Johnny Bates (baseball)
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John William Bates (August 21, 1882 – February 10, 1949) was an American
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
. He played nine seasons in the majors from until . Bates played for the
Boston Beaneaters Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...
,
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
,
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
, and
Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...
in the
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
, and finished his career with the
Baltimore Terrapins The Baltimore Terrapins were one of the most successful teams in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from to , but their brief existence led to litigation that led to an important legal precedent in baseball. The team played ...
of the
Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...
. Bates
hit for the cycle 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 ...
in 1907.


Early life

Bates was born in
Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville ( ) is a city in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Ohio River west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Weirton–Steubenville m ...
. He entered professional baseball with the 1905 Sharon Steels, a new team in the Ohio-Pennsylvania League.


Career

Bates made his major league debut in April 1906 with the Boston Beaneaters. He hit a
home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...
in that first major league game, one of only six home runs he hit that season and one of 25 major league home runs in his career. He became a regular outfielder for Boston right away, playing 140 games that first season. On April 26, 1907, Bates
hit for the cycle 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 ...
at Washington Park in Brooklyn. He was the Boston leadoff hitter, but until that game he had gotten only 8 hits in 48 at bats in the 1907 season. He hit a
triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...
in the first at bat of the game, an infield single in the third inning, a
double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...
in the fifth inning, and a home run in the seventh inning. Boston beat Brooklyn 4-2. Bates was the third player in franchise history to hit for the cycle. In July 1909, Bates was hitting .288, much higher than his previous season batting averages, when Boston traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies in a multiplayer deal. He then hit .293 for the Phillies that year. Bates was involved in another multiplayer trade after 1910 season, this time to the Cincinnati Reds. He had one of his best seasons with the 1911 Reds. He hit .292 that year and, largely because his
walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...
total ballooned to 103, he had an on base percentage of .415. His last major league season was 1914, which he split between the Reds, the Chicago Cubs, and the Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League. In 1154 games, Bates recorded 1087 hits, 25 home runs and 417 RBI with a .278 batting average. From 1915 to 1918, Bates returned to the minor leagues, playing mostly in the
International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...
.


Later life

Bates was a glassworker after retiring from baseball, and then he became a deputy sheriff for
Jefferson County, Ohio Jefferson County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 65,249. Its county seat is Steubenville, Ohio, Steubenville. The county is List of Ohi ...
. His stepson, Robert Dobbie Bates, was the county sheriff there in the late 1930s and 1940s. In 1949, Bates had a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
while he was shoveling snow, and he died ten days later in his native Steubenville.


See also

*
List of Major League Baseball players with a home run in their first major league at bat In baseball, a home run is credited to a batter when they hit a fair ball and reach home safely on the same play, without the benefit of an error. 136 players have hit a home run in their first at bat of a Major League Baseball (MLB) game, the ...
*
List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle In baseball, completing hitting for the cycle, the cycle is the accomplishment of hit (baseball), hitting a single (baseball), single, a double (baseball), double, a triple (baseball), triple, and a home run in the same game. In terms of freque ...


References


External links

, o
Retrosheet
: {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Johnny 1882 births 1949 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Boston Beaneaters players Boston Doves players Cincinnati Reds players Philadelphia Phillies players Chicago Cubs players Baltimore Terrapins players 20th-century American sportsmen Richmond Climbers players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Baseball players from Steubenville, Ohio