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Clair Bates

Clair Lewis Bates, born November 18th, 19131 in Arkansas,2 was a professional baseball player from 1913-1940.

Biography

Bates was a long-time high school sports coach. He was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Bates died on January 17th, 2007 in Van Buren, AR.3 He was buried in Fort Smith National Cemetery.4

Excerpts

"CLAIR BATES. First Baseman. Fresh from the semi-pro baseball ranks of Arkansas, Clair Bates, six-foot one inch first sacker of the [Shreveport] Sports of the Dixie league, is getting his baptismal of professional play this summer. He won his present position in competition with Archer, who was transferred to a small league in the midwest, after Bates was given the okay for the Shreveport job. Manager Jerry Mallett found Bates playing with the Fort Smith, Ark., semi-pro team and invited him to join the Shreveport Sports for the 1934 East Dixie league flag race. "Buddy," as he has been nick-named, was pleased at the opportunity. Although he is over the six-foot mark, and weighs 185 pounds, Bates has not yet reached the voting age. He started out as an athlete early In life, and in high school and college won laurels as a basketball, football and baseball player. He Is athletic director at St. Anne's Academy, and that position prevented him from reporting to the spring training ramp of the Beaumont Exporters, where other Shreveport team candidates worked out in March and early April. Bates bats left, but throws with his right hand. The husky Arkansas youth says that his greatest thrill came in the opening game of the Dixie league season when members of the Shreveport and Baton Rouge teams engaged in a pugilistic battle royal. Like other members of the Shreveport club, Bates is the property of the Detroit Tigers."5

Stats

Statistics at Baseball-Reference.com.