When his parents divorced he moved out to California with his father & he then attended Long Beach State University. There he got drafted by the local California Angels way down in the 30th round in 1988.
By 1992 he hit .289 at AAA Edmonton in the Pacific Coast League getting the call up to the Angels team. He was a utility infielder for the Angels from 1992-1996 hitting a best .313 in 73 games in 1993. In 1994 he struggled batting just .214 in 88 games.
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In Detroit he became the Tigers regular second baseman. He also played short stop stop, third base & DH in his time there. He turned his career around, with three 20 plus HR seasons, & three 30 plus doubles seasons.
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In 1998 he had his best year making the All Star team & even participated in the HR derby. He had career highs in hits (166) HRs (27) RBIs (100) & doubles (38). He would spend six seasons in Detroit averaging around a .255 batting average. In 2000 he led all AL second baseman in fielding after coming in second the two previous years.
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Mets Career: In 2007 he signed on with the New York Mets as a free agent. He certainly proved to be a pleasant surprise, giving it 100% everyday in a Mets uniform.
On the field he was the ultimate all around player, playing every position except catcher in his two seasons in New York.
Easley debuted as a Met on April 9th as a pinch hitter gong 0-1. On April 24th he hit a HR in the bottom of the 11th inning tying a game against the Colorado Rockies. The Mets went on to win it 2-1.
On May 13th he had three hits with another HR & four RBIs in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Shea Stadium. On August 2nd he became the 24th Met in history to hit an inside the park HR. It came in the top of the 6th inning in a game against the Brewers in Milwaukee of pitcher Cris Capuano.
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Overall for 2007 he batted .280 in 76 games, hitting 10 HRs with 6 doubles 26 RBIs, 24 runs scored 24 runs & a .358 on base % in just 193 at bats.
He got more playing time in 2008 batting .266 with 6 HRs 10 doubles 44 RBIs & a .322 on base % in 113 games.
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That month he was seeing steady playing time due to all the Mets injuries. On August 12th he was hit by apitch in the top of the 8th inning with the bases loaded. David Wright scored from third base with the games winning run to beat the Washington Nationals.
The next night Easley drove in two more runs & had two more multi RBI games that month. On top of his hard play, Easley was an all around good guy and got the job done quietly. He wasn’t resigned for 2009 & retired at the end of the year.
In seventeen MLB seasons Easley batted .253 with 1386 hits, 163 HRs, 287 doubles, 735 runs scored, posted a .329 on base % & had 684 RBIs in 1706 games played. He is 36th All Time getting hit by pitches with 132 & was in the league’s top ten in that category six times.
Humor: On a funny note Easley shows a striking resemblance to Popeye’s cartoon pet dog- Jeep.(without the nose)
Retirement: Since his retirement, Easley has coached in the San Diego Padre organization.
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