The All-Halloween Team #4: Jim “Mummy” Coates

Right-handed pitcher Jim “Mummy” Coates joins the Halloween All-Star roster today.

Coates was a solid, above average pitcher, with a .662 winning percentage and a 4.00 ERA over the course of 9 years in the majors. He played for the Yankees, the Washington Senators, the Cincinnati Reds and the California Angels, and was a two-time All-Star for the Yankees in 1960, back when baseball had two All-Star Games per season.But enough with facts and figures; you probably want to know how he got the nickname “Mummy.”

But enough with facts and figures; you probably want to know how he got the nickname “Mummy.”

Well, Coates was tall and thin, with a very serious demeanor on the mound:

Okay, so “Mummy” checks out, especially when you compare it to Boris Karloff playing the titular character in Universal Studios’ classic 1932 horror movie The Mummy:

Notes on this card:

My illustration mashes up Coates’s 1963 Topps baseball card with the iconic poster from The Mummy, designed by Karoly Grosz, Universal Studios’ advertising art director.

Look for more members of the All-Halloween Team, posted here every day between now and Saturday, October 31, 2026!