Johnny Oates, 58; 1996 Manager of the Year Led Rangers to Playoffs

Johnny Oates, a former major league catcher who managed the Texas Rangers to their first three postseason appearances, died early Friday. He was 58.

Oates was diagnosed with a brain tumor three years ago. His death was confirmed by John Blake, a former Ranger spokesman who worked for the organization when Oates was manager in the 1990s.

Oates also managed the Baltimore Orioles from 1991 to 1994.

He spent six seasons with the Rangers, guiding them to the playoffs in 1996, ’98 and ‘99, and shared the American League Manager of the Year Award with New York’s Joe Torre in 1996.

Oates resigned in 2001 after the Rangers lost 17 of their first 28 games despite the addition of $252-million free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez. He compiled a regular season record of 797-746 and got his only postseason victory in 10 tries when the Rangers made their playoff debut, winning 6-2 at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1, 1996.

Texas lost the next three games and was swept by the Yankees in 1998 and ’99.

A little more than six months after leaving the Rangers, Oates was considering a return to managing when he was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain tumor.

The tumor was removed in surgery in November 2001, and a device that delivered time-released chemotherapy was implanted. But the tumor returned in April 2003.

Throughout his illness, Oates remained an upbeat and deeply spiritual man, thankful for the warning that he would probably die of the disease but celebrating the chance to be with his wife, Gloria, of nearly 40 years, their three children and grandchildren.

Oates was born Jan. 21, 1946 in Sylva, N.C. He attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University before being drafted in the first found by the Orioles in the 1967 amateur draft.

Oates, a catcher who batted left-handed, played his first major league game with Baltimore on Sept. 17, 1970. After the Orioles, he played with Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and the New York Yankees.

He was traded to the Dodgers along with a minor league player for infielder Ted Sizemore on Dec. 20, 1976. He was primarily a backup catcher for the Dodgers, who released him in March 1980.

“I still don’t know how I got to the big leagues because I wasn’t that good,” he said in a 2003 interview. “I was a slap hitter. I couldn’t throw. I couldn’t throw a lick.”

For his career, Oates hit .250, with 14 home runs and 126 runs batted in.

After his retirement from the Yankees in 1981, Oates managed the Yankees’ Double-A Southern League team, winning the championship in his first season.

Among his players that year was Buck Showalter, who is now the manager of the Rangers.

“He’s the best I ever played for,” Showalter said of Oates. “Just the whole package.... He’s the most ethical, moral man I’ve ever been around.”