Jump to content

Don Mincher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Erusdruidum (talk | contribs) at 02:12, 6 March 2012 (Collapse duplicate references). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Don Mincher
First baseman
Born: (1938-06-24)June 24, 1938
Huntsville, Alabama
Died: March 4, 2012(2012-03-04) (aged 73)[1]
Batted: Left
Threw: Right
debut
April 18, 1960, for the Washington Senators
Last appearance
October 4, 1972, for the Oakland Athletics
Career statistics
Batting average.249
Home runs200
Runs batted in643
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Donald Ray Mincher (June 24, 1938 – March 4, 2012) was an American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played from 1960–1972 for the original Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, California Angels, Seattle Pilots, Oakland Athletics, the new Washington Senators, Texas Rangers and again the Oakland Athletics, all of the American League.[2]

Career

During a 13-year baseball career, Mincher hit .249, 200 home runs, and 643 runs batted in. He was elected to the American League All-Star team twice (1967 and 1969). As the lone representative for the Seattle Pilots in 1969 (their only season in existence), he also holds the distinction of being the only player to ever represent them in an All-Star Game.

Mincher served as the first president and general manager of the Huntsville Stars, the Double-A affiliate of the Oakland A's (1985–1998) and, later, the Milwaukee Brewers (1999–present).[3] He served in this role from 1985 until 2001. In 1994, Mincher and a group of local investors purchased the team from Larry Schmittou to keep baseball in Huntsville.

In 2000, Mincher was named Interim President of the Southern League, where the Stars play, when league president Arnold Fielkow left for an executive position with the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. Mincher resigned from his position with the Stars when his group sold the team to Miles Prentice in early 2001. This cleared the way for the Southern League to remove the interim tag and they made him league president beginning with the 2001 season. [2] He served as league president until retiring in October 2011, at which point the league named him President-Emerius. [1]

Mincher was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. Though he never played for the team, the Huntsville Stars retired his number 5 in an on-field ceremony on June 6, 2008.[3] In 2010 he was presented with the King of Baseball award given by Minor League Baseball.

Mincher died after a long illness on March 4, 2012. [1]

Records

On June 9, 1966, in the seventh inning of a game against the Kansas City Athletics, Mincher was one of five Twins players to hit home runs. The others were Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rich Rollins and Zoilo Versalles. These five home runs still stand as a Major League record for the most home runs batted in a single inning, and were hit off starter Catfish Hunter (three) and reliever Paul Lindblad (two).[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c McCarter, Mark (March 4, 2012). "Don Mincher, long-time baseball figure, dies at 73". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Branch, John (October 7, 2010). "A Twin, a Ranger and, Most of All, a Senator". The New York Times. p. B14. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Stars Retire #5 in Honor of Mincher". Huntsville Stars. June 6, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
  4. ^ Retrosheet – Box score: Minnesota Twins 9, Kansas City Athletics 4. Game Played on Thursday, June 9, 1966 (N) at Metropolitan Stadium

Template:1969 Seattle Pilots

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_Mincher&oldid=480427693"