Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former major league baseball first baseman who played with the new york yankees”. Today it says “american former professional baseball player and minor league manager”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23 , 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia ), nicknamed "Boomer", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played with the New York Yankees (1969, 1971-76) and Chicago White Sox (1978).1 He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. A perennial prospect for most of his career, Blomberg was selected by the Yankees in the first round (1st pick) of the 1967 amateur draft. He debuted on September 10 , 1969 . Unfortunately, Blomberg disappointed the Yankees' great expectations for him. He was a notoriously injury-prone player. After going 3-for-6 in his first season, Blomberg was out in 1970. Things were not much better in the years to come. He played 107 games in 1972, 100 in 1973, 90 in 1974, 34 in 1975, and only one in 1976. Out in 1977, he was granted free agency at the end of the season. He played his final game for the White Sox on October 1 , 1978 . Blomberg's place in baseball history, however, is assured, as he has the distinction of being the first major leaguer to play a game as a designated hitter . On April 6 , 1973 at Fenway Park , he was walked by Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance of the game. In his eight-season career, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1333) with 52 home runs , 224 RBI , 184 runs , 67 doubles , eight triples , and six stolen bases in 461 games.2He added a .360 on base percentage and a .473 slugging average , for a combined .833 OPS .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16801914.
The opening as it stood in 2010 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Baseball player Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948, in Atlanta, Georgia ), nicknamed Boomer , is a former Major League Baseball designated hitter , first baseman , and right fielder .Along with being the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history, he played for the New York Yankees (1969, 1971–76) and Chicago White Sox (1978), and he was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League (2007). He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed. In his 8-season career, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1,333) with 52 home runs , 224 RBIs , 184 runs , 67 doubles , and 8 triples in 461 games. He added a .360 on base percentage and a .473 slugging average .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 365900181.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Baseball player Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948, in Atlanta, Georgia ), nicknamed Boomer , is a former Major League Baseball designated hitter , first baseman and right fielder . He played for the New York Yankees (1969, 1971–76) and Chicago White Sox (1978), and was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League (2007). He was the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history. He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed. Over eight seasons, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1,333) with 52 home runs , 224 RBIs , 184 runs , 67 doubles , and 8 triples in 461 games. He added a .360 on-base percentage and a .473 slugging average .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 666655408.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Baseball player Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed Boomer , is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager .He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter , first baseman and right fielder . He played for the New York Yankees (1969, 1971–76) and Chicago White Sox (1978), and was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League (2007). He was the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history. He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed. Over eight seasons, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1,333) with 52 home runs , 224 RBIs , 184 runs , 67 doubles , and 8 triples in 461 games. He added a .360 on-base percentage and a .473 slugging average .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 959909909.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American baseball player Baseball player Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed "Boomer" , is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager . He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter , first baseman , and right fielder . He played for the New York Yankees (1969, 1971–1976) and Chicago White Sox (1978), and was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League (2007). He was the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history. He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed. Over eight seasons, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1,333) with 52 home runs , 224 RBIs , 184 runs , 67 doubles , and 8 triples in 461 games. He added a .360 on-base percentage and a .473 slugging average .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175539538.
The opening as it stood in 2025
American baseball player (born 1948) Baseball player Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed " Boomer ", is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager . He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter , first baseman , and right fielder . He played for the New York Yankees (1969, 1971–1976) and Chicago White Sox (1978), and was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League (2007). He was the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history. He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed. Over eight seasons, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1,333) with 52 home runs , 224 RBIs , 184 runs , 67 doubles , and 8 triples in 461 games. He added a .360 on-base percentage and a .473 slugging average .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1298341019. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former major league baseball first baseman who played with the new york yankees”. Today it says “american former professional baseball player and minor league manager”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
former major league baseball first baseman who played with the new york yankees
Now
american former professional baseball player and minor league manager
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
