Billy Bates

During his sophomore season, Bates was named an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) first-team All-American; with the accomplishment, Bates became the second Longhorn second baseman ever to make an All-American team, and the first since Pat Rigby in 1962.

William Derrick Bates (born December 7, 1963) is an American former professional baseball second baseman and pinch runner who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds.

In 29 career games, Bates had a batting average of .125 with six hits, two runs batted in (RBI), 11 runs, and eight stolen bases.

Though his defensive position was at second base, the Reds primarily used Bates as a pinch runner.

William Derrick Bates was born on December 7, 1963, in Houston, Texas.

The son of a paint foreman, he was the youngest of seven siblings.

He attended Aldine High School, where he played baseball as an infielder and pitcher, basketball as a guard, and American football as a running back.

In his junior year, the Aldine Mustangs defeated the Dickinson High School Gators 34–7 to win the Region III football championship; in the game, Bates recorded 93 yards on 14 carries.

In baseball, the Texas High School Coaches Association named Bates as an All-Star to their South Team in June 1982.

According to Bates, as a senior, Sam Houston State University and "several smaller schools" recruited him for baseball.

After his senior season, a scout for the Houston Astros stated Bates would never play major college baseball, and suggested he attend a junior college.

When the Philadelphia Phillies selected him in the eighth round of the 1982 MLB draft, Bates became the second player ever to be drafted out of Aldine.

Born in Houston, Bates attended the University of Texas and, in his freshman season, won the 1983 College World Series as a part of the Texas Longhorns baseball team.

For the next two seasons, Bates was named to the College Baseball All-America Team, a team composed of the best collegiate baseball athletes in America.

The 1983 Longhorns finished the regular season with a 61–14 win–loss record and were ranked as the number one team in the nation by Collegiate Baseball Magazine.

Though the College World Series (CWS) followed a double-elimination format, the Longhorns, who defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs to represent the Central Regional in the CWS, remained undefeated and beat the Alabama Crimson Tide 4–3 to win the championship.

After the series, Bates was named to the World Series All-Tournament team, composed of the best players from the series, and writers for Baseball America (BA) named him to their honorary first-team Freshman All-America team.

He finished the season with a .296 batting average for the Longhorns.

Texas finished with a 60–14 record and lost 3–1 to the Cal State Fullerton Titans in the final game of the 1984 CWS.

Bates recorded 36 steals over the regular season and batted .272.

His 62 walks and 74 games played both led the Longhorns.

Drafted by Milwaukee in the fourth round of the 1985 MLB draft, he rose through the Brewers' farm system helping several of his minor league teams win their respective league titles.

In 1985, Bates was a co-captain of the Texas team with David Denny, and was named a BA and an ABCA All-American with a .361 batting average as Texas finished at a 64–14 mark.

In a June 1 CWS game against the Arizona Wildcats, Bates switched from hitting left to hitting right-handed in the middle of the game, and walked in the 7th inning and scored the game-tying run, and, in the 8th inning, hit a double that scored the go-ahead run.

On June 5, in a game against the Miami Hurricanes, Bates hit two home runs, one from the right-hand side and one an inside-the-park home run from the left-hand side, as the Longhorns won 8–4; his two home runs tied a record for most home runs in a single CWS game.

In a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks on June 8, Bates hit a triple in the bottom of the tenth inning and scored the winning run on a Doug Hodo single as the Longhorns defeated the Razorbacks 8–7.

In the CWS finals, Texas lost twice against the Hurricanes, who advanced to the series from the loser's bracket, and lost the series.

Over his career with the Longhorns, Bates batted .312 with a fielding percentage of .969.

Texas head coach Cliff Gustafson called Bates the best second baseman who played under him up to and including 1985.

He made his MLB debut in 1989, after Milwaukee's starting second baseman Jim Gantner was injured.

After he scored the winning run in Game 2 of the 1990 World Series, Bates never played in MLB again.

A trade in 1990 sent Bates to Cincinnati, where the Reds used him primarily as a pinch runner at the end of the regular season and into the postseason.

Facing the Oakland Athletics in the World Series, Bates reached base on a pinch hit single against Dennis Eckersley and later scored the winning run in Game 2 as the Reds swept the Athletics four games to none.

Following the World Series championship, the Reds re-signed Bates on a one-year contract, and he played for their Triple-A team.

He spent the next year with the Chicago Cubs Triple-A affiliate, and last played exhibition baseball in 1995.

After retiring, he worked as an equipment supplier in the oil and gas industry in Houston.

In 1996, a panel of sixty coaches, Division I Baseball Committee chairs, and media who covered the CWS named Bates to their all-decade team for the 1980s.

, Bates held the Texas Longhorns record for most career triples, with 20, most triples in a single season, with 13, and most runs scored in a single season, with 100.

Instead of signing a professional contract with the Phillies, who offered Bates $38,000 or $38,500 to sign with the team (equivalent to $102,000 or $103,000 in 2020), Bates chose to attend the University of Texas at Austin.

Bates enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, and started at second base in his first year.