Sports comment: Even in tough times, Oates was a shining light

One of the truly good guys in professional sports died on Friday.

Johnny Oates was a very good friend, an outstanding baseball man and an even better husband and father.

He was not a Hall of Fame player nor was he a Hall of Fame manager. Johnny Oates was a Hall of Fame human being.

Baseball, every professional sport for that matter, needs men like Johnny Oates.

Oates came into professional baseball with the Orioles but played sparingly in a Baltimore uniform. His statistics were such that even he made fun of them. He returned to Baltimore as the Orioles manager for the better part of four years, taking over from...