Search
A Happy Luke Easter
It's Eastertime, but back in the 1950s when people in Cleveland said that they had something entirely different in mind. I never met Luke Easter, but he is one of my first "favorite baseball players." In 1954 I was six years old, and I was old enough to carry my own nickel in the pocket of my own blue jeans and make my way down to Burdo's Market on Johnson Avenue. My first hobby, which became my first passion, was collecting baseball cards, and one of the first baseball cards I ever purchased with my own nickel was a 1954 Topps card of Luke Easter.
To this day I can still remember opening up the five-cent pack of baseball cards, and there, right on top of the stack of five 1954 Topps cards, was Luke Easter. His big brown face was staring at me and he had a big smile on his face. The background of the card was a bright yellow and in the top left corner was the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo logo. I just loved that card for some reason, and I became an immediate Luke Easter fan, even though the only time in Plattsburgh we ever heard about the Cleveland Indians was when they played the New York Yankees. Then we could listen to the radio and hear Mel Allen give the play-by-play.
I never saw Luke Easter play one game on television and, of course, I never met him. But I adopted him as my own. I recall the back of that '54 Topps card said, "Luke was one of the country's best softball players." He never played baseball until 1946 and three years later he was in the major leagues. What's odd is that Easter's baseball card notes that he was born in 1921. So that would make him 28 when he made the big leagues. However, he had been cheating about his age, and later sources list his birth year correctly at 1915, making him 34 years old in his rookie season. Easter had three big seasons with the Indians, 1950-1952, when he homered 28, 27 and 31 times. "Easter time" for Cleveland Indians' fans was when the big first baseman strode towards the batter's box.
As things turned out, 1954 was Easter's final year in the big leagues, but he hung around baseball into his Forties, playing minor league baseball. I remember reading about him in The Sporting News newspaper, and checking his stats each week. He played in Buffalo and then in Rochester, and was always a fan favorite. And he kept hitting those home runs.
He was a big guy, standing nearly 6' 5" and weighing at least 240 pounds, and he was one of my first baseball card heroes. As time moved on and he retired I sort of forgot about Luke Easter. He never joined the Indians' broadcast team and I never heard of him attending any Old Timers' Games. But I also kept that 1954 Topps Luke Easter baseball card, sometimes putting it on display in my home as a conversation piece.
Through the Seventies I never thought much about Luke Easter. That is, not until I heard what happened to him on March 29, 1979. On that day, while working for a company in a Cleveland suburb, Easter cashed $5000 worth of payroll checks for the company. Once outside, he was approached by two men, who shot and killed him and took the money. A tragic ending for a baseball card hero. Luke Easter never knew about that kid on Johnson Avenue in Plattsburgh and how that kid always saved his baseball card.
And tonight when the Easter bunny goes hippity-hopping all around the North Country, I'm not planning on him visiting me. He's got plenty of good girls and boys to visit and leave those chocolate bunnies and marshmallowy Peeps! But I'll leave my front door unlocked -- just in case the Easter bunny wants to leave me a pack of 1954 baseball cards!
Comments
Mr Gagnon. Thanks for writing such a fine article about my favorite player Luke Easter. I am from Toronto Canada, and many a time in my youth I was at Maple Leaf Stadium to watch Luke hit one out to win the game. I saw him play many times with the Rochester Red Wings, and the Buffalo Bisons and although he did not play for my team I always rooted for him. You kind of knew you were part of a legend. In 1959, his next to last year, I understand he was already 51 years of age and still hit 25 dingers. Nothing like that since Satchel Paige. I will never forget him and I still cherish an autographed baseball from the entire 59 Rochester team Including Luke's. He deserved a much better fate. With Thanks Philip
(Foxy's note: Philip, thanks for your kind words about my blog, and thanks for sharing your memories of Luke Easter.)
Posted by: philip james | January 21, 2007 9:52 PM
Luke was my favorite player growing up in Buffalo....Man, I can still see him walking up to home plate getting ready to hit...I still have his picture on the wall in my family room....Thanks for the memory
Posted by: Mark | June 14, 2006 5:43 PM