BALTIMORE -- At the risk of dating myself, I remember being a kid back in 1982, when outfielder Dan Ford went off on Opening Day. In his first game as a member of the Baltimore Orioles after being acquired in a trade with the Angels, "Disco Dan" went 3-for-5 with a homer and three ribbies. In three-plus decades since, it seems like whenever a relatively big name switches teams, they always seem to have a big first game.

Especially when it's in front of their home crowd.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe guys on new teams have bad first games just as often as they have good first games. Maybe it's like the supermarket, where everyone on the planet thinks that they ALWAYS pick the wrong checkout line, when the reality is probably that we just don't notice or remember it when we pick the right checkout line (which is probably, you know, half the time).

Then again, maybe it's not just me. Maybe there really is something to guys on new teams going off in their debuts. I've never run the numbers, so I don't know. But what I do know is that on Monday, in their first games with their new teams, the following players were dialed in:

-- Mark Trumbo (traded from Mariners to Orioles): 4-for-5

-- Daniel Murphy (signed as free agent with Nats): 2-for-3, with a double, homer and two walks

-- Denard Span (signed as free agent with Giants): 2-for-4, with a homer and five RBIs

-- Gerardo Parra (signed as free agent with Rockies): 3-for-5, with three doubles

That right there is a list of four of the biggest-name position players to change teams this offseason. Heck, let's throw in Dexter Fowler, too. Even though he didn't officially switch squads, it sure seemed like he did. (Remember the whole Orioles saga?) And all he did on Opening Day was go 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

So ... what gives? Is there really something to this phenomenon? Is there some psychological effect that takes hold of a player in a new setting that somehow renders him an immediate superhero?

"There's a lot of excitement," said Trumbo before Baltimore's Wednesday contest against the Twins. "Fair amount of nerves, too. Probably, that takes some of the thinking out of it. When you kind of have a lot going on, sometimes it can actually help you at the plate because you don't dwell on some of the things that can actually get you into those funks."

For what it's worth, Trumbo's something of an expert on the subject. In 2014, in his first home game in Arizona after getting dealt from the Angels to the Diamondbacks, he went 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in two. Last year, in his first game in Seattle after getting traded from the D-backs to the Mariners, he went 2-for-4. And then on Monday, in his first game as an Oriole at Camden Yards, he was 4-for-5.

"You have all those other things to think about. The fans are excited, you're excited, so you're not thinking about any of the mechanical-type things that can frustrate you -- where your hand position is, am I on time, am I chasing pitches, what's he gonna throw. It's very simplistic. You're up there, you're trying to focus the best you can. You just break down to its most basic form. You're not overthinking anything. See the ball and hit it."

So is Trumbo a believer in the Disco Dan Doctrine?

"I don't put too much stock in it," he said. "You'd like to have a good game. You'd like get a knock, too."

Or four.

"People might know you, but they don't know you as closely as they will down the road, so I think you wanna make a good first impression."

Even though Trumbo did -- make a good impression, that is -- O's fans weren't necessarily expecting four singles from their new cleanup hitter, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound slugger who's averaged 26 bombs a season over the past five years. In fact, it was the first time in his career that Trumbo had four singles in a game. Not that he minded one bit.

"I will never complain about singles. I won't complain about any type of base hit. It's hard enough to come by one sometimes. If you're able to get four, it's great. They just happened to go on the ground the other day."