Johnny Oates

I meant to get to this last week. Johnny Oates, one time Cubs coach and manager of the Texas Rangers, died of cancer last week. I mention it here because I used to work with Johnny. After being fired by the Cubs (when Jim Frey was let go as manager), Oates went to work at Ha-Lo Advertising Specialties in Lincolnwood, Illinois. Oates was one of the salesmen there, trying to rescue the world from a lack of key chains and pens with corporate logos on them. I worked there as a summer clerk along with my mother who was also a salesman. Oates had his desk right next to my mother’s.

On occasion, I used to sit in the lunchroom with Johnny and listen to him tell stories about players on the team (it seems Sutcliffe was a very good clubhouse tipper) and I used to play Pop-a-shot with him in the product showroom. He was soft spoken and always had a smile on his face. I’m not sure if he even knew my name, but he always talked to me.

Oates was also a classic baseball prankster. Sometimes, when she needed a sample product in the showroom, my mother would take her shoes off and leave them at her desk. One time, she went back to her desk and her shoes were gone. She searched for them for over an hour and couldn’t find them. When she went back to her desk, they were on her seat.

A week later, she was in the showroom again, sans-shoes, when Oates walked by. "Lost your shoes again?" he quipped with a smile? The danger of officing next to an ex-ballplayer.

One year for Oates' birthday, the president of Ha-Lo, Lou Weisbach, had a Lucite plaque made with all of Johnny's Topps baseball cards embedded inside. It was a classy gift for a classy man.

I never saw Johnny again after he went to manage the Orioles, but I did follow his career. And I always hoped he succeeded wherever he worked. I guess I'm writing this only because I wanted it recorded somewhere that I remembered him. I saw that 750 people were at his funeral. I wish I could have made it 751.