Hornsby's NL Debut

Rogers Hornsby makes his ML Debut for the St. Cardinals

When Rogers Hornsby stepped onto the field at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis on Sept. 10, 1915, for his first major league game, he was nearly laughed off the field by fans, teammates, and even his own manager, future Hall of Famer Miller Huggins. At six feet tall, and barely 140 pounds in full uniform, the lanky middle infielder hailing from Winters, Texas, had more than his share of skeptics that he could develop into a major league player, much less go on to a Hall of Fame career as one the greatest hitting ballplayers of all-time. Less that two years before his major league debut, his manager of the Dallas club of the Texas League, Walter Morris, proclaimed that Hornsby would not even develop into a good bat boy. Rogers would prove them all wrong. In a 23-year major league career, Hornsby would compile a .358 lifetime batting average - second highest ever - while capturing a pair of National League Most Valuable Player awards in 1925 and 1929, two triple crown awards in 1922 and 1925, and a stable of offensive honors and records en route to earning enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942. After making his debut at shortstop in 1915, Hornsby would appear at all infield positions before settling in as a regular second baseman. In 18 games in his debut year of 1915, Hornsby would bat just .246. Cardinals' manager Miller Huggins worked with Hornsby after the end of the 1915 season to loosen his grip on his bat and sent him back to Winters with one command for the winter of 1915-16: to gain as much weight as possible. Hornsby slept for 13-15 hours a day and lived on milk-fed chicken and sweet milk for the off-season. When he reported to San Antonio for spring training in 1916, Hornsby showed up weighing 175 pounds and was the talk of Cardinals' camp. His .313 batting average in 1916 would be his first of 19 seasons in which he hit .300 or better.