:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/31009747/474640685.0.jpg)
On this date in 2007, in the Royals home opener, Alex Gordon made his big league debut. He was the fourth Royal in history to have his major league debut on Opening Day.
Three consecutive singles in the first brought Gordon to bat against Curt Schilling with the bases loaded. It could not have been more symbolic. The Kauffman Stadium crowd rose and greeted the young third baseman with a standing ovation.
And Gordon struck out.
He struck out looking in the third. In the fifth he was hit by a pitch. He finished his day at the plate with a ground out to first.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | Pit | Str | WPA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David DeJesus CF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | 16 | 10 | -0.128 | 0.83 | |
| Mark Grudzielanek 2B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .600 | 1.400 | 23 | 13 | 0.285 | 0.74 | 2B |
| Mark Teahen RF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .500 | 1.000 | 13 | 11 | 0.065 | 0.66 | |
| Mike Sweeney DH | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | 1.000 | 11 | 6 | 0.033 | 0.79 | |
| Alex Gordon 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .250 | 18 | 14 | -0.083 | 0.87 | HBP |
| Ryan Shealy 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .250 | 20 | 13 | 0.059 | 0.95 | GDP |
| Ross Gload LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .500 | 13 | 9 | -0.095 | 0.93 | |
| John Buck C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 2.000 | 12 | 8 | 0.038 | 0.44 | HR,2B |
| Tony Pena SS | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .667 | 2.750 | 20 | 11 | 0.087 | 0.50 | 2·3B |
| Gil Meche P | |||||||||||||
| Joel Peralta P | |||||||||||||
| Team Totals | 35 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 8 | .343 | .995 | 146 | 95 | 0.261 | 0.75 |
The 2007 Opener was notable for a couple other reasons:
-- Tony Pena, Jr. hit two triples. Seriously. Look above. That was the start of a career year for the Royals shortstop. He hit .267/.284/.356. Career highs in all slash stats.
-- Gil Meche made his Royals debut. At five years and $55 million, his contract remains the largest in Royals history in both years and total dollars. This is slowly becoming as notable as Steve Balboni's franchise home run record. Meche went 7.1 innings and struck out six.
-- The Royals announced the creation of the Buck O'Neil Legacy Seat. Created to honor the late O'Neil, the seat is Monarch Red and still in use (and should never, ever go away.) The first honoree was Buck's younger brother Warren.