St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Joshua Baez (22) celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at Wrigley Field. Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
By Sean Keeley on

A lot of Major League Baseball fans had never heard of Joshua Báez heading into Saturday.

Now, they all know his name.

The St. Louis Cardinals rookie made his MLB debut against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Saturday, and by the time the day was over, he was in the record books as the first player in Major League history with three home runs in his first three plate appearances.

If all he did was hit a home run in his first MLB at-bat, it would have been a memorable day for the 23-year-old. On the very first Major League pitch he saw, a 93.4 mph fastball up in the zone from Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, Báez crushed a two-run blast 449 feet to dead center field to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. It’s worth noting that’s the longest homer by any player in his 1st career plate appearance in the Statcast Era.

“Swing and high fly…BELTED! FIRST PITCH! IN THE SHOW! BAEZ HOMERS!” bellowed Cardinals announcer Chip Caray as his teammates went nuts. “Look at that Cardinal dugout!”

For posterity, here’s Cubs announcer Jon “Boog” Sciambi’s call on Marquee Sports Network, along with Jim Deshaies.

He wasn’t done.

In his second at-bat, Báez found himself in a full count when Boyd threw a changeup low in the strike zone. He dropped it 382 feet down the line for a solo shot to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead. That made him the ninth player in MLB history (eighth in baseball’s Modern Era) to hit a home run twice in a regular-season debut and just the third to do it in their first two at-bats.

“SWING AND A DRIVE DOWN THE LINE! DID HE DO IT AGAIN? THAT BALL IS… GONE!” yelled Caray on the call. “HE’S GOT TWO HOMERS!”

And here’s the Cubs booth in disbelief over Baez’s debut so far.

And then, in the top of the sixth, with the count 1-0, Báez tagged Boyd one more time, driving a pitch on the outside of the strike zone deep into right field for a two-run homer to extend the lead to 6-3.

“SWING, DRIVE, WELL HIT, RIGHT,” started Caray. “SUZUKI BACK. IT IS GONE! IT IS GONE! IT IS GONE! THREE HOMERS FOR BAEZ! MAJOR LEAGUE HISTORY AT WRIGLEY FIELD!”

And here’s Sciambi and Deshaies, the latter of whom urged Báez to “just retire right now.”

“That is as incredible a welcome to the Major League moment as anyone could have,” said Sciambi.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” added Deshaies.

Báez lined out to left in his fourth at-bat, but the Cardinals won the game 8-4 largely on the back of his historic debut.

They’re not all going to be like this, but on the day of his MLB debut, there wasn’t a more impressive player in the league than Joshua Báez.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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