New York Yankees.

Date of birth: January 21, 1946 Sylva, NC

Date of death: December 24, 2004 (58)

High School:  Prince George HS (Prince George, VA)

College: VA Tech

First Impression; For a hey I have to take a photo quickly for your baseball card, this is not bad, he has a nice smile, he isn’t looking impatient like some other players. I wonder what is written or stuck to the underside of the bill of his cap.

Career stats player: Based on where he was in his career, Johnny was a “wait that guy played?” person for me. I first became familiar with him because he was on staff with the Cubs from 1984-1987. Before that my Oates radar was Hall and Oates and this card. He did in fact strap on the catcher’s gear for 11 seasons and 593 games for 5 franchises. Johnny hit 14 homers and had a career average of a tidy .250.

All Time Stat: There isn’t a lot of Oatmeal in his stats. Let’s do a split search on the 14 homers. He liked home cooking hitting 9 home dingers and 5 road home runs.

1972 @ Detroit vs Tom Timmerman
1972 @ Cleveland vs Ed Farmer
1973 @ Cincinnati vs Ross Grimsley
1973 @ San Francisco vs Tom Bradley
1977 @ Los Angeles vs Ed Halicki

Career stats manager: 797-746. Johnny had to take over for a legend in a bad situation. Frank Robinson, Oriole Legend and Hall of Famer, had been fired. Robinson had taken over for Cal Ripken Sr. in 1988. In that season the Orioles started 0-6 under Ripken Sr. After they hired Robinson, they lost another 15 in a row. They obviously were not happy with Robinson’s start in 1991 when they fired him and handed the team to Oates.

The remainder of 1991 was more of the same for the Orioles and I believe the overall intention of the Orioles was to have Oates, who was drafted by the Orioles and brought to the majors “The Oriole Way”, try and re-inject some of that into the current Orioles, as somewhere in the mid 80s it got lost. Just my musing.

They would improve to have three over .500 seasons under Oates but the Orioles did not retain him after the 1994 season was cancelled. There was a new owner in town and I guess 21 games over 500 was not a good enough record to lead the Orioles going forward. After a year with Phil Regan the Orioles hired Davey Johnson who managed in Baltimore two years, was 48 games over 500. The Orioles have not had a manager with a .500 record since.

Oates was not unemployed very long. He was signed by the Texas Rangers and would be their manager for 983 games. Oates proceeded to lead the Rangers to their first playoff appearance in team history during the 1996 season, winning manager of the year that season. Oates continued to lead the Rangers for several more seasons, leading them to American League West titles in 1998 and 1999. However, the Rangers would win just one playoff game in that span. Following a fourth-place finish in 2000 and beginning the 2001 season with an 11–17 record, Oates resigned as manager and third base coach Jerry Narron replaced him.*

Fun Fact: In a blowout game on September 6, 2000, Oates had Scott Sheldon play all nine positions in a single game, making him the third player in MLB history to do so. Oates told reporters “After it got to be 10-1 … I thought it was the perfect night to do it.”*

Ever a Future Star?  Guess who makes an appearance on Oates’ Rookie? 1972 Topps Orioles 1972 Rookie Stars (Don Baylor / Roric Harrison / Johnny Oates)

Rookie or final card? Who’s Johnny? She said? Yes this is his last card as a player, he would get manager cards in 1992-3 and 2001.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? Texas Rangers No. 26 retired. Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame. Texas Rangers Hall of Fame

Oates was a beloved figure among all players who he played with and coached with. Oates was considering returning to managing when he was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor, glioblastoma multiforme. Doctors gave Oates only about a year to live, but he survived for over three years—enough time to attend his daughter’s wedding, his grandchild’s birth, and his induction into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame at The Ballpark in Arlington.

If you want to help researchers working to help those affected with Glioblastoma please visit the Glioblastoma Foundation.

Links to stories including Johnny Oates.

*wikipedia