Jon Nunnally

On April 29, 1995, rookie right fielder Jon Nunnally became the first Kansas City Royals player to hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat. Five years later, on June 28, 2000, Nunnally did it again, when he homered on his first plate appearance as a player for the Orix BlueWave in Osaka, Japan. He became the first and, as of 2024, the only player to hold the distinction in both US major-league baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball.

Jonathan Keith Nunnally was born on November 9, 1971, in Danville, Virginia, and he grew up in nearby Pelham, North Carolina.1 Jon’s father, Solomon Tyrone Nunnally, was a laborer, and his mother, Mary Alice (Galloway) Nunnally, cared for their 12 children – five daughters and seven sons. Jon is the youngest son.2

Nunnally attended high school at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he played on the Tigers baseball and football teams.3 He was drafted out of high school as a catcher by the Baltimore Orioles in the 39th round of the June 1990 amateur draft. But he declined the offer and decided to go to Miami Dade College, where he was moved to the outfield.4

Adjusting to the new position was a challenge for Nunnally, but he worked hard to make the transition. “My first year in college, I made six errors out there. The next year, I didn’t make any,” he said.5

In 1992 the left-handed-hitting Nunnally batted .410 and was named Junior College Conference Player of the Year.6 In June he was drafted in the third round by the Cleveland Indians.

Nunnally played three seasons in the Indians farm system, with three different Class-A teams. In his third season, 1994, with the Kinston Indians of the Carolina League, he hit 22 home runs and had an .826 OPS. The 22-year-old’s numbers attracted attention and after the season Nunnally was chosen by the Kansas City Royals in the Rule 5 Draft.7 Nunnally’s journey to the big leagues was delayed by the players strike that began on August 12, 1994, and ended 232 days later, on April 2, 1995, one day before the season would have started with replacement players.8

Nunnally made the leap over Double A and Triple A to take part in three weeks of spring training. “I came straight out of A-ball so there was a lot of development things going on there,” he said. “But the one thing I knew I could do was hit a fastball so I really wasn’t that worried. I had a pretty good zone. The main thing was just getting to know pitchers and knowing what they were going to do.”9

He boarded the plane to Kansas City with the team after spring training, still not knowing if he had made the roster. When they arrived in KC, the bus to the hotel made a stop at Kauffman Stadium. “The other young guys ended up going to the dugout. But I started looking around. I was like, wow, this is amazing. Like hey, I’m here. You see this place and this would be awesome.”10

During the next day’s practice, Royals manager Bob Boone walked out to right field to give Nunnally the good news that he was officially on the team. 

The Royals’ 1995 season started at home on April 26 against the Baltimore Orioles, the team that drafted Nunnally out of high school. He came in to pinch-run in the bottom of the eighth and scored his first major-league run in the 5-1 Royals’ win.

Nunnally made his next appearance in a day game against the New York Yankees on April 29. He arrived early at the ballpark (around 7:00 A.M.) and had to ask the security guard to let him into the clubhouse.

“It’s dark in the clubhouse, the only thing I saw was a Budweiser sign. It was lit up. I put my uniform on and I was sitting at my locker in the dark, looking at that sign. Then all of a sudden, Bob Boone comes in, and I think I scared him because I’m sitting in my locker. … He goes into his office and he comes back out and he goes, ‘Hey, you playing today and you leading off.’ And I said, ‘OK, I’m ready.’”11

Rain delayed the game for 81 minutes, moving the start time to 2:56 P.M. for the 14,431 in attendance.12 Under still-drizzling skies, New York picked up a run in the top of the first inning. Then Nunnally was up for the Royals as the leadoff hitter. But his walk to the plate was interrupted. “I forgot my batting helmet,” he said after the game. “I got out of the dugout and somebody yelled, ‘Hey where’s your helmet?’ I had to go back and get it.”13

When Nunnally stepped up into the box to face Yankees right-hander Mélido Pérez, he remembered the advice Royals starter Mark Gubicza had given him, that Pérez would pitch him fastballs away. Nunnally stayed patient and, sure enough, Pérez threw three fastballs off the plate, running the count to 3-and-0.14

On the next pitch, Boone gave Nunnally the take sign. Pérez threw a fastball down the middle of the plate. On the 3-and-1 count, Pérez threw another fastball right down the middle. Nunnally crushed the ball to deep center field. He became the first Royal to hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat.

“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to do it,” Nunnally reflected in 2021. “You have all those fans there, but I didn’t hear a thing. I guess I was so focused and locked in to where I was that I couldn’t hear nobody. I heard nothing until I touched home plate.”15

Nunnally’s attention-grabbing debut was the only bright spot for the Royals on a day that ended with a 10-3 Yankees win. But his performance earned him a spot in the next day’s lineup, and he stayed with the big-league club for the rest of the season. “That was a great group of guys that that I was with. They were young and it was easy for us to grow together in the game.”16

The veterans on the team also mentored the younger players like Nunnally. “Gary Gaetti helped me out a lot. I love Gary. Also Greg Gagne, and Wally Joyner and me became really close.”17

Nunnally batted .244 in the 1995 season, hitting 14 homers, including two walk-offs, and had 42 RBIs. He played in 119 games, 92 of them in right field. He was known to have a strong arm, a credit from his days behind the plate, and he made a point of staying sharp on the field.

“I work hard on my defense during batting practice and things like that, trying to get jumps and reads. That’s where you get all your work,” he told an interviewer in 1999. “Trying to get some balls off the bat, trying to see the true jump, and how the ball actually comes off the bat. In batting practice, the ball actually comes off a lot harder than it does in the game.”18

In 1996 Nunnally was on the Royals’ Opening Day roster. However, he was sent down to Triple-A Omaha a couple of times during the season. “I wasn’t discouraged because I always knew what I could do,” he said. “I had experience up there in the big leagues. I had to come down to learn the league. Once you came to Triple A, you had a lot of older veteran dudes who were major-league guys themselves who were going through the same things.”19

While in Omaha, Nunnally batted .281 with 25 homers and 77 RBIs. He was recalled by the Royals in mid-August and hit four home runs playing out the rest of the season. Nunnally started 1997 in Omaha, but he was called up on June 22. His stint with the club was a short one this time. On July 15 Nunnally was traded, along with Chris Stynes, to the Cincinnati Reds for Héctor Carrasco and Scott Service.

The move to Cincinnati resulted in more playing time for Nunnally, mostly in center field. He also got the opportunity to work with Ken Griffey Sr., one of the three hitting coaches he credited with helping him the most to shape his approach at the plate. His other two mentors were Mitchell Page and Gene Tenace, from his days in the Royals and Boston Red Sox organizations respectively.

“Those three guys put together helped shape and mold my mind into what I wanted to do as a hitting coach,” Nunnally said. “I got a mechanical side. I got an approach side. I got direction. Those three guys helped me out tremendously.”20 Nunnally ended the 1997 season with Cincinnati batting .318 with 13 home runs and 35 RBIs. 

Nunnally started the 1998 season with Cincinnati but was sent down in June to Triple-A Indianapolis. He came back to the Reds in September. Then in March 1999, the Reds traded Nunnally to the Red Sox for minor-league player Pat Flury. Nunnally played for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox and had 23 home runs before he was a late-season call-up to Boston.

Despite all the twists and turns of his career, Nunnally stayed focused on the goal. “I just keep going out there battling and battling and hopefully one day I’ll rise to the top. Hopefully one day someone will give me the opportunity to have 500 at-bats. If I don’t do anything, I’ll deserve what I got. If I do something with them, which I know I will, I’ll be happy.”21

In the offseason, Nunnally was traded again, this time to the New York Mets for Jermaine Allensworth. Nunnally played his last major-league game with the Mets on May 31, 2000. His big-league stats included 42 home runs and 125 RBIs, with a batting average of .246.

Nunnally’s next move would be much farther away. His contract was purchased from the Mets by the Orix Blue Wave22 of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. On June 28, 2000, he hit a home run in his first at-bat with Orix, becoming the only player (as of 2024) to hold the distinction in two different major leagues.23

“I was hitting second in that game, Ichiro was hitting third. … So [the pitcher] throws a curveball. I let him release it. He threw it and it hung and I was like oh, that’s it right there. Boom.”24

Nunnally returned to the States after a season with Orix. He played on the Royals’ Omaha Triple-A club in 2001, and in the Fall League he hit his third first at-bat homer. He returned to Omaha for 2002, then moved between Triple-A teams until 2005, playing in the Cardinals, Brewers, and Pirates organizations. In April 2005 while with Indianapolis, he failed a drug test due to the presence of a prohibited diuretic, furosemide, and served a 15-game suspension.25 He retired from playing after Mexican winter league ball in 2006.

Nunnally stayed in the game, however, taking a different role. While playing in the minors, he had enjoyed mentoring younger players and helping to develop new talent. So in 2006, he began coaching in the Indians farm system.

“I’m always talking to the player. I want to know what the player wants,” he said. “What is he trying to do? I like to understand their mind first, and then going on to whatever we’re seeing and plan an approach. I like to make sure those guys can be external thinkers not internal thinkers. Then you go and do your work, and it becomes a little more simple. … I always enjoyed helping other guys do what they do. That made it fun for me.”26

In 2010 Nunnally became the Cleveland Indians’ hitting coach, a role he held through June 28, 2011. He then coached in the minors for the Toronto Blue Jays (2012-2014) and the Red Sox (2015-2016). Nunnally joined the Los Angeles Angels staff as their outfield and baserunning coordinator for 2017-2018. He then returned to the minors in 2019 as a hitting coach in the Pirates organization, where he stayed until October 2023. Nunnally as of 2024 was a baseball consultant.

Through all of Jon Nunnally’s years of playing, on different teams, in different levels of baseball, and internationally, he’s kept an even-keeled perspective on the game, with one goal in mind. “I just wanted to go play and win. I just loved the game.”27

Baseball continued to be a part of Nunnally’s family, too. Jon and his wife, Tammy, were married in 1994 in Danville, Virginia. (They are now divorced.)28 The couple have three children, Kristen, Josie, and Jonathan Jr.29 Jon Jr., an outfielder and right-handed pitcher, was drafted out of high school by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 38th round of the 2013 free-agent draft, but decided to play college baseball at Arizona Christian University.30 Jon Jr. then went on to pitch independent-league baseball for four years. As of 2024, he was the executive director of the Legacy Church in Chandler, Arizona.31

Acknowledgments

Special thank-you to Jon Nunnally. Telephone interview with author on June 22, 2024.

Photo credit: Jon Nunnally, courtesy of the Kansas City Royals.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball Almanac, and Retrosheet.org for background information on players, teams, and seasons.

Notes

1 Jon Nunnally was born in a Danville, Virginia, hospital, but he was brought home to the family home in Pelham, North Carolina, which he considers his hometown. Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

2 “Solomon Tyrone Nunnally, Sr., Obituary,” Fisher & Watkins Funeral Home, Inc., April 3, 2017. https://www.fisherandwatkinsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/print?o_id=4184837, accessed May 10, 2024.

3 Ian Hamilton, “Jon Nunnally Jr. Hitting His Stride with the Regina Red Sox,” Regina (Saskatchewan) Leader-Post, July 11, 2016. https://leaderpost.com/sports/baseball/jon-nunnally-jr-hitting-his-stride-with-the-regina-red-sox, accessed May 10, 2024.

4 Tyler Kepner, “Nunnally’s Hitting Has Mets Noticing,” New York Times, March 9, 2000: D2.

5 Rick Brown, “Quiet Leader Emerging on PawSox,” Attleboro (Massachusetts) Sun Chronicle, July 1, 1999. https://www.thesunchronicle.com/sports/brown-quiet-leader-emerging-on-pawsox/article_6069cda3-be6c-5910-bfd1-b3f2cd894263.html, accessed May 10, 2024.

6 “Quiet Leader Emerging on PawSox.”

7 “The Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs. There’s a fee paid to the club providing the player, and the pick is assigned directly to the drafting club’s 26-man roster.” For more information see “Rule 5 Draft,” https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/rule-5-draft.

8 Mark Maske, “After the Strike, Baseball’s Disgusted Fans Decide to Strike Back,” Washington Post, April 29, 1995. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/04/30/after-the-strike-baseballs-disgusted-fans-decide-to-strike-back/07c1f121-3de0-4887-8609-45c8c35d876e/, accessed May 10, 2024.

9 Tony Boone, “Nunnally Returns to Omaha with Indy,” mlb.com, May 29, 2021. https://www.milb.com/news/former-omaha-player-returns, accessed May 9, 2024.

10 Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

11 Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

12 “Perez Ends Five-Game Losing Streak against Royals,” Santa Cruz (California) Sentinel, April 30, 1995:14. Fans were slow to come back to the ballpark after the strike.

13 Doug Tucker, “KC’s Nunnally Clubs Homer in First At-Bat,” Salina (Kansas) Journal, April 30, 1995: 39.

14 Tony Boone, “Nunnally Returns to Omaha with Indy,” mlb.com, May 29, 2021. https://www.milb.com/news/former-omaha-player-returns, accessed May 9, 2024. 

15 “Nunnally Returns to Omaha with Indy.”

16 Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

17 Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

18 Rick Brown, “Quiet Leader Emerging on PawSox.”

19 Tony Boone, “Nunnally Returns to Omaha with Indy.”

20 Glenn Jordan, “Jon Nunnally Helping to Make Sea Dogs’ Offense a Hit,” Portland (Maine) Press Herald, August 1, 2016. https://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/01/jon-nunnally-leads-sea-dogs-hit-parade/, accessed May 10, 2024.

21 Tyler Kepner, “Nunnally’s Hitting Has Mets Noticing.”

22 “Orix Buffaloes,” JapanBall.com. https://japanball.com/baseball/npb-teams/orix-buffaloes/, accessed May 11, 2004. The team became the Orix Buffaloes in 2005 after a merger with the Kintetsu Buffaloes.

23 Nippon Leagues history, first at-bat home runs research conducted by Yoshihiro Koda, SABR Tokyo Chapter.

24 Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

25 “Three Pirates Minor Leaguers Suspended for Failing Drug Tests,” ESPN.com, April 6, 2005. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story?id=2031240&src=desktop&rand=ref~%7B%22ref%22%3A%22, accessed May 10, 2024. Personal communication with Jon Nunnally, November 13, 2024.

26 Tony Boone, “Nunnally Returns to Omaha with Indy.”

27 “Nunnally Returns to Omaha with Indy.”

28  Phone interview with Jon Nunnally, June 22, 2024.

29 Jon Mozes, “Callix Crabbe Named Curve Manager for 2023 Season at Peoples Natural Gas Field,” milb.com, December 21, 2022. https://www.milb.com/news/callix-crabbe-named-curve-manager-for-2023-season-at-peoples-natural-gas-field, accessed May 10, 2024.

30 Ian Hamilton, “Jon Nunnally Jr. Hitting His Stride with the Regina Red Sox.”

31 “Our team,” Legacy Church, https://www.legacyaz.church/leadership-staff, accessed June 29, 2024.