Bill Laxton

Infobox MLB retired
name=Bill Laxton
position=Pitcher


bats=Left
throws=Left
birthdate=birth date and age|1948|1|5
city-state|Camden|New Jersey
debutdate=September 15
debutyear=by|1970
debutteam=Philadelphia Phillies
finaldate=September 19
finalyear=by|1977
finalteam=Cleveland Indians
stat1label=Win-Loss record
stat1value=3-10
stat2label=ERA
stat2value=4.73
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=189
teams=
*Philadelphia Phillies (1970)
*San Diego Padres (1971, 1974)
*Detroit Tigers (1976)
*Seattle Mariners (1977)
*Cleveland Indians (1977)

William Harry Laxton is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Laxton pitched in all or part of five seasons in the majors between by|1970 and by|1977.

Laxton was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 7th round of the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in December by|1967 along with Woodie Fryman and Don Money in exchange for future-Hall of Famer Jim Bunning. He made his major league debut for the Phillies on September 15, 1970, when he pitched an inning in relief against the Pittsburgh Pirates, ending the season with a total of two relief appearances. He was selected by the San Diego Padres in the rule 5 draft the next offseason, then pitched in parts of two seasons for them before being released, finishing with an 0-2 record in 18 relief appearances in the by|1971 season and an 0-1 record in 1974 in 30 appearances, all but one in relief. He signed with the New York Mets, who subsequently traded him to the Detroit Tigers along with Rusty Staub in exchange for Mickey Lolich and Billy Baldwin. He pitched in 26 games for the Tigers in the by|1976 season, three of them as a starter, ending the season with an 0-5 record. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/laxtobi01.shtml Bill Laxton] , BaseballReference.com. Accessed September 22, 2008.]

In by|1976, Laxton was drafted from the Tigers by the Seattle Mariners in the expansion draft. On April 8, 1977, Laxton earned his first career win as the winning pitcher in the Mariners' first ever win. [ [http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/history/club_firsts.jsp Mariners Firsts] , Seattle Mariners. Accessed September 22, 2008.] [Niehaus, Dave. [http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19990627&slug=2968864 "The Voice Of The M's Looks Back"] , "The Seattle Times", June 27, 1999. Accessed September 26, 2008. "Nobody knows who Bill Laxton is, unless you're a real Mariner fan. He was the first Mariner ever to win a ballgame here, Game 3 in 1977."] Laxton pitched the top of the ninth, and the Mariners scored two in the bottom of the inning for a come-from-behind, 7-6 win over the California Angels. [ [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1977/B04080SEA1977.htm Seattle Mariners 7, California Angels 6] , Retrosheet. Accessed September 26, 2008.] Before season's end, Laxton had been traded to the Cleveland Indians, and after the 1977 season would never pitch in the majors again.

References

ources