Billy Bates

[Michael Trzinski]

William Derrick Bates was born in Houston, Texas. The 5-foot-7, 155-pounder was a three-sport star at Aldine High School in Houston. Although he was told he was too small to succeed in baseball, he was drafted in the eighth round of the 1982 MLB Amateur Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. He chose not to sign, instead attending the University of Texas. The Longhorns won the College World Series in his freshman year in 1983. The next two seasons, Bates was named to the College Baseball All-America team. After his junior year, Bates was selected in the fourth round of the 1985 MLB draft by the Brewers.

Bates steadily moved up the ladder, but it took him five seasons to make it to the big leagues. His best season was in 1987 at Triple-A Denver when he slashed .316/.397/.403 with 51 stolen bases. 

The Brewers called up the southpaw swinging second baseman in August when Jim Gantner went on the disabled list with an MCL tear in his left knee. Bates played in four games before going on the DL himself as he suffered a separated right shoulder when he slipped on the wet infield grass during a rainy game in Baltimore.

Bates returned to Milwaukee a month later and played in three games. During his truncated season, Bates had a slash line trifecta of .214/.214/.214 across 14 at-bats with a pair of pilfered bases.

With Gantner still on the mend from the previous season, Bates won the starting second baseman job in 1990. After starting nine of the team’s first 11 games, Bates was relegated to a pinch-running/defensive replacement role the last week of April as he struggled during a 3-for-29 (.103) start. He was sent back down to Denver for a month. In early June, Bates and outfielder Glenn Braggs were traded to the Cincinnati Reds for pitchers Ron Robinson and Bob Sebra.

Bates stayed in the American Association but moved to the Reds club in Nashville. In mid-September, the Reds called Bates up during a pennant race in the National League West. Bates played in two NLCS games as a pinch-runner. In the World Series against the Oakland Athletics, Bates pinch-hit for Rob Dibble in the bottom of tenth inning of a 4-4 game. He beat out an infield chopper off relief ace Dennis Eckersley and later moved to second on a single. Bates scored the winning run when Joe Oliver banged a single down the third baseline.

Bates spent the next two years in the minors but never played in another big-league game.

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