Hubert Edgar "Buddy" Bates (March 16, 1912 – April 29, 1987) was an American professional baseball player whose 18-year active career took place over a quarter century — between 1931 and 1955.

In his only trial in Major League Baseball, the outfielder spent September 1939 with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he collected 15 hits in 58 at bats; he scored eight runs.

Included among those 15 safeties was one big-league home run, struck September 29, 1939, at Shibe Park against Hal Schumacher of the New York Giants.

His long minor league career was interrupted by United States Navy service during World War II.

This biographical article relating to an American baseball outfielder born in the 1910s is a stub.