The prestige, honor and infamy of wearing the Yankee pinstripes are some of the most magical forces in sports. Players who spent even a short time with the Bronx ballclub are often identified by their ties to baseball’s most storied franchise. Therefore, it is only right that Yankees World Series hero Jim Coates has titled his memoirs, "Always a Yankee: A Pitcher's Story; Jim Coates, He Beats the Odds to Become an All-Star and a World Champion". Co-authored with Doug Williams, Coates tells vivid tales of how he made it to the Yankees from the farms in Virginia.
Dropping out of high school at the tender age of 16, Coates pressed on, determined to avoid a life of cutting trees in Virginia’s Northern Neck. Armed with a strong fastball and a youthful arrogance, Coates gained the attention of the locals after dominating semi-pro leagues, playing against much older and more experienced competition. However, after a try-out with the Yankees in Norfolk came up dry, Coates began to wonder if he had a future in professional baseball.
A few months later, during a cold winter day in 1951, Coates received an unexpected visit from a Yankee scout Percy Dawson, deep in the woods of Virginia while he was chopping trees. The Yankees were known to go far and wide to sign a prospect, and for Coates, they ventured into treacherous territory to get their man. It was this meeting that would begin Coates’ career with the Yankees.
Climbing the ranks of the Yankee farm system, Coates paid his dues, beating the bushes for five years before the Yankees called him up late in the 1956 season. After a quick two game “introduction” to the majors, Coates went back to the minors for another two seasons. It was during this time in the minors that he worked tirelessly with coach and mentor Eddie Lopat on developing his slider, which would become a devastating pitch in his repertoire.
Back wearing the pinstripes for good in 1959, Coates ran off four consecutive winning seasons as one of the Yankees most versatile pitchers during that time span. Effective as both a starter and reliever, Coates made the 1960 All-Star team when he lead the American League with a .813 win-loss percentage, going 13-3 as the Yankees met the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.
Much attention has been devoted to Bill Mazeroski’s home run off of Ralph Terry in the 1960 World Series. Terry had relieved Coates, who had given up a two-run homer to Hal Smith the inning prior which gave the Pirates the lead. Coates was one pitch away from finishing off Roberto Clemente during that inning, which would have sent the Yanks into the 9th inning with a two-run lead. Clemente eventually hit a dribbler to first base, where Coates hesitated to cover the bag, allowing Clemente to reach safely. This set the stage for Smith’s homerun and the rest we like to say is history.
Most pitchers would have been devastated by such a dramatic turn of events. They often say the measure of a man is not in how he deals with success, but how he recovers from failure. Coates not only recovered, but excelled, helping to lead the Yankees to back-to-back World Series victories in 1961 and 1962. It was his valuable role on these championship teams that cemented his place in Yankee history.
As much as Coates would have liked the fairy tale to continue, Yankee management felt otherwise. Just as the team was to break from spring training in 1963, Coates was traded to the Washington Senators for Steve Hamilton. The cruel reality of the “business” of baseball set in for Coates, and for the first time in his career, he would wear a major league uniform other than that of the Yankees.
Coates would pitch for the Reds and Angels in addition to the Senators, finishing his major league career in 1967 with a 43-22 record. He pitched in the minors until 1970 and then worked in construction until his retirement.
Fifty-years removed from some of his greatest highlights, Coates remains proud of his accomplishments, saying, “I see myself as someone who played a game he loved, the best he could for as long as he could.”
Despite his departure from the Yankees in 1963, Coates showed allegiance to the team that gave him the opportunity to play in three World Series contests. “I am honored to still be associated with this, the most successful franchise in all of professional sports, the New York Yankees. And though I’ll always have wonderful memories of being a part of many different baseball organizations, in my heart, I’ll always be a Yankee!”
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