Johnny Lane Oates (January
21, 1946–December 24, 2004) was an American
catcher and manager in Major League Baseball.
Born in
Sylva, North
Carolina
, Oates graduated from Prince George High School in
Prince
George
, Virginia
, before
going on to Virginia Tech
in Blacksburg
. Oates played baseball as a catcher with the
Baltimore Orioles,
Atlanta Braves,
Philadelphia Phillies,
Los Angeles Dodgers and
New York Yankees from 1970 to 1981, but
never excelled as a hitting threat (batting just .250 with 14
home runs and 126
RBI over his career) and was hampered by
injuries at various points during his career. He began his career
as a regular in 1972 and retired partway through the 1981 season.
Oates later jokingly admitted that he wasn't a great baseball
player; "I still don't know how I got to the big leagues, because I
wasn't that good," he said in a 2003 interview. "I was a slap
hitter. I kept my mouth shut. I did. I kept my mouth shut. I
couldn't throw. I couldn't throw a lick."
Managing
Oates began managing in baseball in 1982 when he guided the
New York Yankees' Double-A
Nashville Sounds to win the
Southern League title. He
rejoined the Orioles organization at their
Rochester AAA affiliate in 1988. The
following year, he was promoted to the majors where he worked as
first base coach under
Frank
Robinson, and in 1991, after Robinson started 13-24, Oates was
promoted to the manager of the Orioles. In his first full season
with the team, Oates led the Orioles to an 89-73 record and then to
an 85-77 record in 1993, which helped him to win
The Sporting
News Manager of the Year Award. However, following the
strike-shortened 1994 season, Oates was dismissed by new owner
Peter Angelos.
Despite being let go by the Orioles, Oates was quickly hired by the
Texas Rangers, who had just
fired their previous manager,
Kevin Kennedy. Oates proceeded to
lead the Rangers to their first playoff appearance in team history
during the 1996 season. Despite the team's poor
ERA (the team averaged 4.65
collectively), the Rangers' batting lineup was incredibly potent,
featuring
Iván Rodríguez,
Will Clark,
Mark
McLemore,
Dean Palmer,
Rusty Greer,
Juan González, and
Mickey Tettleton; the team finished 90-72.
Oates won the
American League
Manager of the Year Award
that year, sharing honors with the Yankees'
Joe Torre.
Oates continued to lead the Rangers for several more seasons,
leading them to AL West titles in 1998 and 1999. However, 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. Many fans, however, blamed Rangers management
for the team's woes, saying that team management placed
unreasonable expectations on Oates, especially after spending $252
million on
free agent shortstop Alex
Rodriguez.
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
. During the ceremony at The Ballpark, he was
given a standing ovation as Oates, weakened by the cancer and its
treatment, required the help of his wife Gloria and a cane to walk.
During his address to the crowd, he said he hoped it would be his
friend, then-Rangers manager
Buck
Showalter, who would finally lead the team to a
World Series victory. This never happened as
Showalter was fired after the 2006 season.
Oates
succumbed to the tumor at age 58 at Virginia
Commonwealth University
Medical Center in Richmond
on Christmas Eve
2004.
Honors
In 2003, was inducted into the
Virginia Sports Hall of
Fame.
His uniform number
26 was retired by the Rangers
on August 5, 2005. It is only the second number retired by the
Rangers, following the
34 of
Nolan Ryan. During the 2005 season, a
commemorative patch was worn on all Ranger uniforms and a sign was
hung on the outfield wall in his honor.
Managerial records
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