Tom Egan

Tom Egan
Tom Egan
	Catcher
	Born: June 9, 1946 (age 78); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
	Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
	May 27, 1965, for the Los Angeles Angels
Last MLB appearance
	June 15, 1975, for the California Angels
MLB statistics
Batting average	.200
Home runs	22
Runs batted in	91
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
	Los Angeles / California Angels (1965–1970); Chicago White Sox (1971–1972); California Angels (1974–1975);

Thomas Patrick Egan (born June 9, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1965 through 1975 for the California Angels and the Chicago White Sox. On September 28, 1974, he caught Nolan Ryan's third no-hitter. Egan threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighed 218 pounds (99 kg).

Baseball career

Born in Los Angeles, he attended El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California,^[1] and signed to a $100,000 bonus contract^[2] by the Angels in 1964. He was just 18 years old when he made his Major League debut on May 27, 1965. Before a crowd of only 1,898 in Washington, D.C., he was the last batter of the Angels' game against the Washington Senators, representing the tying run as the Angels trailed 9–6 with two men on base. Egan struck out against Ron Kline to end the game.

After arguably his best season in 1970, he was traded along with Jay Johnstone and Tom Bradley from the Angels to the White Sox for Ken Berry, Syd O'Brien and Billy Wynne on November 30, 1970.^[3] He returned to the Angels three years later when he was selected from the Iowa Oaks in the Rule 5 draft on December 3, 1973.^[4] While he ended up with a mere .200 lifetime batting average, Egan's career highlight occurred in the final week of the 1974 season.

Given the assignment to catch Nolan Ryan, a future Hall of Famer, in a Sept. 24 game at Anaheim against the Minnesota Twins, he was behind the plate when Ryan nailed down the third no-hitter of his career. With two out in the ninth inning, Harmon Killebrew, another future Hall of Famer, came up for the Twins to pinch-hit. Ryan walked him, then fanned Eric Soderholm to end the game, Ryan's 15th strikeout of the day.

Egan would be released by the Angels in 1975 and his career came to an end.

References

^ Tom Egan, The Baseball Cube. Accessed September 19, 2007.
^ Newhan, Ross (2000), The Anaheim Angels: A Complete History.
^ "Center Fielders Are Exchanged," The New York Times, Tuesday, December 1, 1970. Retrieved March 10, 2020
^ Durso, Joseph. "4 Trades Made at Meetings," The New York Times, Tuesday, December 4, 1973. Retrieved January 26, 2023.

Career statistics from Baseball Reference

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[1] Tom Egan, The Baseball Cube. Accessed September 19, 2007.

[2] Newhan, Ross (2000), The Anaheim Angels: A Complete History.

[3] "Center Fielders Are Exchanged," The New York Times, Tuesday, December 1, 1970. Retrieved March 10, 2020

[4] Durso, Joseph. "4 Trades Made at Meetings," The New York Times, Tuesday, December 4, 1973. Retrieved January 26, 2023.

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