Coates was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1951. He spent seven years in the Yankees’ farm system with a call-up in 1956, during which he made his major league debut. Coates spent all of the next two seasons in the minors but saw limited play in 1958 due to a fractured elbow.\n', '

Fully recovered in 1959, Coates pitched in 37 games, all but four in relief, winning six games against one loss, with a 2.87 earned run average in 100​1⁄3 innings pitched. The season, however, was disastrous for the Yankees as a whole—after winning seven World Series and nine American League pennants in ten seasons, and winning 103 games in 1954, the one year in that stretch when they didn’t win the pennant (the Cleveland Indians won 111), the Yankees, beset by injuries all season, finished third, 15 games behind the American League champion Chicago White Sox. The lowlight of the Yankees’ season was falling to dead last on May 20.\n', '

In 1960 Coates went 13–3 as a spot starter in Casey Stengel\'s much-maligned rotation. After winning his last five decisions in 1959 and his first nine this season, Coates finally had his winning streak broken against the Boston Red Sox on July 9, a 6–5 loss in which Vic Wertz drove in four of the runs. Coates was also named to the All Star team, pitching two scoreless innings in the first of two games played that year (between 1959 and 1962, Major League Baseball had two All-Star games).\n', '

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