WASHINGTON -- Growing up as childhood friends in the Bahamas, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Lucius Fox talked about one day reaching the majors together.
On Wednesday night, they shared a ballfield as starters in the big leagues -- Chisholm at second base for the Miami Marlins, Fox at shortstop for the Washington Nationals. They are the first pair of Bahamas-born players to appear in the same Major League Baseball game since 1961.
"It was a super important day for me," Chisholm said after Miami's 2-1 victory over Washington.
"I just can't wait to see what we have in the future," he said.
Chisholm, who reached the big leagues in 2020, led off the game with a single and ended up going 2-for-3. Fox, a rookie, was 0-for-4 and is still searching for his first hit in the majors.
"I was really pulling for him to get his first hit -- and then throw him out at second base," Chisholm said with a smile. "Like, 'Hey! Great hit! And now you've got to go back.'"
Both players are 24 years old and from Nassau, Bahamas. The country has a population of about 400,000, and nine Bahamian-born players have played in the majors.
According to the Nationals, who cited the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other pair of Bahamians to play in the same game were Andre Rodgers and Tony Curry, who faced each other six times during the 1960 and 1961 seasons.
"If not the whole, a lot of the Bahamas was watching tonight," Fox said. "Hopefully, we were able to inspire some kids to play baseball and just inspire people to take that leap. The world has a lot to offer, and you can't be afraid to take chances and bet on yourself. So hopefully we inspired people in the Bahamas to do that tonight."
Chisholm said the two have known each other since they were 3 or 4 years old, played in little league together and lived together for a few years in their early teens. They host an annual baseball youth clinic back home.
On Tuesday, after Fox sat out the opening game of the Miami-Washington series, the two pals met for a meal and a chance to catch up.
Chisholm figures they'll swap jerseys on Thursday.
"We made history tonight," he said, "so why not?"