Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs Catcher Willson Contreras Makes History at All-Star Game

Contreras slugged a solo home run in the third inning of the game

The National League may have lost the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, but Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras managed to do something that no player in the history of baseball has ever done.

In the third inning of the game, which the American League won in extra-innings, Contreras stepped up to the plate against Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Blake Snell and promptly smacked the first pitch he saw into the left field bleachers to get the National League on the board.

The pitch was the first Contreras had ever faced in All-Star competition, and perfectly mirrored the first pitch he saw in his big league career in 2016, when he smashed a home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Contreras is the only player in big league history to homer on both the first pitch he faced as a big leaguer and to homer on the first pitch he’d seen in an All-Star Game.

Contreras wasn’t the only one rewriting the history books for the Cubs. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Javier Baez became just the second Cubs player to ever lead off an All-Star Game with a base hit, joining Cubs legend Stan Hack, who did it in 1938 and 1943. 

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