Don Eaddy
From BR Bullpen
Donald Johnson Eaddy
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.
- School University of Michigan
- Debut April 24, 1959
- Final Game September 25, 1959
- Born February 16, 1934 in Grand Rapids, MI USA
- Died July 8, 2008 in New Hampshire USA
[edit] Biographical Information
" . . . a sure major league prospect" - Freddie Lindstrom, at the time baseball coach at Northwestern University, about Don Eaddy of the University of Michigan
Don Eaddy, who had a brief major league career, was a big college star and played for years in the minors and in the Caribbean.
He appeared in 15 games for the 1959 Chicago Cubs. He appeared as a pinch runner 14 times, scoring 3 runs. He played one game in the field, at third base on August 1, 1959 against the Cincinnati Redlegs. He replaced Art Schult in the bottom of the 5th inning. He committed an error in the bottom of the 6th on a Roy McMillan ground ball that scored Jerry Lynch. He then batted against Bob Purkey in the top of the 7th and struck out.
He attended Ottawa Hills High School.
In 1996 he was inducted into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame.
In the book I Will Never Forget: Interviews with 39 Former Negro League Players, Paul Casanova recalls that he and Don Eaddy were the only two black players on a team at one point, and upon arriving in Austin were not allowed to stay at a hotel because they were black.
The site Leg Men describes Don Eaddy's life. He was a three sport star at the University of Michigan and helped the baseball team to a national championship in 1953. He started in the minors with Des Moines, and also spent some time in the III League, the Eastern League, at Fort Worth and at Salt Lake City. He served in the Air Force in 1956-58. In Cuba one winter, he helped Cienfuegos win the Caribbean Series. In 1963 he had hepatitis but in the winter played in Nicaragua. After his baseball days he was a Burger King franchisee.
