John Bates (minors)

John Bates

• Bats unknown, Throws unknown

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Very little is known about minor league outfielder John Bates, except that some sources credit him with a 46-game hitting streak in 1925 while playing for the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association. This would make it the 8th longest in minor league history, and the fourth-longest at the time.

His minor league record is patchy. He is first listed with the Mobile Bears of the Southern Association in 1918, batting .317 in 67 games, and then playing 58 games for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the same league the following season, with his batting average falling to .252. He then disappears until the 1922 and 1923 season, playing both with the Rocky Mount Tar Heels of the Virginia League, with no statistics available, before his first season with Nashville in 1925. In addition to his hitting streak, which ended when he went hitless on September 16th, after batting .371 during the 46 games, he hit .349 in 106 games. He was back with the same team in 1926, batting .290 in 75 games, then was with both Nashville and Mobile in 1927, with incomplete statistics giving him a .231 average.

Very little else is known about him, including which side he batted, his height or weight, or his date of birth. Hitting streaks were not as big a deal back before Joe DiMaggio made them a symbol of consistent excellence. His case is similar to that of Otto Pahlman, who had a 50-game hitting streak just three years before, in 1922, and whose life and career is also shrouded in obscurity.