June 10, 2002: Marcus Thames homers off a future Hall of Famer in his first at-bat for Yankees

Marcus Thames’s career was marked by his penchant to hit home runs with regularity, despite not being a full-time player. His most noteworthy homer was the first one of his major-league career, which occurred in his first at-bat with the New York Yankees on June 10, 2002. Moreover, the homer came on the first pitch Thames faced from hard-throwing future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. His first-pitch home run was only the 19th in major-league history.1

Thames was selected by the New York Yankees in the 30th round of the 1996 amateur draft after one season of junior college baseball in Mississippi. He did not sign, however, deciding instead to return to college for a second season.2 Thames led his team to one of its best-ever seasons in 1997,3 then signed with the Yankees in May before the coming June draft.4Thames was named to the rookie Gulf Coast League all-star team in his first professional season, 1997, followed by a respectable season with Class-A Tampa in 1998. There the 6-foot-2, 220-pound right-handed-hitting outfielder was characterized by a Tampa sportswriter as an “untamed talent with untapped potential.” Tampa Yankees manager Lee Mazzilli acknowledged that Thames was still learning the basics of the game.5

After struggling with Double-A Norwich in 1999 and 2000, Thames had a breakout season with them the following year, batting .321 with 31 home runs and 97 RBIs. He and Juan Rivera were named Co-Players of the Year in the Yankees’ minor-league system.6 Thames’s performance earned him a promotion to Triple-A Columbus in 2002, while Rivera was called up to the Yankees in September 2001.

Thames was playing with Columbus when Rivera crashed into a golf cart while shagging flies during batting practice. The unfortunate incident led to Thames’s first call-up to the big leagues.7

On June 10 the Yankees played Arizona in a night game at Yankee Stadium. For a weeknight game early in the season, an impressive crowd of 45,698 showed up, largely because the contest featured a rematch of the two opponents that had battled in the seven-game World Series in 2001, which the Diamondbacks won.

Coming into the game, the Yankees were in second place in the AL East, 1½ games behind Boston. The Diamondbacks were leading the Dodgers by two games in the NL West.

Yankees manager Joe Torre tapped lefty Sterling Hitchcock to take the mound, his second start of the season in six appearances. Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly countered with 38-year-old left-hander Johnson, who was coming off his third consecutive Cy Young Award in 2001. (He earned his first Cy Young in 1995.) Nicknamed the “Big Unit” at 6-feet-10, Johnson had only one loss in 10 decisions so far in 2002 and boasted a 2.56 ERA.

Thames’s first major-league game came as a result of an injury to Yankees outfielder Rondell White. Torre placed Thames in the ninth spot in the batting order, playing right field. When asked if he was nervous about making his debut against the menacing Johnson, Thames responded, “I guess I should be, huh?”8

The first scoring occurred in the bottom of the third. Shane Spencer led off with a double to left field. Thames then stepped up to the plate. On the first pitch from Johnson, a fastball, Thames slammed a home run to left-center field, off the screen above the Diamondbacks bullpen. Torre called for Thames to come out of the dugout for a rousing curtain call from the 45,000-plus fans. Johnson went back to work and struck out the next two batters. But he got in trouble and loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. He got out of the inning with his third strikeout of the inning, against Alfonso Soriano.

With one out in the fourth, Hitchcock walked Greg Colbrunn and gave up a single to Erubiel Durazo. José Guillén’s groundout advanced the runners to second and third. Steve Finley hit a line-drive double to left field that scored Colbrunn and Durazo and tied the game, 2-2.

Tony Womack started the top of the fifth with a ground-rule double, followed by Craig Counsell’s single. Junior Spivey singled to score Womack while Counsell advanced to third. Counsell was caught stealing at home after a rundown. Luis Gonzalez singled to score Spivey, making the score 4-2, Diamondbacks. Ramiro Mendoza replaced Hitchcock and induced a double play to end the inning.

Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the fifth with his eighth home run. It was the Yankees’ 100th of the season.

The score remained 4-3 until the bottom of the eighth. After Johnson punched out his eighth strikeout victim to start the inning, he walked Jason Giambi, who was replaced by pinch-runner John Vander Wal. Jorge Posada followed with a double down the left-field line. Soriano grounded out to first without Vander Wal and Posada advancing.

Even though Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim was ready in the bullpen, Brenly sent in reliever Bret Prinz for Johnson, who had thrown 134 pitches. Prinz intentionally walked pinch-hitter Robin Ventura to load the bases. Brenly then expected the Yankees to pinch-hit left-handed hitter Nick Johnson for Spencer, and therefore was planning to replace Prinz with lefty Mike Meyers. Torre spoiled Brenly’s plan by sending Spencer to the plate instead. With two outs, he hit a grand slam to deep left field to put the Yankees in the lead, 7-4.9

With Yankees closer Mariano Rivera placed on the injured list earlier in the day, Mike Stanton, who had relieved Mendoza in the eighth, stayed in the game to start the ninth inning. He allowed an inconsequential solo home run to Chris Donnels to make the final score 7-5. The Yankees’ dramatic victory represented a small measure of revenge against the Diamondbacks, who had prevented the Yankees from winning their fourth consecutive World Series title.

Johnson took the losing decision. He would lose only three more times for the rest of the season and ended up capturing his fourth consecutive Cy Young Award. Stanton recorded his third win without a loss.

Spencer was the Yankees’ hitting star of the day, with a single, double, and grand slam. Thames went 1-for-4 in the game, including one strikeout against Johnson.

But a still elated Thames said after the game, “When I hit it, I was like ‘go, ball, go.’” He added, “When I get home, I’m going to sit and watch ‘Baseball Tonight’ over and over again.” Torre joined the joyful celebration. “You couldn’t have written a better script. The smile on the kid’s face was priceless.”10

Thames became only the second Yankees player to hit a home run in his debut plate appearance. John Miller had done it on September 11, 1966.11 A total of 81 major-league players had done it before Thames.12

Thames appeared in six more games with the Yankees before being sent back to Columbus for the rest of the season. After being traded to the Texas Rangers in 2003, he spent the following six seasons with Detroit, as a reserve outfielder and first baseman, designated hitter, and pinch-hitter. Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon became impressed with Thames’s success with the bases loaded, which included six grand slams: “Marcus understands that when the bases are loaded, the pressure is on the pitcher. He’s so darn strong that when he hits strikes, good things usually happen.”13

Despite Thames’s part-time and utility-player status throughout his career, he developed a reputation as a power hitter due to his propensity to hit home runs – not his total number, but the rate at which he hit them per at-bat. From 2003 to 2010, Thames hit 112 home runs, averaging one for every 15.6 at-bats. His abilities at the plate ranked him among the top 15 major leaguers during this time period – ahead of other noted sluggers such as Vladimir Guerrero, Chipper Jones, Gary Sheffield, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, and Mark Teixiera.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200206100.shtml

Photo credit: Marcus Thames, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 David Adler, “Players Who Homered on First Career Pitch,” MLB.com, April 4, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rare-feats-home-run-on-1st-career-pitch-c265964496. Accessed March 19, 2024.

2 “Thames Turns Down Offer,” Winston County Journal (Louisville, Mississippi), August 28, 1996: 13.

3 “EC Announces Baseball Award Winners,” Union (Mississippi) Appeal, July 9, 1997: 6.

4 “Marcus Thames,” Baseball-Reference, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thamema01.shtml. Accessed March 31, 2024.

5 Bill Chastain, “Thames an Untamed Talent with Untapped Potential,” Tampa Tribune-Times, May 24, 1998: 5.

6 2002 New York Yankees Information & Record Guide, 183.

7 Roger Rubin, “Juan Lands on DL After Cart Mishap,” New York Daily News, June 10, 2002: 61.

8 Sam Borden, “Thames Homers in 1st At-Bat,” New York Daily News, June 11, 2002: 73.

9 Roger Rubin, “D-Backs Back: Treat Champs to Grand Ol’ Time,” New York Daily News, September 11, 2002: 70.

10 Borden.

11 Ken Davidoff, “Déjà Vu to You, Arizona Beaten on Another Late HR at Stadium,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), June 11, 2002: A90.

12 Ed Eagle, “Players With Home Run in First At-Bat,” MLB.com, September 1,2023. https://www.mlb.com/news/home-run-in-first-at-bat-c265623820. Accessed March 19,2024.

13 John Lowe, “Thames Grand With Bases Loaded,” Detroit Free Press, May 22, 2008: 5C.