Stephen Strasburg’s MLB Debut, A Personal History

It was an audacious, convoluted plan from the beginning.

Back in 2010, as the U.S. was a couple of years into an economic recession and the New York Yankees were defending their most recent World Series title, a young pitcher in the Washington Nationals farm system was tearing through the minor leagues. It was late May, and anticipation was building as to when Stephen Strasburg would be called up from Triple-A Syracuse to make his long-awaited big league debut.

My friend Jason and I attended Queens College together and had this idea to drive down to Washington, D.C. and attend the game at Nationals Park. But since we were broke college students, we couldn’t afford to wait for the team to announce the date of Strasburg’s debut, when ticket prices would skyrocket. So we mapped out his rotation schedule and bought $18 upper deck seats on Tickets.com for a June 8 game against Pittsburgh, 10 years ago today, hoping that would be the day he made one of the most highly-anticipated debuts in baseball history.

Nationals fans had been waiting for this day for a long time. Things hadn’t been going well for the franchise since it moved from Montreal following the 2004 season. After a promising 81-81 year in 2005 that saw them select University of Virginia third baseman Ryan Zimmerman with the 4th overall pick in that June’s draft, it would take another seven years for Washington to win as many games.

Playing at cavernous RFK Stadium, the Nats won 71 and 73 games in 2006 and 2007 and completely bottomed out after that. They moved to their new stadium in 2008 and promptly went 59-102, the franchise’s worst record since the Expos won 55 games in 1976. Washington also failed to sign its first-round pick, University of Missouri righty Aaron Crow. In a 2009 game, Zimmerman and outfielder Adam Dunn briefly wore misspelled uniforms during an April contest, and the Natinals became even more of a joke around the big leagues.

But amidst another 59-win season, Washington held the 1st and 10th picks in the draft. Strasburg, a flamethrowing 6-foot-5 righty starter from San Diego State— coached by the late legendary Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn— with a devastating curveball and an unfair changeup that looked like a slurve to go with his triple-digit MPH fastball, was the no-brainer top selection for the Nats. His $7.5 million signing bonus negotiated by agent Scott Boras shattered the draft record, and the pressure was on him to deliver since. After that, the Nats took Stanford righty Drew Storen 10th overall, who ended up being their longtime closer.

Strasburg started the 2010 season in Double-A Harrisburg and ended up making 11 total minor league starts, going 7-2 with a 1.30 ERA with 65 strikeouts and 13 walks in 55 1/3 innings. As the Stras hype intensified during the spring of 2010, Washington’s awful 2009 gave them the top overall draft pick in 2010 and the chance to take an otherworldly phenom for the second consecutive year. A can’t-miss young outfielder from Nevada who’d been on the cover of Sports Illustrated in high school, Bryce Harper would join Strasburg to form the young core of Washington’s dreams.

The Nationals made Harper its pick on June 7, a day before Strasburg’s debut. The District was buzzing with excitement as Jason and I made plans to make the trip down for what we hoped would be an unforgettable event.

It was a bright and sunny Tuesday, and I had just one English class to take before I completed my undergraduate degree before heading to Columbia’s Journalism School in the fall. But I happily ditched class that day, sorry Prof. Scalettar, to make my way down to Washington. I drove from my parents’ house in Long Island and parked it in Queens and got a ride from my friend to the E train. I took the subway to Penn Station and took New Jersey Transit to meet Jason, who’d drive the rest of the way from the Garden State.

Jason said he was related to Stan Kasten, then the Nationals’ manager and that he’d try to get us to meet him before the game. It turned out that he was busy as the team went through its most important two-day period in years, but he’d try to reach out to Jason after the game.

Nationals Park was sold out and rocking, with an atmosphere normally seen at playoff games. For a city that hadn’t really had meaningful baseball in decades, Strasburg’s debut against the Pirates was carried nationally by MLB Network, with Bob Costas, John Smoltz and Jim Kaat on the call. And the California native not only didn’t disappoint, he managed to exceed everyone’s outsize expectations.

Strasburg retired the Bucs in order in the first, striking out former Nat Lastings Milledge to end the inning to thunderous applause. After Zimmerman hit a solo homer in the bottom half, Strasburg struck out the side in the second, working around a two-out Andy LaRoche single. He fanned two more in the third before running into trouble in the fourth.

After two singles and a double play, Delwyn Young hit a two-run homer to give Pittsburgh the lead, temporarily shattering the lofty hopes of the home crowd. He wouldn’t allow another Pirate to reach base the rest of the game.

Striking out six in four innings while allowing two runs wasn’t bad, but it was about to become legendary. Strasburg struck out two in the fifth around a Ronny Cedeno groundout, but still entered the sixth trailing 2-1. He then set down Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker and Milledge down swinging, raising his strikeout total to 11 and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Washington’s offense woke up in the bottom half, when Zimmerman singled, Dunn homered and Josh Willingham went deep as well. With the lead and the crowd behind him and marveling at every pitch, Strasburg was as untouchable as any pitcher I’d ever seen. Pittsburgh didn’t have a chance, as Garrett Jones, Young and LaRoche all went down swinging as Stras exited the game to a jet engine-level roar from the crowd after 94 pitches, ending one of the greatest debuts in baseball history.

Strasburg’s line: Seven innings, two earned runs, four hits, zero walks and 14 strikeouts. His total was a Nationals team record since their move from Montreal and just one shy of the MLB record for k’s in a debut, set by Brooklyn’s Karl Spooner in 1954. Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps finished off a 5-2 Washington win that blew my 22-year-old mind. The game was magical, but what happened next made it a night I’ll remember forever.

Kasten told Jason and I to go down near the field level, where a team employee would whisk us to the clubhouse level. We met Kasten, who asked me what I was up to in life. I told him I’d be studying journalism, and he jokingly asked me why I’d ever want to go into that profession. I was just outside the Nationals’ clubhouse, hoping that my future eventually awaited me beyond those sacred doors.

Dunn exited the clubhouse with a huge smile on his face, one of his children perched on his massive shoulders. Boras and Gwynn appeared in the hallway, and I had to honor to meet one of the greatest hitters who ever lived.

Then Strasburg walked out, still wearing his game jersey, and after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, he signed my game ticket, a memento I still have and a storybook ending to a fairy tale evening. It would be the last autograph I’d ever ask for.

Jason was nice enough to drive me back to my car, which I got to at 3 a.m., knowing that day would be something I’d cherish for life.

It turns out that Strasburg didn’t end up being so bad, either. A three-time All-Star, he helped Washington win 98 games in 2012, Harper’s rookie year. Anthony Rendon, the team’s top pick in 2011, debuted in 2013 and the Nats have had winning seasons ever since despite some early career injury woes for Strasburg. But in its four playoff appearances between 2012 and 2018, Washington lost in the first round each time despite a rotation led by Strasburg and 2015 free agent signing Max Scherzer.

After Harper left Washington for Philadelphia in free agency following the 2018 season, it seemed like the Nats’ title window had expired. But Strasburg had the best season of his career, going 18-6 with a 3.32 ERA in a career-high 209 innings, striking out a career-best 251.

Despite a slow start, the Nationals rallied to make the Wild Card game and improbably defeated the Brewers 4-3, with Strasburg throwing three scoreless innings of relief to record the win. He also started the decisive Game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, which Washington won 7-3 on a 10th inning grand slam be Howie Kendrick.

The Nats swept St. Louis in the NLCS, with Stras fanning 12 in a Game 3 victory. He then got the win in Games 2 and 6 in the World Series against Houston, which Washington won in seven to cap one of the most improbable title runs ever. Strasburg went 5-0 with a 1.46 ERA in the playoffs and was named World Series MVP.

While Rendon left in the offseason for the Angels, Strasburg received a seven-year contract extension from Washington worth $245 million, a record amount at the time that was soon broken by another Boras client, Gerrit Cole. It was the culmination of all those years of hard work that began at the big league level on a warm June Tuesday 10 years ago to the day.

While we all wish Strasburg and the rest of baseball would be playing today, all we can do is remember the night Major League Baseball changed in Washington D.C. from a hopeful afterthought into a perennial force. I’m glad I was there to witness it.