Liam Plunkett made his baseball debut for the Oakland Ballers on Friday and struck out a hitter. The 41-year-old former England cricketer did it in a league game, not in a ceremonial appearance, after the Ballers used the PBL's marketing player exception to put him on the mound.
Plunkett said, "Originally, I thought it's like the ceremonial open pitch, but it was the real thing. I was first on the mound, a little bit nervous, but the catcher was excellent," He added, "But yeah, I mean I got that strikeout. I think the hitter didn't know what was coming. I think it was a bit unusual, a mix between bowling and then pitching."
Raimondi Park debut
He started against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds at Raimondi Park and got through the outing with the strikeout as the headline number. Plunkett also said, "Play first game, get a strikeout. What more could I ask for? Happy days!"
The appearance came after a cricket career that ended with his last international game in the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand, where he took three wickets. After that, he relocated to the United States and later played Major League Cricket for the San Francisco Unicorns, so this was not a novelty cameo but a real switch into a new sport at game speed.
PBL marketing exception
The Oakland Ballers play in the Pioneer Baseball League, an independent competition that is an official Major League Baseball Partner League. That structure allowed the club to use the marketing player exception for Plunkett, which is why a former cricketer could appear in an American baseball game and face live hitters instead of taking part in a scripted opening act.
Friday also brought a full slate of cricket across England, including Somerset beating Gloucestershire by 18 runs at Taunton, Northamptonshire beating Essex by 130 runs at Wantage Road, Hampshire beating Yorkshire by two wickets in Southampton, and Warwickshire beating Worcestershire by 59 runs at Edgbaston. For Plunkett, though, the day belonged to one strikeout and the simplest possible debut line.
