Gates (The Gator) Brown, the greatest pinch-hitter in Detroit Tigers’ history, died today, the ball club announced. He was 74.
In 13 seasons with Detroit, Brown, a left-handed hitter, had a .257 average with 84 home runs and 322 runs batted in 105 games. He retired in 1975.
But statistics don’t begin to tell the story of his value to the Tigers – and his elevated stature with fans.
Brown is best remembered for contribution during the 1968 championship season.
Pinch-hitting that year, Brown hit for a .450 average, the eighth highest single-season batting average for a pinch-hitter in major league history. Brown holds the American record for the most pinch-hit at bats in a career, with 414.
On Aug. 11, 1968, Brown won both games of a doubleheader against Boston with a 14th-inning home run in the opener and a ninth-inning single in the nightcap.
A few days before that exploit, Brown made news for another reason. He was eating hot dogs at the end of the dugout, and he stuffed the dogs in his jersey to hide them from manager Mayor Smith when Smith suddenly called on him to pinch hit.
He doubled, slid head first into second, and smashed the hot dogs, with mustard and ketchup splattering on his white uniform.
"The fielders took one look at me, turned their backs and damned near busted a gut laughing at me. My teammates in the dugout went crazy," Brown once recalled.
As a rookie, on June 19, 1963, coming off the bench, Brown became the 11th American Leaguer to hit a home run in his first at-bat.
William James Brown was born in Crestline, Ohio, May 2, 1939.
Brown served time at the Ohio State Reformatory for burglary from 1958 to 1959. Detroit scouts Frank Skaff and Pat Mullin convinced the ballclub to help Brown get an early parole. Brown said he signed with the Tigers partly because he knew about Tiger Stadium's short right-field fence.
