Born in Long Beach, California, Ashby attended San Pedro High School in Los Angeles where he was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the third round of the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft. After spending four seasons in the minor leagues, he made his major league debut with the Indians on July 3, 1973. In his first game, Ashby was a defensive replacement in the ninth inning, as he caught Jerry Johnson for a scoreless inning as the Indians lost 5-4 against the Detroit Tigers. The next day, on July 4, Ashby was in the starting lineup, going 1 for 4 with an RBI in Cleveland\'s 5-2 win over the Tigers. Ashby collected his first career hit off of Tigers pitcher Mike Strahler in his first career at-bat. On September 29, Ashby hit his first career home run, hitting a two-run home run off of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar. Ashby finished the 1973 season appearing in 11 games with Cleveland, batting .172 with 1 HR and 2 RBI.\n', '

Ashby would play in only 10 games with the Indians in 1974, hitting .143 with no home runs or RBI, however, in 1975, Ashby would share the Indians catching duties with John Ellis, appearing in 90 games, hitting .224 with 5 HR and 32 RBI. In 1976, Ashby shared playing time with Ray Fosse, and in 89 games, improved his batting average to .239 with 4 HR and 32 RBI. On November 5, 1976, the Indians traded Ashby and Doug Howard to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Al Fitzmorris.\n', '

Ashby saw the majority of time catching the Toronto Blue Jays during the 1977 season, as he appeared in 124 games, batting .210 with 2 HR and 29 RBI. Ashby was second in the American League catching 59 base stealers, and his caught stealing percentage of 48% ranked fourth in the league.\n', '

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