Ray Bates
Ray Bates (February 8, 1890 – August 15, 1970) was an American baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball for two seasons. He was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and batted and threw right-handed. He made his MLB debut on May 31, 1913 with the Cleveland Naps and played his final game on September 24, 1917 with the Philadelphia Athletics. In his MLB career, he had a .233 batting average, with 2 home runs and 70 runs batted in.
Bates spent many years in the minor leagues. He began in 1911 with Altoona in the Tri-State League and went on to play for Newport News, Cleveland, Portland, Vernon, Los Angeles, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Omaha, and Reading through 1923. His best minor-league season came in 1921, when he hit .338.
In the major leagues, his most active season was 1917 with the Athletics, when he appeared in 127 games and hit .237 with 2 homers, 20 doubles, 7 triples, 66 RBIs, and 12 stolen bases. In 1914 he played 27 games for Cleveland, batting .167 with two triples, four RBIs, and three stolen bases.
After his playing days, Bates was one of three managers of the Ogden Gunners in 1926 in the Utah-Idaho League. He died in Tucson, Arizona, at age 80.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:56 (CET).