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Brown never knew why his mother called him "Gates," but he preferred it to Billy, and the nickname stuck. In his first ML at bat (6/19/63), he hit a pinch homer, a fitting beginning for one of baseball's most successful pinch hitters. The squat, popular Brown had limited defensive skills and couldn't break into the regular Tiger outfield, but he collected 107 career pinch hits and 16 pinch homers. In both 1968 and 1974 he led the AL in total pinch hits. (JCA)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 19, 1963: Gates Brown becomes the American League's 11th player to hit a home run in his first at bat. Brown's blow is a pinch-hit blast in the 5th against Boston's Bob Heffner at Fenway in a 9–2 Tiger loss. » April 3, 1964: P Carl Willey of the Mets suffers a broken jaw when he is hit by a line drive off the bat of Detroit's Gates Brown during a spring training loss. He will be out until June 6th but his career will be effectively ended. » August 11, 1968: Gates Brown wins the opener for the Tigers by poling a pinch homer—one of two pinch homers the Tigers hit—in the 14th to beat the Red Sox, 5–4. In the nightcap, he singles home the winning run as the Tigers score four in the 9th to win, 6–5. » March 13, 1969: In addition to this year's lower mound and tightened strike zone, the majors try an experiment ball with 10% more resiliency for a spring training game between the Mets and Tigers in Lakeland. It has an all-rubber center instead of a cork and rubber core, and the seams are higher than the regular ball. The Mets' Don Cardwell surrenders three homers in the 4th to Dick McAuliffe, Norm Cash, and Gates Brown in the Tigers' 7-4 win. Tomorrow, in Phoenix, the same ball is used in the Giants 13–1 win over the Angels, with Bobby Bonds hitting the only two homers (off George Brunet). The players agree the ball is definitely livelier and sounded louder coming off the bat.