Happy Baseball Birthday..John Bateman

Today's Happy Baseball Birthday! is former big league catcher John Bateman.

John Alvin Bateman was born on July 21, 1940 in Ft. Sill (Lawton), Oklahoma.

John was signed by the Houston Colt '45s as a amateur free agent in 1962.

Bateman made his big league debut for Houston on April 19, 1963, at the age of 22.

In 128 games as a rookie, Bateman collected 85 base hits, 8 doubles,  6 triples, 10 home runs, and 59 RBI in 404 at bats.

John also made Houston baseball history by catching the clubs first ever no hitter, pitched by the Colt .45s Don Nottebart  on May 17, 1963, a 4-1 win over the Phillies.

John had his best year in Houston in 1966, batting .279, with 121 hits, 17 home runs, 70 RBI, and 24 doubles in 433 at bats.

In 1969 the expansion Montreal Expos drafted John off the Astros roster with the 6th pick.

In just the teams 7th game of 1969 Bateman caught his second no hitter, this time by the Expos Bill Stoneman, against, ironically, the Phillies, on April 17, 1969.

John led all National League catchers in double plays turned in 1966 (14), 1970 (19), and 1971 (12).

John was traded by Montreal om June 14 of the 1972 season to the Phillies for catcher and future Hall of Fame broadcaster Tim McCarver.

John's final big league game was on October 3, 1972, at the age of 32.

In his ten year big league baseball career, John Bateman started 923 games behind the plate, catching a total of 7, 941 innings, with a fielding percentage of .982.

At the plate John collected 765 base hits, 123 doubles, 18 triples, swatted 81 home runs, drove in 375 base runners, and scored 250 runs, in 3,330 at bats.

One reason that I selected John Bateman today is the Twitter feed @1969Expos

This Twitter page is a great honor to the late Expos catcher, who pased away much to young on December 3, 1996, at the age of 56,  In Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

I had the pleasure of talking about John Bateman, the old Astros and Expos, with the man behing @1969Expos , Mr. Ken Webster.

Ken is a terrific baseball fan, and his knowledge of the game, and his tweets are a true honor of the former big league catcher.

If you're a baseball fan on Twitter, follow @1969Expos, youll enjoy the info very much.

In addition to Mr. Webster, information for this blog was obtained by some good baseball sites, baseballreference.com , The Baseball Alamanac, AstrosDaily.com , and Wikipedia. 

Happy Baseball Birthday! John Bateman!

PLAY BALL!