Lou Montanez obviously believes in the theory that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. He hammered a long home run off Ervin Santana in his first major league at-bat to become -- according to the O's public relations department -- the first position player in Orioles history to homer in his first major league at-bat.
Wow, that's hard to believe, considering how many players have debuted during the club's 54 1/2-year history.
The only other Orioles player to turn that trick was a pitcher named Buster Narum, who homered in his first at-bat in 1963.
Some interesting Narum facts:
His real name was Leslie Ferdinand Narum, which explains why he went by Buster.
That was his only at-bat of the 1963 season.
He would only manage 7 hits in 118 major league at-bats over his modest five-year career in the big leagues, but three of those hits were home runs.
He was traded to the Washington Senators during spring training in 1964 for a minor league player to be named later who turned out to be...
Drum roll, please...
Current Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who made his major league debut with the O's and -- coincidentally enough -- got only one major league at-bat in 1964.
It goes without saying he did not hit a home run.
