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The First Home Run in an NFL Stadium
Earlier this year, the Savannah Bananas played a game at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At some point, a home run was hit, which they advertised as being the first home run ever hit in an NFL stadium. When it was quickly pointed out to them that this was wrong for many, many, many reasons, they corrected themselves to it being the first *banana ball* home run hit in an NFL stadium.
But what was the first home run hit in an NFL stadium? First, we need to answer some questions. These are my interpretations, mostly based around common sense:
* What is the NFL?
For the purposes of this question, the NFL only includes the time the league was called the NFL - 1922-present. It does not include the 1920-1921 AFPA history. It might include AFL history, but I do not care and it is not relevant.
* What is a stadium?
Again, for the purposes of this question, a stadium is a place where football is played. If Gillette Stadium burned down and the Patriots had to play in a field somewhere, then that’s a stadium.
* Is NFL stadium status retroactive?
If, 5,000 years from now, the NFL's Cincinnati Vikings play a game at Great American Ballpark, was the first HR ever hit at Great American Ballpark a home run hit at an NFL stadium? I’ve decided that the answer is no - the question is more interesting if it’s explicitly “a home run hit at a stadium where NFL games have already been played”.
(for the curious: if you *do* apply NFL status retroactively, the first HR appears to have been Peek-A-Boo Veach on May 20, 1888 at Borchert Field in Milwaukee.)
* What counts as a home run?
This one may seem silly - everyone knows what a ~~horse~~ home run is! But what this question is trying to determine is what level of officialness a home run has to be at to count. Do sandlot games count? Does it have to be during an actual game? I decided that the criteria should be that the home run was recorded. It’s impossible to have a broader criteria, and it includes exhibitions, barnstorming, etc. - but that’s what the Bananas are, so it’s in the right spirit.
So, with all those criteriae, what *was* the first home run in an NFL stadium? Let’s start this off by talking about the Oorang Indians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oorang_Indians a little bit.
The Oorang Indians were a travelling team in the NFL for its first two seasons, 1922 and 1923. They were a novelty team made up entirely of Native Americans and were put together to market Oorang dog kennels. They were based in La Rue, Ohio (population ~800 at the time) but never played there - the team’s single home game was played in nearby Marion, Ohio at Lincoln Park on October 8, 1922. And, as it so happens, the Pittsburgh Pirates came to town 8 days later. The NL Pirates, not the NFL Pirates. Not that you probably knew about the NFL Pirates anyway.
The baseball season had ended, as baseball seasons tend to do, and the Pirates were finishing up a barnstorming tour of the Midwest - hitting such metropoli as Sturgis, Michigan; Van Wert, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And to end the tour, they came to Lincoln Park in Marion on October 16, 1922, to play a team of locals.
But nobody on the Pirates hit a home run that day.
Somebody from Marion’s team did.
That somebody was George McQuillan h https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcquige01.shtml one of those pitchers from the 1910s that you never heard of who had a 9 bWAR season before (presumably) his arm fell off. He came from Columbus with some other ballplayers to strengthen the local team, and seemingly pitched quite well - Marion lost 7-2, but the Pirates didn’t take the lead for good until the 7th and Marion also committed seven errors https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-marion-star-pittsburgh-pirates-play/25846732/. And in the bottom of the fifth, McQuillan hit a home run.
McQuillan had a single recorded home run in 1600 AB in his entire professional career. And he hit another one on October 16, 1922, against 1922 NL bWAR leader Wilbur Cooper in Lincoln Park in Marion, Ohio, just over a week after a football team of Native Americans created to sponsor a dog kennel played their only home game there, in a city that wasn’t their home. And that’s the first home run hit in an NFL stadium.
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Earlier this year, the Savannah Bananas played a game at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At some point, a home run was hit, which they advertised as being the first home run ever hit in an NFL stadium. When it was quickly pointed out to them that this was wrong for many, many, many reasons, they corrected themselves to it being the first *banana ball* home run hit in an NFL stadium.
But what was the first home run hit in an NFL stadium? First, we need to answer some questions. These are my interpretations, mostly based around common sense:
* What is the NFL?
For the purposes of this question, the NFL only includes the time the league was called the NFL - 1922-present. It does not include the 1920-1921 AFPA history. It might include AFL history, but I do not care and it is not relevant.
* What is a stadium?
Again, for the purposes of this question, a stadium is a place where football is played. If Gillette Stadium burned down and the Patriots had to play in a field somewhere, then that’s a stadium.
* Is NFL stadium status retroactive?
If, 5,000 years from now, the NFL's Cincinnati Vikings play a game at Great American Ballpark, was the first HR ever hit at Great American Ballpark a home run hit at an NFL stadium? I’ve decided that the answer is no - the question is more interesting if it’s explicitly “a home run hit at a stadium where NFL games have already been played”.
(for the curious: if you *do* apply NFL status retroactively, the first HR appears to have been Peek-A-Boo Veach on May 20, 1888 at Borchert Field in Milwaukee.)
* What counts as a home run?
This one may seem silly - everyone knows what a ~~horse~~ home run is! But what this question is trying to determine is what level of officialness a home run has to be at to count. Do sandlot games count? Does it have to be during an actual game? I decided that the criteria should be that the home run was recorded. It’s impossible to have a broader criteria, and it includes exhibitions, barnstorming, etc. - but that’s what the Bananas are, so it’s in the right spirit.
So, with all those criteriae, what *was* the first home run in an NFL stadium? Let’s start this off by talking about the Oorang Indians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oorang_Indians a little bit.
The Oorang Indians were a travelling team in the NFL for its first two seasons, 1922 and 1923. They were a novelty team made up entirely of Native Americans and were put together to market Oorang dog kennels. They were based in La Rue, Ohio (population ~800 at the time) but never played there - the team’s single home game was played in nearby Marion, Ohio at Lincoln Park on October 8, 1922. And, as it so happens, the Pittsburgh Pirates came to town 8 days later. The NL Pirates, not the NFL Pirates. Not that you probably knew about the NFL Pirates anyway.
The baseball season had ended, as baseball seasons tend to do, and the Pirates were finishing up a barnstorming tour of the Midwest - hitting such metropoli as Sturgis, Michigan; Van Wert, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And to end the tour, they came to Lincoln Park in Marion on October 16, 1922, to play a team of locals.
But nobody on the Pirates hit a home run that day.
Somebody from Marion’s team did.
That somebody was George McQuillan h https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcquige01.shtml one of those pitchers from the 1910s that you never heard of who had a 9 bWAR season before (presumably) his arm fell off. He came from Columbus with some other ballplayers to strengthen the local team, and seemingly pitched quite well - Marion lost 7-2, but the Pirates didn’t take the lead for good until the 7th and Marion also committed seven errors https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-marion-star-pittsburgh-pirates-play/25846732/. And in the bottom of the fifth, McQuillan hit a home run.
McQuillan had a single recorded home run in 1600 AB in his entire professional career. And he hit another one on October 16, 1922, against 1922 NL bWAR leader Wilbur Cooper in Lincoln Park in Marion, Ohio, just over a week after a football team of Native Americans created to sponsor a dog kennel played their only home game there, in a city that wasn’t their home. And that’s the first home run hit in an NFL stadium.
#sport
source
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