On December 13, 2025, Luscious (Luke) Easter will be one of 13 inducted into the Puerto Rico (PR) Pro Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). Easter was born in Jonestown, Mississippi, on August 4, 1915, and passed away in Euclid, Ohio, on March 29, 1979. He died at age 63 after being shot by two gunmen after exiting a bank. (Easter cashed payroll checks for TRW employees, but on that particular day, he opted not to have a police escort.) Easter qualified for his 2025 induction by virtue of playing three PR seasons—the minimum number required for imports—Stateside or Cuban ballplayers. Five of the 13 inductees were imports (Easter, Billy Byrd, Cuban Fernando Díaz Pedroso, Roy Partlow, and Roger Freed).

Easter mainly played LF for the 1948 Homestead Grays, winners of the last Negro Leagues World Series, over the Birmingham Black Barons, featuring CF Willie Mays, SS Artie Wilson, 1B Alonzo Perry, and others. The Grays OF was Easter-Luis “Canena” Márquez (CF) and Bob Thurman (RF). Wilmer Fields played 3B and pitched. Buck Leonard played first before retiring after the 1948 World Series.

Easter’s 1948-49 PRWL Debut

Cefo Conde, a reliever for the Mayagüez Indios, was dispatched to Venezuela by Indios owner Alfonso Valdés to recruit Easter. Indios catcher Luis “King Kong” Villodas recruited Wilmer Fields and Johnny “El Gaucho” Davis; Artie Wilson, Indios player-manager in 1948-49, brought Alonzo Perry to PR. Each PR Winter League (PRWL) club could have up to 5 imports. Thirty-three-year-old Easter, 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, with two years of pro baseball experience, emerged as PRWL MVP, with a .402 BA, 27 doubles, nine triples, 14 HR, 80 RBI, and a .751 SLG. Valdés opined that Easter was a better hitter than Willard Brown, who had clouted 27 HR for Santurce in a 60-game 1947-48 PRWL season. Table I reflects the 1948-49 regular season standings.

Table I: PRWL Regular Season Standings, 1948-49

Sources: Jorge Colón Delgado and José A. Crescioni Benítez.

Easter batted .400 (10/25) in the first Caribbean Series, February 20-25, 1949, hosted by Havana, Cuba. Undefeated Almendares (6-0) won it. Mayagüez finished 1-5.

Two More PRWL Seasons

He led the 1955-56 loop with 17 HR, seven with the San Juan Senators in 70 AB, 10 with Ponce, in 121 AB. (He was traded to Ponce for RHP Dick Brodowski.) Easter—at 40—became, and still is, the oldest player to lead the PRWL in HR. In 1956-57, he was a Caguas Criollos teammate of Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Tom Lasorda, and CF Jim Landis—a future 5x AL Gold Glove winner. “Luke’s suggestions and hints were helpful to me,” recalled Landis. Easter’s PRWL stats comprise Table II.

Table II: Luke Easter’s PRWL Hitting Stats

MAY=Mayagüez; SJ=San Juan; PON=Ponce; CAG=Caguas. Source: https://beisbol101.com/jugador/luscious-easter/

What IF

Easter slugged one HR per every 15.4 PRWL AB, versus Willard Brown’s one HR per 19.2 AB (1940 AB/101 HR in 10 campaigns). Hypothetically, Easter may have hit 114 PRWL HR in nine seasons, or 127 in 10 seasons. Bob Thurman’s 120 HR is the all-time PRWL mark in 12 seasons and 2978 AB. Had Easter started playing in the PRWL at a younger age, and lasted 10 seasons, 127 HR in 1950 AB is his hypothetical possibility, based on just three seasons.

Post Script

Arturo López was age 11 and living in Mayagüez when he idolized Easter, Johnny Davis, Artie Wilson, Wilmer Fields, and Alonzo Perry. “They were instrumental in my career as a major-league player. I once played hooky from school for at least two weeks to await the team’s 10 a.m. practices and sit in the stands [alone]; follow them upon completion to a local restaurant which they frequented to have breakfast (or lunch) while I stood outside gawking at them and dreaming that someday, I, too, would become a player for the Indios de Mayagüez.”

Carlos Manuel Santiago, Mayagüez’s 1948-49 second baseman, opined that Easter was “a super guy and a great teammate.” Mayagüez teammates Carlos Bernier, Cefo Conde,  Johnny Davis, Carlos Manuel Santiago, King Kong Villodas, and Artie Wilson preceded Easter into the PR Professional Baseball HOF.

Thanks and appreciation to Jim Landis, Arturo López, and Carlos Manuel Santiago. Jorge Colón Delgado did the editing and photo placements.