NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 MIKE EASLER

Years before he became the “Hit Man”, and years before he eventually even got his first Topps card in 1978, here’s Mike Easler and a “not so missing” 1975 card with the team that drafter him and brought him up for his first taste of the Big Leagues, the Houston Astros:

Easler appeared in only 15 games for the Astros in 1974, collecting one hit over 15 at-bats as a pinch hitter ironically enough, this after appearing in the first six games of his career the previous year.
It would be a slow process for Easler to really break though, not getting any substantial playing time until the 1980 season playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, now 29 years of age.
However, he’d do alright over the next seven seasons, having some really good years with the Pirates, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees before retiring after the 1987 season.
By the time he did retire, he finished with a lifetime .293 batting average, with 118 homers and 522 runs batted in over 1151 games and 3677 at-bats.
It’s amazing to realize that of his 14 seasons as a Big League player, he only had four in which he even had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.