An early round selection of the Houston Astros in the 1969 amateur players draft after a stellar baseball career at Benedictine High, Mike Easler trod the border line of a major league career for 10 long years before finally locking down a big league berth with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1979 World Championship team as a pinch hitter. After hitting a career high .338 with 21 home runs in 1980, he found himself realizing a dream by playing before his family in the 1981 All-Star Game at Municipal Stadium. By the time he ended his playing career after the 1987 season he had established himself as one of the game’s most respected hitters with a .293 career average over 1,151 games played with six teams—the Astros,  Angels, Pirates, Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies—over a 14 year span. Among his career highlights: hitting for the cycle as a Pirate in 1980 in a 10-6 win over the Reds; finishing in the American League’s Top 10 in hitting (.313), hits (188) and slugging percentage with the Red Sox in 1984; and notching an eighth inning single as a Yankee for the only hit off the Indians’ Tom Candiotti in a 1987 contest. He later served as batting coach for the Red Sox and Cardinals and at the time of his induction was with the Cincinnati Reds organization for which he has served in several managing and coaching positions both in the United States and Latin America. He makes his home in Las Vegas.