RIP. Gates Brown

[Smasher_Sloan]

Best remembered for overcoming adversity in his life to become a pinch hitting specialist for the Tigers in the 1960s and '70s.

http://www.freep.com/article/20130927/SPORTS02/309270102/gates-brown-dies-detroit-tigers

 

[dooley_womack1]

I used to have that card. I had read that he was at Comerica Park all the time as a good-will ambassador. Played with his brother Ike for a time.

 

[spikechiquet]

The Gator!

Pretty sure he pinch hit a few times with a hot dog in his back pocket (that he paid for himself...no freebies back in that day).

 

[Smallpotatoes]

The Gator!

Pretty sure he pinch hit a few times with a hot dog in his back pocket (that he paid for himself...no freebies back in that day).

I heard that story once myself. He had to slide on a play and ended up with his uniform pants covered in ketchup and mustard.

 

[SpeedTchr]

NOOOOOO!!! RIP Gates :(

 

[WolvEagle]

Terry Foster of The Detroit News wrote a nice column about Gates, including the hot dog story: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130927/SPORTS0104/309270110/Tigers-family-mourns-pinch-hitting-legend-Gates-Brown?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

He was a character among a team of characters, which was the team of my childhood.

He had been in poor health for several years. He was a great ambassador for the team, but at least he's not suffering anymore.

RIP, Gates.

 

[hondo]

The Gator!

Pretty sure he pinch hit a few times with a hot dog in his back pocket (that he paid for himself...no freebies back in that day).

I heard that story once myself. He had to slide on a play and ended up with his uniform pants covered in ketchup and mustard.

Jim Bouton broke that story in Ball Four.

 

[Steak Snabler]

The proliferation of the 12- and 13-man pitching staff has led directly to the death of the fat pinch-hitting specialist. Every team used to have a Gates Brown or a Smoky Burgess. Matt Stairs might have been the last of the breed.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Wow, so many pinch-hitting specialists from the 1960s through the 80s that had a nice little niche: Carl Warwick, Manny Mota, Vic Davalillo, Jerry Morales, Bombo Rivera, and Kranepool toward the end of his career, for that matter.

 

[Liut]

Wow, so many pinch-hitting specialists from the 1960s through the 80s that had a nice little niche: Carl Warwick, Manny Mota, Vic Davalillo, Jerry Morales, Bombo Rivera, and Kranepool toward the end of his career, for that matter.

Did you mean Jose Morales? My memories of him are mostly Montreal.

 

[Football_Bat]

Loved his barbecue.

 

[Drip]

RIP to a pinch hitting legend.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Wow, so many pinch-hitting specialists from the 1960s through the 80s that had a nice little niche: Carl Warwick, Manny Mota, Vic Davalillo, Jerry Morales, Bombo Rivera, and Kranepool toward the end of his career, for that matter.

Did you mean Jose Morales? My memories of him are mostly Montreal.

Blarf! Yeah, Jose Morales.

 

[old_tony]

Wow, so many pinch-hitting specialists from the 1960s through the 80s that had a nice little niche: Carl Warwick, Manny Mota, Vic Davalillo, Jerry Morales, Bombo Rivera, and Kranepool toward the end of his career, for that matter.

Rusty Staub.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Well, at times, tho he was a starter a lot more than the others. Maybe at the end with the Mets.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Kranepool also borrowed Chico's soap and never gave it back.

 

[mpcincal]

Well, at times, tho he was a starter a lot more than the others. Maybe at the end with the Mets.

Definitely at the end with the Mets. I remember an NBC Game of the Week where Joe Garagiola called him the National League's only DH.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Kranepool also borrowed Chico's soap and never gave it back.

I think they kept Kranepool around so he could pinch-hit for Escuela every game.

 

[old_tony]

Well, at times, tho he was a starter a lot more than the others. Maybe at the end with the Mets.

Yeah, I would agree with that. At the end, though, he was the prototypical pinch hitting specialist. Even though the National League still has pitchers bat, I wonder if the age of the great pinch hitters ended with the beginning of the DH. There still have been some great pinch hitters, but it's not nearly as appreciated.

 

[buckweaver]

Ahh, typical Baby Boomer nostalgia.

Of the top 10 pinch-hitters in MLB history, seven of them spent their entire careers in the DH era. And an eighth, Manny Mota, spent 9 of his 20 seasons in the DH era.

Five of the 10 (HALF!) started their careers after 1988, including the all-time pinch-hit leader, Lenny Harris.

Lenny Harris, 221 PH, 1988-2005
Mark Sweeney, 175 PH, 1995-2008
Manny Mota, 150 PH, 1962-82
Smoky Burgess, 145 PH, 1949-67
Greg Gross, 143 PH, 1973-89
Dave Hansen, 138 PH, 1990-2005
John Vander Wal, 129 PH, 1991-2004
Jose Morales, 123 PH, 1973-84
Orlando Palmeiro, 120 PH, 1995-2007
Jerry Lynch, 116 PH, 1954-66

I wouldn't agree at all that the pinch-hitter has been less celebrated or valued (although I would agree that 12-man pitching staffs are shortening the bench in recent years.)