Jacinto Damion Easley, who grew up in Mount Vernon, turns 44 on Monday.
Easley, born Nov. 11, 1969, in New York City, is a former Major League Baseball player who currently is executive director of the Warrior Baseball Academy. He also is an assistant coach for the Peoria Padres.
Easley played for the California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Mets.
On Sept. 6, 1996, Easley was the final out of the fifth inning, making Cal Ripken Jr.'s 2131st consecutive game official.
On Aug. 2, 2007, Easley became the 24th player in Mets' history to hit an inside the park home run (against the Milwaukee Brewers), during a 12-4 victory.
On Aug. 18, 2007, Easley suffered a high ankle sprain while advancing to second base on a wild pitch. This injury ended his 2007 baseball season, but he resumed play with the Mets in 2008.
At the time of his retirement, Easley had played the most regular season games (1,706) of any player (during the divisional playoff era, 1994–present) that had never played in the postseason. Randy Winn broke this record in 2010. (Ernie Banks, who played most of his career before the League Championship Series was introduced, holds the all-time record.)
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