On April 22, pinch-hitting in the seventh inning, Jacob May snapped an 0-for-26 start to his career with a single up the middle. In a dull, 7-0 loss to Cleveland, it was a clear highlight, with the entire crowd breaking into applause with the White Sox dugout, as everyone acknowledged a significant and obvious career milestone.

That got me curious about whether there was a similar experience for pitchers, such as their first strikeout. To begin a survey of all the pitchers in the White Sox clubhouse over the last few weeks, I figured I’d start with the longest tenured guy on the team to test the waters.

“I remember who my first strikeout was, I don’t know about everybody else,” Nate Jones said. “Obviously it’s a special moment because you’re a rookie and that’s your first big moment in your career.”

Jones correctly recalled striking out Josh Hamilton in his first career appearance in April 2012, ending a scoreless inning after starting his career off with back-to-back walks.

“It’s a pretty surreal moment,” Jones said. “I gave that ball to my dad. The MLB authenticators, they authenticated a couple balls and obviously my first strikeout was one of them.”

“It’s your first, you’re always going to remember that,” said Derek Holland, who read off the date of April 20, 2009 like it was his social security number. He recalled that he got Aaron Hill to chase a slider while coming on in relief.

“My adrenaline was going, because I think it was the ninth inning,” he said.

It was the eighth, but Holland pitched into the ninth, and held down the Blue Jays as the Rangers rallied from four down to tie the game and forces extras.

“My parents got [the ball],” he said. “It’s in the house…well, it’s in Dallas now. But it was in my parents’ house in the little drawer we had.”

In some instances it’s a memorable enough moment for players on the other end to take note. Miguel Gonzalez remembered getting called up for Baltimore on May 28, 2012, and pitching the next day in relief as Jake Arrieta got chased from an outing against Toronto. Gonzalez said he blew a four-seam fastball up and by catcher J.P. Arencibia, who became his teammate soon afterward.

“He came up to me and actually congratulated me when I saw him when he was with the Orioles,” Gonzalez said. “He came to us and gave me a hug.”

It helps to remember if the first batter was a significant figure in the pitcher’s career.

“First start, second hitter, which was Hanley Ramirez back against the Marlins,” Mike Pelfrey said about his July 8, 2006 debut in a 17-3 Mets win over the Marlins. “Remember getting 1-2 and I threw an, almost like a slurve at the time. It was a curve but it was kind of harder. He kind of check-swung and they rung him up.”

That’s not the only first Pelfrey had with Ramirez.

“I always remember Hanley because four starts later it was against the Marlins too and I gave up my first home to Hanley too,” Pelfrey said. “He always kind’ve stuck out in my head.”

Over 10 years later, Pelfrey has the recall but not the memorabilia.

“When I was younger I didn’t value a lot of that stuff,” Pelfrey said. “Obviously as you get older you think ‘Man, I wish I would’ve kept that ball.’ Because I know they probably gave it to me or threw it off. First win, they would give me the ball and I didn’t keep it. I kind’ve maybe regret that as I get older, but I don’t have it.”

James Shields’ first career strikeout came at the expense of former Atlanta Braves catcher Javier Lopez. (Patrick Gorski/USA TODAY Sports)

Pelfrey’s 2006 debut buddy, James Shields, says he has his first strikeout ball “in the old man room” in his home, but has a harder time recalling the specifics.

“Dude, like, honestly my first game is kind of a blur,” Shields said. “I was so pumped up, I’ve kind of forgot about a lot of the emotional rollercoaster I went through during the game.”

Shields say his first strikeout came on a changeup, but it might be because that was his finishing pitch for nearly everybody back then. The actual batter he retired is even more of a blast from the past.

“Do you know who Javier Lopez is?” Shields said.

The Braves catcher from the 1990s?

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I am that old. You’re right. To be able to strike out a guy like Javier Lopez for your first strikeout is pretty special. Especially when you’re watching the Braves go through what they did in the ’90s, winning championships, going to the playoffs so many times in a row. It was pretty special.”

David Robertson remembers he was in Shea Stadium for a Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees in his 2008 debut. He remembers the absurdly large crowd (56,277) and even how long the at-bat went against Mets starter Oliver Perez.

“Threw him everything I had,” Robertson said. “I think I threw him nine pitches.”

He just remembers pitching the seventh and eighth, but he actually pitched the sixth and seventh. He doesn’t think he has the ball, however.

Tommy Kahnle couldn’t quite seem to remember the situation when he entered during his debut on April 3, 2014.

“I came on with a runner on first I think?” Kahnle said. “There was a runner on, I can’t remember exactly what the situation was. I think it was runners on with one out and I ended up striking him out with a fastball up and in.”

There was a runner on third, which made it all the more critical that Kahnle struck out pinch-hitter Reed Johnson before getting an inning-ending groundout.

“I wasn’t thinking about my first strikeout,” Kahnle said. “It was my debut and everything. I was just trying to get out of there without any runs.”

Jose Quintana is probably the strangest case. I talked to him while he was sitting in the clubhouse at Progressive Field, where he made his major league debut on May 7, 2012, in relief of Phil Humber. He remembers his excitement, he remembers throwing 5 2/3 innings, he remembers coming in with the Sox already down 7-1, and countless other details spot on.

“I remember it was a fastball high. It went through my mind like new memories, you know,” he said. “I remember like yesterday my first pitch against Johnny Damon. It was awesome.”

He thought his first strikeout came against Mark Reynolds, who wouldn’t join Cleveland’s roster until the next season. He actually struck out Shin-Soo Choo with the first of countless high fastball putaway pitches. Memory is a funny thing.

“With the right mix, I like fastballs,” Quintana said. “Especially when you have breaking-ball command. I like that pitch as a putaway a lot.”

David Holmberg just didn’t remember. Here’s what happened: he caught former Cubs catcher Welington Castillo looking in his first start with the Reds in 2014.

“Blacked it out,” Holmberg said, joking.

He did remember his first win, however.

“September of 2014 in Milwaukee,” Holmberg said. “Started out the game with a walk and didn’t really feel that great. Throughout the game I got through six innings and we had a lead and held the lead and got a win.”

He actually mixed in a walk with two hit batters, but got a double play ball and escaped the first inning scoreless. As he watched the bullpen nail it down, Holmberg said he didn’t feel any anxiety.

“I think I was more excited,” Holmberg said. “I was hoping to get it and we had Chapman closing so it was pretty much a lock.”

Chapman actually saved his second career win. Hey, he said he didn’t remember.

Jake Petricka’s first career outing was thrilling, but it didn’t include his first strikeout. He entered in the 11th inning of a tie game on Aug. 22, 2013 vs. Kansas City and picked up his first career win after Conor Gillaspie homered in the top of the 12th and Addison Reed picked up the save.

“So that one really stood out and when I came in the second time it was a little easier,” Petricka said, remembering all of the details of his first game perfectly. “When the strikeout happened, it felt like just another game. I know it was at home. Milwaukee?”

Houston, against Jose Altuve.

“Shows how much I remember.”

Some pitchers, like Zach Putnam, would rather not remember their first outings for various reasons (see: home runs). (Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports)

Trauma usually functions as a good mnemonic as well. Zach Putnam remembers striking out Mitch Moreland on Sept. 13, 2011 because it came after allowing a hit to his first three career batters, including a home run to Adrian Beltre to introduce him to the big leagues.

“I probably didn’t get a chance to enjoy it as much as some guys did,” said Putnam, who added that deciding to challenge Beltre with a fastball on the eighth pitch of the at-bat was “a mistake.”

“After giving up a long homer to the first guy you face, the feelings that come from that are…there’s a mix of stuff going on,” he said. “The feeling was almost one of relief. Kind of proving on a very small scale to myself that I can do this.”

Putnam isn’t exactly certain, but he believes he threw a splitter.

“I have the ball,” he said. “The Indians did a nice job, they had it painted up and doctored up with ‘first strikeout’ and the date. I think I gave it to my dad, I don’t trust myself with that kind of stuff.”

Chris Beck saw the first pitch of his first major league start on May 28, 2015 banged into the corner for a Manny Machado triple, and allowed two runs in the first inning before he caught Steve Clevenger looking to end the inning. He was relieved enough that he didn’t have time to freak out about what happened next.

“Funny story is [Geovany Soto] actually threw the ball into the stands,” he said. “Luckily the fan dropped it back into our dugout. They just didn’t catch it. Luckily they were both clumsy enough, they kind of fidgeted around with their hands over the dugout and we got it situated.”

Beck doesn’t think it’s at risk anymore.

“In a case, in my house now,” Beck said of the ball. “I thought we lost it in a couple moving incidents, but it’s safe and sound at home.”

Gregory Infante tried not to get stuck focusing on his first strikeout too much back in September 2010.

“Of course, I remember my first strikeout in the big leagues,” Infante said, through team interpreter Billy Russo. “It was in Detroit, I threw a curveball to Ryan Raburn and he swing and missed. I didn’t really care about it in that moment because I was focusing on the game and I knew that I will get more in my career.”

As a result, his first strikeout ball had a very uncertain fate.

“Ozzie Guillen took the ball,” Infante said. “I don’t have the ball”

The key is to radically overcompensate like Michael Ynoa.

“I kept like five or six balls,” Ynoa said about his debut last June against Detroit. “[Ian] Kinsler was the first batter I struck out. I was a little nervous before or anxious before I got my first strikeout. But once I got the first one, all the hesitation went out of me. I felt like myself. I felt relief.”

Tyler Danish wasn’t making his major league debut on May 27 this year, but got his first start and major league win, so he got to take home a collection of balls, including the one he used to freeze Tyler Collins.

“I mean you dream as a kid to pitch in the big leagues,” Danish said. “To get my first win in my first career start was special. I’m glad my mom was here, I’m glad she got to enjoy that. It was a very special day, something I’ll always remember.”

Dan Jennings had to wait until his second call-up and third appearance to pick up his first strikeout in a game that feels like a time capsule from a decade ago; a May 25, 2012 Giants-Marlins showdown started by Tim Lincecum and Josh Johnson, in which Jennings struck out Aubrey Huff.

“I threw him a breaking ball, I think in the dirt,” Jennings said. “It was good. It was memorable. Everyone should remember their first strikeout. It wasn’t my first outing, it was like my third outing, so I don’t think anyone was paying attention as closely as I was, obviously. Fortunately the catcher knew and threw the ball out, so I got to keep the ball.”

Anthony Swarzak isn’t the oldest pitcher on the staff, nor was his May 23, 2009 debut first, but he earns the distinction of striking out a retired player in a stadium that was demolished.

“It was my debut,” Swarzak said. “Started. Twins vs. Brewers in the Metrodome. Long time ago, stadium doesn’t even exist anymore. I struck out Prince Fielder.”

Swarzak spun seven shutout innings and got his first win, so he collected numerous different first balls, but had a special reason to be excited about taking down Fielder with a fastball looking.

“I had played against him before in high school,” Swarzak said. “Finally a few years later faced him in the big leagues, he’s already off to a great career by that point, to strike out someone you knew from across the field, it was pretty special.”

(Top photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)