16 years ago, Marcus Thames hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the Majors ... from Randy Johnson

After four years of nondescript Minor League numbers after the Yankees selected him in the 30th round of the 1996 MLB Draft, Marcus Thames broke out with the Double-A Norwich Navigators in 2001. In his second season at the Double-A level, the outfielder had a breakthrough with 31 homers and a 1.008 OPS. 
After that strong performance while repeating at Double-A, Thames opened the 2002 season with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, putting him only one step away from reaching the Majors. He wouldn't have to wait long to move past Triple-A. On June 10, 2002, Thames made his Major League debut in right field for the Yankees. 
When you start a new job, you expect to get eased into it a bit through an orientation or maybe some training for the first couple days. Thames didn't get that at all. His first at-bat in the Majors came against Randy Johnson, who was in the midst of his fourth straight NL Cy Young Award-winning season. So, naturally the rookie outfielder had a rough first game ... Just kidding: He homered on the first pitch Johnson threw his way.

Fittingly, Thames' homer very nearly landed in Monument Park as he joined John Miller to become just the second Yankee ever to hit a home run in his first Major League at-bat -- Andy Phillips, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge have since joined the club.
Reactions to the event varied, but were uniformly joyous. Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer couldn't stop laughing about the absurdity of a former 30th round pick hitting a home run off the best pitcher in the game on his first swing in the Majors. Meanwhile, the Yankee Stadium crowd was appreciative of the rookie's accomplishment and gave him a curtain call.

The first swing of Thames' career proved to be an accurate predictor of his power-heavy approach. The following June, the Yankees traded him to the Rangers for Ruben Sierra. What did he do in his first game as a Ranger? He hit a dinger, of course. It was another two-run homer, this time off Devil Rays starter Joe Kennedy.
Home runs, it turned out, were sort of Thames' thing. During his 10-year career, he averaged a home run every 15.9 at-bats and holds the Tigers club record in that category with 14.8 at-bats per homer during his six seasons in Detroit. 
Even those numbers, though, represent a regression from his early pace. For a couple moments on June 10, 2002, Thames not only averaged one home run per at-bat for his career, but also averaged a home run per pitch. Thames is now the Yankees hitting coach and, with the likes of Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sánchez under his tutelage, he continues to play a role in plenty of Yankee Stadium home runs.