Baseball Digest's 2005 all-star rookie team: an impressive squad of first-year talent in the majors was led by Chicago's Tadahito Iguchi, Houston's Willy Taveras and Colorado's Garrett Atkins.

IT WOULD BE A SHAME TO OVERLOOK the unusual achievements or experiences of a few less ballyhooed newcomers even if they fell short of qualifying for inclusion on Baseball Digest's Rookie All-Star Team of 2005 and for Rookie of the Year consideration.

Sure, attention should focus on such National League rookie standouts as Willy Taveras, Ryan Howard, Jeff Francoeur, Garrett Atkins and Clint Barmes, as well as American Leaguers Gustavo Chacin, Tadahito lguchi, Robinson Cano, Chris Young and Huston Street. Without doubt, they and others who performed at a high level over much of the 2005 season earned prime consideration for the highest honors open to rookies.

Yet it's also worth noting the unusual exploits and debuts of several players who arrived on the major league scene last season even if their over-all performance was limited. In some instances, the achievements were remarkable enough to earn at least a footnote in the record books or future mention in baseball anthologies.

And unlike the city of Rome, which the adage declares wasn't built in a day, obtaining a ticket to what passes for baseball immortality, a line in the record book or inclusion in an anecdotal history of the game, doesn't require the passage of much time.

Such a snippet of fame can be achieved almost instantaneously even by the rawest of rookies, as happened several times last season. Among newcomers who experienced debuts memorable for one reason or another were the Florida Marlins' Jeremy Hermida, the New York Mets' Mike Jacobs, the Chicago Cubs' Adam Greenberg, and the Washington Nationals' Rick Short.

Outfielder Hermida, just 21, barely had time enough to pull on his Marlins uniform on August 31 after being called up from the minor leagues before he did something no rookie had done for more than a century. Hermida became only the second player--as well as the first pinch hitter--to belt a grand slam in his first major league at-bat. It came against the St. Louis Cardinals' Al Reyes in the seventh inning, though the Marlins still lost the game 10-5. What Hermida did was something no rookie had done for 107 years, and that only one other time in the game's history.

Hermida now shares a note in the record book with pitcher William "Frosty Bill" Duggleby, whose slam for the Philadelphia Phillies came against the New York Giants on April 21, 1898. Duggleby hit only five more homers in a major league career that ended in 1907. One other rookie, Bobby Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, hit a grand slam in his first game, but not in his first at-bat in 1968.