Gail Eason Hopkins is a former Major League Baseball player and coach.
Education
He recalls that part of why he chose Pepperdine was that he had gone to high school in southern California and wanted to stay in the area. He also wanted to study both religion and biology, and Pepperdine gave him the chance to do southern
Career
Before reaching the majors, he was a catcher at Pepperdine University, where he was named an All-American in 1963. He was primarily a first baseman and catcher in the majors, and was the first Pepperdine baseball player to play Major League Baseball. Hopkins also played basketball at Pepperdine.
In 2010, Gail became the second athlete from Pepperdine University to be inducted into the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor.
After playing for the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Canadian Baseball League in 1964, Hopkins signed a professional baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox organization. He played minor league baseball from 1965 to 1968 in the Florida State League, California State League, Caroline League, Southern League and Pacific Coast League.
He played in over 100 games each season between 1969 and 1971. Hopkins was known as a difficult batters to strike out having one of lowest strike out to at bats ratios in baseball during his playing career.
In 1976, he played in the Japanese All-Star game, batting.329 for the season.
In 1977, Gail played for the Nankai Hawks of the Pacific League, before retiring from professional baseball to pursue a full-time career in medicine. In Nolan Ryan"s first career no-hitter (May 15, 1973), Hopkins appeared as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 8th inning, and hit a bloop fly that Angels shortstop Rudy Meoli caught with a running catch. Ryan stated in his autobiography "Throwing Heat" that Hopkins" out was the closest he came to losing the no-hitter.
He went on to become a board certified orthopedic surgeon completing his residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois.
He engaged in the private practice of orthopedic surgery in Lodi, California (1986–1994), Hinsdale, Illinois (1994–2003) and Parkersburg, West Virginia (2004–2014). He has served on the Pepperdine University Board of Regents since 1986.
A 2001 story on Hopkins referred to him as a "thoughtful individual whose love for God forms the center of his life and whose strong convictions shape that life".
Membership
After his baseball career ended, he earned four graduate degrees: a Master"s in Religion at Pepperdine, a Master of Divinity from United Theological Seminary, a Doctorate in Biology at the Illinois Institute of Technology and an M. Doctorate. degree from Rush Medical College where he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.