PJ Conlon's Major League Baseball career is off to a winning start. The Belfast-born pitcher got a strike out in the New York Mets' 7-6 win at the Cincinnati Reds.
He's the first Irishman in the league for over 70-years. The last was Joe Cleary from Cork in 1945.
He pitched 1/3 of an inning for the Washington Senators, giving up seven earned runs and ending his incredibly brief career with a 189.00 ERA.
Born in Belfast, Conlon emigrated with his family to Southern California when he was two years old.
Conlon spoke of his delight at ending a long Irish wait to make it to the MLB:
"I've gotten unbelievable support, and all these people reaching out to me yesterday and today," said Conlon, who has an Irish flag stitched onto his glove.
"It means a lot. You could see them in the stands, waving the Irish flags. They're proud of it, and I'm proud of it."
"It's just something you dream about," Conlon added. "It was cool. It was just so fun. It was a heck of an experience."
His rise up the ranks was a topic for discussion on Tuesday's OTB AM with Ger Gilroy and Eoin Sheahan.
.@pjconlon29 hung up on @LasVegas51s manager Tony DeFrancesco when he was trying to let him know he was being called up. 😂 😂 😂
He talks about that, his first strikeout and first hit. #MetsWin pic.twitter.com/2rnZPWwhM2
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 8, 2018
First career start: ✅
First career hit: ✅
First salt and pepper: ✅@pjconlon29 is #ReadyToGo. pic.twitter.com/SIVhpIrfSy— MLB (@MLB) May 8, 2018
