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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Monday, March 29, 2010
RIP. Joe Gates…
Gary native and former White Sox infielder Joe Gates passed away Sunday night, the longest serving employee of the RailCats franchise.
Gates, who was also a baseball coach at Wirt High School until the school was closed in 2009, was 55 years old.
“We’ve lost a very important part of our family today,” RailCats President/General Manager Roger Wexelberg said in a release. “Joe was the ultimate ambassador of the RailCats and of baseball in Gary, and he will be missed by everyone who’s ever been involved with the team. His infectious personality and energy will be noticeably absent at U.S. Steel Yard this summer.”
Gates had a 10-year career in minor league baseball and spent parts of the 1978 and 1979 seasons with the White Sox. He won the Southern League (AA) batting title in 1978 while playing in Knoxville before he was promoted to the White Sox. That season, Gates hit .332 with 38 stolen bases.
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1. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: March 29, 2010 at 06:31 PM (#3488084)He didn't play for the White Sox after LaRussa took over though.
I don't know why, but -Cats as a suffix is popular in pro baseball, now. These are the eight current -Cats clubs I know:
Gary Southshore RailCats (Northern League, Ind)
Sacramento River Cats (PCL, AAA)
Fort Worth Cats (AAIPB, Ind)
New Britain Rock Cats (Eastern League, AA)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Eastern League, AA)
Carolina Mudcats (Southern League, AA)
Lynchburg Hillcats (Carolina League, A)
Tri-City ValleyCats (NY-Penn, R)
There are also about 4 -Dogs teams in pro baseball, today, not counting -Dawgs.
I don't think it's that perplexing. Minor league franchises like to combine some distinguishing local feature (in the case of the Gary SouthShore RailCats, it's the railroad, which coves both the South Shore commuter rail line that runs just past the leftfield fence of U.S. Steel Yards with the steel that goes into making said rail lines) with a mascottable-animal. And no animal is easier to turn into a frollicking fan favorite than the feline in its many iterations.
RIP, Cat.
I prefer to use words that I make up.
EDIT: and Joyce.
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