man of letters

On this date in 2007, former Mississippi Braves catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, on his 22nd birthday, makes his major league debut for Atlanta and sets an offbeat record. Longest last name. His 14-letter surname supplants a bunch of other major leaguers who had 13 letters. “Salty,” a big switch-hitter who was the 36th overall pick by Atlanta in the 2003 draft, passed through Pearl as a highly rated prospect in 2006 and ’07. He played in the big leagues from 2007-18, won a ring with the 2013 Boston Red Sox and hit .232 with 110 homers overall. On August 22, 2007, a few weeks after being traded from the Braves to Texas, Saltalamacchia had two home runs and seven RBIs in the Rangers’ historic 30–3 rout of Baltimore.