John Mason (minors03)

John Eldridge Mason

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 175 lb.
• School Wiley College, Texas A&M University
• High School George Washington Carver High School (Greenville)

• Born November 13, 1939 in Greenville, TX USA

BR page

Biographical Information

IF/OF John Mason played in the minor leagues from 1959 to 1972.

He was first signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent before the 1959 season and first appeared with the San Angelo Pirates/Roswell Pirates of the Sophomore League. He then moved from the last-place team to the St. Louis Cardinals with which he spent the remainder of that year with the Wytheville Cardinals of the Appalachian League, hitting .335 in 43 games. Over the next two seasons, he made stops with the Keokuk Cardinals of the Western League, the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Northern League and the Lancaster Red Roses of the Eastern League, reaching AA. he continued to hit well, with an average of .308 in Keokuk and .301 in Winnipeg.

In 1962, he once again changed organizations during the season, moving to the Baltimore Orioles after starting the year with the Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides, a Cardinals affiliate in the South Atlantic League, where he hit just .146 in 17 games. The Orioles moved him down a couple of rungs to the Class C Northern League, where he hit .284 in 92 games for the Aberdeen Pheasants. He was with the Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League in 1963 and 1964, hitting .275 and .261 respectively, then spent three full seasons with the AAA Rochester Red Wings, knocking on the door of the major leagues but never being let in. He played 71, 131 and 125 games those three seasons, and batted .277, .298 and .254 respectively. His lack of home run power was a handicap, as he belted just 12 combined over the three seasons. In 1968, his hitting stroke deserted him, as he batted just .198 in 37 games for Rochester and found himself back in Elmira.

On December 4, 1968, he was part of a major league trade, being sent to the Houston Astros along with OF Curt Blefary in return for P Mike Cuellar and two minor leaguers, SS Enzo Hernandez and OF/IF Elijah Johnson. The trade was a big win for the Orioles, as Cuellar became a dominating pitcher in the American League while Blefary never regained the form that had made him the winner of the 1965 American League Rookie of the Year Award. Hernandez later emerged as a good fielding but poor hitting shortstop with the San Diego Padres, while Johnson and Mason, two very similar players although Johnson had more power, never could go past AAA. In Mason's case, he played the next four seasons in the American Association with the Oklahoma City 89ers, hitting for decent averages (.258, .286 and .292 from 1969 to 1971) but almost no power (6 homers over that same three-year span as a regular). In 1972, he started the year batting .237 in 29 games and was released, ending his career.