Tom Egan

Thomas Patrick Egan (born June 9, 1946) is a retired professional baseball player who played all or parts of ten seasons for the Los Angeles/California Angels and Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball. On September 28, 1974, he caught Nolan Ryan's third no-hitter.

Tom Egan
Catcher
Born: (1946-06-09) June 9, 1946
Los Angeles, California
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 runs22
Runs bated in91
Teams
  • Los Angeles / California Angels (1965–1970)
  • Chicago White Sox (1971–1972)
  • California Angels (1974–1975)

Egan threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighed 218 pounds (99 kg). 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 by the Angels to the White Sox for Ken Berry, Syd O'Brien and Billy Wynne on November 30, 1970.[3] But he was reacquired by the Angels three seasons later, and 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
  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
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