William James "Gates" Brown was an American Major League Baseball player who spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Born in Crestline, Ohio, he served time at the Ohio State Reformatory for burglary from 1958 to 1959. He was encouraged by a prison guard who also coached the reformatory's baseball team to join the squad as a catcher. The coach contacted several major-league teams after being impressed by Brown's batting ability. Tigers scouts Frank Skaff and Pat Mullin convinced their ballclub to help Brown get paroled a year early and sign him for US $7,000. He chose to join the Tigers despite interest from other teams such as the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. He explained, "The primary reasons I signed with Detroit is because they didn't have any black players and eventually I figured they would, plus, I had been told about the short right porch at Tiger Stadium." In a 13 season career, Brown was a .257 hitter with 84 home runs and 322 runs batted in in 1,051 games played. Brown divided his major league career as an outfielder, first baseman, pinch hitter and designated hitter. 

May 2nd, 1939 in Crestline  /  Died:   Sep 27th, 2013