Mark Gerald Esser (born April 1, 1956) is a former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He appeared in two games in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, one week apart, in for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. He was selected by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the 20th round of the

1975 MLB Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1975 Major League Baseball draft. Many baseball draft experts consider the 1975 draft to be the weakest in MLB history. Other notable selections ''*'' Did not sign N ...

out of Roy C. Ketcham High School in

Wappinger, New York Wappinger, officially the Town of Wappinger, is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The town is located in the Hudson River Valley region, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. The ...

and again by the

in the 8th round of the 1977 MLB Draft out of

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College S ...

. He was assigned to the

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the lo ...

to begin his professional career. Esser made his Major League debut on April 22, 1979 against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

Cleveland Stadium Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball an ...

. He pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief of

Francisco Barrios Francisco Javier Barrios Jiménez (June 10, 1953 – April 9, 1982) was a Mexican starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox. Career Barrios was acquired from the Jalisco Charros of the Mexican League for sho ...

. Seven days later, he pitched in the second and final Major League game of his career. Esser faced four Texas Rangers batters at

Comiskey Park Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Buil ...

and retired only one of them, allowing three

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

on one

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

and two walks. On August 2, 1982, he and

Bill Atkinson Bill Atkinson (born March 17, 1951) is an American computer engineer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990. Atkinson was the principal designer and developer of the graphical user interface (GUI) of the Apple ...

combined to throw a

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

for the

Glens Falls White Sox The Glens Falls Tigers (formerly the Glens Falls White Sox) were an Americans, American minor league baseball team from Glens Falls, New York that played in the Eastern League (1938–2020), Eastern League from 1980 until 1988, the team's ballpark ...

. It would be his final season in professional baseball.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esser, Mark Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago White Sox players Gulf Coast White Sox players Appleton Foxes players Iowa Oaks players Glens Falls White Sox players Miami Dade Sharks baseball players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Erie, Pennsylvania 1956 births Living people Roy C. Ketcham High School alumni