Gail Eason Hopkins (born February 19, 1943) is a former Major League Baseball player and coach. Before reaching the majors, he attended David Starr Jordan High School and then 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 helped Pepperdine qualify for the NCAA Playoffs in both 1962 and 1963 and returned to serve as Pepperdine's head coach for one season in 1968. Hopkins also played basketball at Pepperdine. 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 h