THE HOT DOG INCIDENT

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that loves baseball as much as Ole Miss fans love throwing beer on each other.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about an outfielder and two fully-loaded hot dogs.

You’ve probably never heard of Gates Brown - he’s one of those guys that’s faded into obscurity over the years.

Although he was never an All Star or MVP candidate, he was one of two players that the Tigers signed straight out of prison during the 60’s and 70’s.

Eventually, he became an outfielder and a pinch hitter who came off the bench for Detroit when they needed it most.

Back in ‘68, he hit .370 with a .442 OBP and helped the team win their third World Series.

But there’s one thing he’s never quite lived down.

During a game in early August of that ‘68 season, Brown was sitting the bench, per usual.

It was the middle of the game, and the team usually didn’t need his services until the later innings, so he and his teammate Norm Cash sent the bat boy up to grab them a couple of hot dogs.

As Brown was getting ready to devour the fully-loaded frankfurters, his manager, Mayo Smith (actual name) called for him to grab a bat.

Gates didn’t want Smith to see him eating, so he did what any of us would do - stuffed the wieners in his shirt and hoped for the best.

He went up to bat with the dogs hidden under his uniform, and in ‘94 he told the sporting news, “this was the one time in my career that I didn’t want to get a hit.”

Brown laced a ball into the gap, and sure enough, as he rounded for second, he was forced to slide head first.

When it was all said and done, Gates had ketchup, mustard, and “squashed meat” all over his uniform.

His teammates couldn’t contain themselves.

But Mayo Smith wasn’t as entertained.

He fined Brown $100.

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

We had to stay with the theme and give Pickles a feature tonight.

This guy could guarantee you ONE thing at the plate - he wasn’t going yard.

600 AB’s and couldn’t squeak out a single dinger.

The thing he’s probably most known for is being one of the players in the trade that sent Grover Cleveland Alexander to the Cubs.

Without a doubt, one of the worst trades of all time - almost as bad as the time Johnny Jones got traded for a Turkey.

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