Every boy’s dream is to play in Major League Baseball. This one in a million chance is reserved for the very lucky and very talented. Some players spent their entire career there and become a part of MLB history … others get a small taste.
Two movies that talk about the time they played in the Majors were “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams.” Crash Davis, who was the catcher in “Bull Durham,” talked about the 21 days he was in “the show.” He called it the greatest days of his life. In “Field of Dreams,” Moonlight Graham talked about the one game he played in and how he wished he was able to just get one at-bat.
Both of these movies picture what it’s like beautifully. So if you got that one shot, what would you do with it? Well, there’s been plenty of players who have played only one game in their career, just like Moonlight Graham. The one who sticks out the most for me is a guy by the name of Ray Jansen.
MLB history: What stands out about Ray Jansen?
A simple Google search isn’t going to give you much information on the guy. Wikipedia says he was born in St. Louis in 1889 and passed away there in 1934. What makes him so remarkable is that one game he got in, he was able to fully take it to his advantage and etch his name into the record books.
The St. Louis Browns were a franchise who didn’t have much success. In fact, they only played in one World Series in their existence as the Browns (now Baltimore Orioles) and that was during World War II (1944). In 1910, they were right in the middle of a three-peat of a 100-plus-loss season. They weren’t playing for anything except pride. For reasons I simply cannot find anywhere, on September 30, they turned to a 21-year-old kid who never played professional baseball in his life, and put him at third. Jansen proceeded to get four hits in five at-bats that game as the Browns eventually lost 9-1. He did commit three errors that day at third, but he is the only player in Major League history to collect four hits in his first and only game.
Why didn’t this translate to success for him? Who knows? He did play minor league ball up until 1918, but never got back. He did have a couple of seasons that weren’t too bad, but just wasn’t enough.
In his later years, I wonder if he talked like Moonlight Graham in Field of Dreams? Did he wish he got one more chance? Did he dream about maybe driving in some runs that day to help them win? I’d like to think so. I do know it was certainly a day he never forgot, and it’s a day we’ll never forget either.
Hats off to Ray Jansen. You made it!