bases as Ted Martinez singled and Griffin walked both McGraw and Jim Gosger. Millán then singled to left, driving in two runs.

When Ayala took his position in left field in the top of the third inning, the fan who’d caught his home run ball tossed it down to him. Ayala got another ball and threw it back up to the fan in exchange.10

Griffin got in a bit of a jam again in the bottom of the third, giving up singles to the first two batters. However, he struck out Ayala – who said it was the only time he was really nervous11 – and induced two groundouts to end the inning. He went three more scoreless innings after that, allowing just a walk in the fifth and a single in the sixth. Griffin balked the latter runner to second but retired the next two batters.

McGraw pitched six sharp innings, yielding only one run: Milt May’s leadoff homer in the fifth. It came on “a low breaking pitch inside without too much on it.”12 May was a lefty swinger, so this was likely one of southpaw McGraw’s screwballs. McGraw gave up just four hits and one walk while striking out four. However, he was tiring.13 When the ninth spot came up again in the bottom of the sixth, Berra sent in a pinch-hitter.

The Astros made it 3-2 in the seventh against Parker; the Houston Post noted the role reversal between him and McGraw.14 Doug Rader led off with a single, and May – who was 3-for-3 that night – doubled. With men on second and third, Parker retired Larry Milbourne on a comebacker.15 The runners stayed put. Houston manager Preston Gómez then lifted Griffin for a dangerous pinch-hitter, Cliff Johnson. Johnson already had four pinch-hit home runs that season and would connect for a fifth the next night against the Mets. This time, however, he popped out to second. Pesky contact hitter Greg Gross singled in Rader after fouling off six pitches.16 But with the tying run on third, Parker got Roger Metzger to ground out.

The Mets got a little breathing room in the eighth against rookie reliever Ramón de los Santos. With one out, Ayala walked and took second on a groundout. Gómez ordered an intentional walk of Martinez to bring up the pitcher. Berra let Parker bat for himself rather than call for a pinch-hitter. The strategy – or absence thereof – could be questioned because Parker entered the game 0-for-33 that season. Yet it became a moot point when third baseman Rader committed a two-base error on Parker’s grounder. Ayala scored, Martinez advanced to third, and Parker wound up on second.17 New York had insurance runs in scoring position, but Gosger flied out, leaving the score 4-2.

That was how it ended. Parker, who’d retired the side in order in the eighth, did so again in the ninth, making Berra’s decision to leave him in look good. He picked up the third of his four saves that season. It was McGraw’s first win as a starter since May 4, 1969. In his next outing, on September 1, he pitched his only career shutout.

Ayala played in 10 big-league seasons through 1985. His best years, 1979 through 1984, came as a valuable role player for Baltimore. Manager Earl Weaver used him well in the right situations, and he had various other big moments. But his initial splash made him proclaim, “I’m very excited … and very happy.”18 As the caption of a photo taken during his home run trot observed, “Benny Ayala seems to be in a world all his own.”19

Sources

Thanks to SABR members John Fredland and Paul Proia for supplying an array of press articles about this game.

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Ultimatemets.com, Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197408270.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1974/B08270NYN1974.htm

Certain details of the story came from the author’s original telephone interview with Benny Ayala on May 2, 2010.

Notes

1 The one off Fryman came on March 14. See The Sporting News, March 30, 1974: 46. The one off Gibson came on March 22. See The Sporting News, April 13, 1974: 26.

2 Bruce Lowitt (Associated Press), “Ayala Gets Homer in First At-Bat as a Major-Leaguer,” Danville (Kentucky) Advocate-Messenger, August 28, 1974: 18.

3 “Tate Shines as Mets Beat Tidewater, 5-1,” Bridgeport (Connecticut) Post, August 16, 1974: 20. The big club gave the start to righty Randy Tate, then a prospect.

4 Lowitt, “Ayala Gets Homer in First At-Bat as a Major-Leaguer.”

5 Harry Shattuck, “Mets, Ayala Whip Astros,” Houston Chronicle, August 28, 1974: Section 6, 1.

6 Shattuck, Section 6, 7.

7 Jack Lang, “Ayala’s Met Debut Tonic to Loyal Latins,” The Sporting News, September 14, 1974: 18.

8 Jack Lang, “Ayala Homers His First Time Up as Met,” Staten Island (New York) Advance, August 28, 1974: 49.

9 Shattuck, “Mets, Ayala Whip Astros,” Section 6, 7.

10 Lang, “Ayala Homers His First Time Up as Met.”

11 Lang, “Ayala Homers His First Time Up as Met.”

12 “Rookie, Reverse Pitching Order for Mets Do In Astros, 4-2,” Houston Post, August 28, 1974: D-3.

13 Lowitt, “Ayala Gets Homer in First At-Bat as a Major-Leaguer.”

14 “Rookie, Reverse Pitching Order for Mets Do In Astros, 4-2,” D-1.

15 It was a comebacker rather than a trickler that Parker had to move off the mound to field. See “McGraw Looks Good in First Start,” Passaic (New Jersey) Herald-News, August 28, 1974: 36.

16 “Rookie, Reverse Pitching Order for Mets Do In Astros, 4-2,” D-3.

17 It has not yet been possible to determine whether this was a throwing error or whether the ball got by Rader into left field.

18 Shattuck, Section 6, 7.

19 Lang, “Ayala Homers His First Time Up as Met.”