by george barnard » Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:55 am
Gates Brown (Tigers, 1963-1975)
Officially, Brown was an outfielder, listed at 5-11, 220. Unofficially, he was a crack pinch-hitter. He holds the record for career pinch-hit at-bats, with 414, and the AL record for career pinch-hits, with 107, and the AL record for most career pinch homers, with 16. This is all relevant to the weight issue.
Gates spent a lot of time on the bench, and was used to being ready for the call at any time. But in an August 1968 game against Cleveland, he was caught ... eating. He'd gone into the clubhouse to grab a couple of hot dogs, and was all ready to eat them when Detroit manager Mayo Smith called him in to pinch hit. He stuffed the dogs down his jersey. Then he doubled, slid in head first, and stood up with a uniform covered with mustard, ketchup, and hot dog and bun chunks all over himself.
This killed the Tiger bench, but Smith fined Gates $100.
[img:8b429c3611]http://members.cox.net/bngolden2/GatesBrown.jpg[/img:8b429c3611]