Johnny Oates (January 21, 1946 - December 24, 2004) was an American catcher and manager in Major League Baseball. Born in Sylva, North Carolina, Oates graduated from Prince George High School in Prince George, Virginia before going on to Virginia Tech in Blackburg. Oates played baseball as a catcher with the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees from 1970 to 1981, but never excelled as a hitting threat (batting just .250 with 14 home runs and 126 RBIs over his career) and was hampered by injuries at various points during his career. He began his career as a regular in 1972 and retired partway through the 1981 season. Oates later jokingly admitted that he wasn't a great baseball player; "I still don't know how I got to the big leagues, because I wasn't that good," he said in a 2003 interview. "I was a slap hitter. I kept my mouth shut. I did. I kept my mouth shut. I couldn't throw. I couldn't throw a lick."
