May 31, 1942: Western Hills High School graduate and Bridgetown resident Clyde Vollmer homemrs on the first pitch thrown to him in a major league game. It was hit off Pittsburgh’s Max Butcher in the 3rd inning of a game won by the Reds, 3-0 at Crosley Field.
At the time, Vollmer was just the 10th NL player to hit a homer run in his first at bat and the third to do it on the first pitch. Vollmer was hitless in his next 18 ABs and was soon back in the minors. After missing the ’43, ’44, and ’45 seasons in teh service, he returned to the majors in ’46, but didn’t hit his second big league HR until ’47. He finished his career in ’54 with 69 homers, but only two of them were in a Reds uniform.
All “Reds trivia†posts come from Greg Rhodes and John Snyder’s fabulous book, “Redleg Journal†(see link for purchasing) and are used with Greg’s permission.
Thanks again to Greg Rhodes for permission to use his material.
Comment: Western Hills High School is also the high school that Pete Rose, Don Zimmer, Ed Brinkman, Tuffy Rhodes, among others attended. (I believe there’s at least one mistake on that linked list, I don’t believe Tommy Helms went to West Hi.) Other alums are ex-NFL player Jack “Hacksaw” Reynolds and, on a less famous note, myself. Bridgetown is a suburb on the western side of Cincinnati.