Kevin Maas--1990
On This Date in Major League
History, August 2, 1990…
Throughout baseball history, rookies
have come up and made early
impressions; however none made as big
a splash as Kevin Maas in 1990.
The lefty swinger on this date, August 2,
1990 hit his 10th home run in just his first
77 at-bats to set a major league record.
Maas wore out right-handers as the first
came off Kansas City's Bret Saberhagen,
while his list of victims also included
Nolan Ryan, Bobby Witt and Kevin Brown.
Shifting between Designated Hitter and
first base duties for the floundering
Yankees, Maas hit seven long balls at
home, routinely reaching the right field
stands.
Maas would continue to swat big flys for
two seasons, connecting on 21 homers
in '90 and 23 long balls in '91. However,
along with the homers came strikeouts
and a sub-.250 batting average.
With Don Mattingly entrenched at first
base and Danny Tartabull signed as a
free agent prior to the '93 campaign,
Maas' days in the Yankee lineup were
coming to an end.
All totalled, Maas would hit 65 home runs
in 406 games, all but one dinger coming
with the Yankees. His final days in the
bigs came with the Minnesota Twins in
1995.
Editor's Note: While the Yankees
celebrated Maas' home run binge on this
date in 1990, the franchise suffered one
of its' worst days on this date in 1979 as
Thurman Munson's plane crashed,
killing the popular Yankee Captain.
This was always my favorite Munson
card:
(8/2/11)
History, August 2, 1990…
Throughout baseball history, rookies
have come up and made early
impressions; however none made as big
a splash as Kevin Maas in 1990.
The lefty swinger on this date, August 2,
1990 hit his 10th home run in just his first
77 at-bats to set a major league record.
Maas wore out right-handers as the first
came off Kansas City's Bret Saberhagen,
while his list of victims also included
Nolan Ryan, Bobby Witt and Kevin Brown.
Shifting between Designated Hitter and
first base duties for the floundering
Yankees, Maas hit seven long balls at
home, routinely reaching the right field
stands.
Maas would continue to swat big flys for
two seasons, connecting on 21 homers
in '90 and 23 long balls in '91. However,
along with the homers came strikeouts
and a sub-.250 batting average.
With Don Mattingly entrenched at first
base and Danny Tartabull signed as a
free agent prior to the '93 campaign,
Maas' days in the Yankee lineup were
coming to an end.
All totalled, Maas would hit 65 home runs
in 406 games, all but one dinger coming
with the Yankees. His final days in the
bigs came with the Minnesota Twins in
1995.
Editor's Note: While the Yankees
celebrated Maas' home run binge on this
date in 1990, the franchise suffered one
of its' worst days on this date in 1979 as
Thurman Munson's plane crashed,
killing the popular Yankee Captain.
This was always my favorite Munson
card:
(8/2/11)
