A high school All-American in baseball and football, the 6’4″ Egan signed for $100,000 with California, and was converted from third base to catcher as a 19-year-old rookie in 1965. Egan allowed five passed balls in one game (7/28/70), then an AL record, but none the rest of the year. Always a backup, he had some power, but struck out once every three at-bats. In 1971, Egan was featured in a national ad campaign for life insurance that never mentioned that he played baseball.
