April 10, 1992: Padres pitcher Dave Eiland makes history with home run in first at-bat

Four years after Dave Eiland’s major-league career began with an inauspicious start — he gave up a home run to the first batter he faced — he turned the tables, and made history, by hitting a homer the first time he came up as a batter.

On August 3, 1988, the first batter the New York Yankees’ Eiland faced in the major leagues was the Milwaukee Brewers’ Paul Molitor, who greeted him to the majors by hitting a 1-and-2 slider over the center-field wall at Milwaukee’s County Stadium.1

Four years later, on April 10, 1992, Eiland – now with the San Diego Padres – came up for the first time as a batter, facing Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Bob Ojeda with two outs in the second inning of a 1-1 game. Eiland crushed Ojeda’s 2-and-2 pitch to deep left field, landing several rows back of the 370-foot marker on the wall, to give the Padres a 3-1 lead.2 Some years later, he recalled, “I figured I’d get a fastball next because Ojeda didn’t want to go 3-and-2 on me. When I got it, I hit it out of the park.”3

Eiland became not just the first Padre in history to hit a home run in his first plate appearance,4 but also the first player to have the bittersweet honor of giving up a home run to the first batter he pitched to, and then hitting a home run against the first pitcher he faced.

Hopes were high for the Dodgers in the first week of the 1992 season. The previous year they had finished just one game behind the Braves in the National League West Division race. On the morning of April 10, they were tied for first place after splitting the first two games of the season with the arch-rival San Francisco Giants, then beating the Padres on April 9 in the first game of this four-game set.5

The Padres, who hadn’t sniffed a pennant race since finishing three games back in 1989, got off to a fast start after taking two out of three in Cincinnati from the Reds. But the loss in the home opener to the Dodgers the night before dropped them to .500.6

Eiland, with a record of 5-9 and an ERA of 5.16 during his previous four years with the Yankees, had been a nonroster invitee at San Diego. He was named the fifth starter in spring training after striking out 12 batters in 14 innings,7 and now was making his Padre debut. He retired the first two batters he faced – Brett Butler on a fly ball and Lenny Harris on a strikeout – but Kal Daniels reached on an error by shortstop Tony Fernández. Darryl Strawberry’s double to center knocked in Daniels from first and Strawberry took third on the throw home. Eiland then walked Eric Davis before finally getting Juan Samuel to fly out to end the top of the first.

In the bottom of the frame, Fernández doubled, took third on Tony Gwynn’s groundout, and then scored on Gary Sheffield’s triple to tie the score at 1-1.

Eiland retired the Dodgers in order in the top of the second, then in the bottom of the frame, Jerald Clark led off the inning with a walk against Ojeda. Darrin Jackson popped out to first and Kurt Stillwell grounded out to second, with Clark going to second on the play. That brought up Eiland, whose long shot to left in his first-ever plate appearance gave the Padres a 3-1 lead. Eiland, who had spent the previous four seasons with the Yankees in the American League, said it was the first time he’d batted since 1987, when he played for the University of South Florida.8

The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the fourth, when Clark homered off Ojeda to make it 4-1. Later that inning, Eiland came up for the second time in his career and struck out.

In the top of the fifth, Eiland was removed with an injury9 after facing just one batter – Stan Javier, who pinch-hit for Ojeda and singled. Reliever Pat Clements then retired Butler on a comebacker, and Mike Sharperson lined into a double play to end the inning.

José Meléndez, who relieved Clements with one out and two on in the top of the sixth, gave up an RBI single to Mike Scioscia for the Dodgers’ second run of the game. But the Padres blew it open an inning later when Fred McGriff hit a grand slam off John Candelaria to make it a six-run lead. Davis provided the final run of the contest with a solo home run in the eighth inning off Jeremy Hernandez.

Because he’d been pulled without completing the fifth inning, Eiland didn’t get the win. The “W” went to Meléndez, who pitched two innings. Ojeda took the loss, giving up four runs on four hits in four innings.

Eiland’s first-at-bat home run was the first, and last, of his career. He came up to the plate nine more times in 1992 but didn’t have a hit; he struck out four times and had a sacrifice. The following year he went 1-for-12 with three sacrifices. Then he went back to the American League, and between the designated hitter, injuries, and stints in the minors, didn’t bat in the majors again until 1999.

Pitching for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on June 7, 1999, in an interleague game in Atlanta against the Braves, Eiland batted for the first time in seven years, against future Hall of Famer John Smoltz. He bunted Aaron Ledesma to second base, which proved timely as Randy Winn followed with a single up the middle that scored Ledesma. (Eiland later gave up a three-run home run to Smoltz, the fifth and final home run of Smoltz’s career.) Eiland came up in the fourth and bunted again, this time with the bases empty, and was thrown out. Even though he’d been allowed to bat for himself, Eiland was pulled the following inning, this time for reliever Rick White.

That bunt was Eiland’s final plate appearance in the majors, although he made 35 more pitching appearances, the last one with the Devil Rays in 2000. Eiland signed with the Oakland A’s for the 2001 season, but he tore elbow tendons in spring training and underwent Tommy John surgery. He attempted to come back with the A’s the following spring, but he tore the same tendons the following spring training and retired to become a pitching coach.10 As a pitcher in the majors, he was 12-27 and had a 5.74 ERA in 373 innings with the Yankees, Padres, and Devil Rays.

At the plate, Eiland was 2-for-22 with five sacrifices in his 10-year major-league career. His home run and two RBIs in his first plate appearance were the only ones he’d have. Still, Eiland was dismissive of his hitting prowess. “It was a fluke,” he told The Sporting News after his home run. “I wish people would talk about my pitching instead of my hitting.”11

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1992/B04100SDN1992.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN199204100.shtml

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL198808030.shtml

Photo credit: Dave Eiland, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Michael Martinez, “Eiland’s Debut Is Ruined as Righetti Blows Lead,” New York Times, August 4, 1988: 9.

2 “Pitcher Dave Eiland belts a home run in his first MLB at-bat,” video from MLB.com’s YouTube channel.

3 Edward Cifelli, “Pitching in with a Job Close to Home,” Tampa Bay Times, March 4, 2011. 

4 Steve Dilbeck, “Padres Crush Dodgers,” San Bernardino County (California) Sun, April 11, 1992: 23. “Eiland, who had spent parts of the past four seasons with the Yankees, became the 66th player to homer in his first major league at-bat, the first since José Offerman for the Dodgers on August 19, 1990, the first pitcher since Houston’s José Sosa in 1975 and the first Padre ever.” However, MLB.com lists Eiland as the 65th player to hit a home run in his first at-bat, and Baseball-Almanac.com as the 67th.

5 First place didn’t last long. The Dodgers finished the season 63-99, the nadir of Tommy Lasorda’s 21-year managerial career.

6 The Padres climbed to a high-water mark of 12 games above .500 on September 7 but finished the season close to where they started, 82-80.

7 Scott Miller, “Padre Notebook: Eiland Nails Down Fifth Spot in Padres’ Starting Rotation,” Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1992. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-03-sp-107-story.html.

8 Tim Kurkjian, “Between the Lines,” Sports Illustrated, April 20, 1992. Kurkjian reported that the Padres pitchers had collectively hit .086 in 1991, the worst in the National League. “We have a hitting competition among the pitchers,” Eiland said. “Some think those two RBIs will hold up all year.” They didn’t; Andy Benes had five RBIs that year to lead Padres pitchers, though Eiland finished second. Benes also tied Eiland for the team high in home runs by a pitcher by hitting a solo shot against the Braves on August 13. https://vault.si.com/vault/1992/04/20/baseball.

9 Dilbeck, “Padres Crush Dodgers.” On April 22, 1992, an Associated Press story on page 8 of Greenwood (South Carolina) Index-Journal called it “a mild muscle strain near his rib cage.”

10 “Eiland Hops into New Job,” New York Daily News, February 11, 2008. https://www.nydailynews.com/2008/02/11/dave-eiland-hops-into-new-job/

11 Barry Bloom, “San Diego Padres: Clearing the Bases,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1992: 23.