John Easton (baseball)
baseball player
John David Easton (March 4, 1933 – July 28, 2001) was an American professional baseball player. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies after graduating from Princeton University and appeared in four Major League Baseball (MLB) games — one as a pinch runner in 1955 and three as a pinch hitter in 1959 — all for the Phillies. Easton went hitless in three at bats and failed to score a run as a baserunner. He threw and batted right-handed, standing 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighing 185 pounds (84 kg), during his playing days.
Easton graduated from Trenton Central High School and was a member of Princeton's Class of 1955. He also played varsity basketball for the Tigers and captained their baseball team.
Easton made his MLB debut only days after signing his first pro contract, pinch running for veteran catcher Andy Seminick in the second inning of the first game of a doubleheader, against the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field. Easton was not able to advance from second base when the Phils' rally was snuffed out by an inning-ending double play. However, Marv Blaylock, who had replaced Easton in the lineup, would score the only run of the game, thirteen innings later, as the Phillies won, 1–0.
Easton did not play in 1956 and much of 1957, serving in the United States Navy, but had an all-star year in 1958 for the Class A Williamsport Grays of the Eastern League, winning the batting title (.321), with 152 hits, including 35 doubles, ten triples, and 13 home runs.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Easton (baseball)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.