TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter that bats either from the right side or the left side depending on if the pitcher is right or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher making such pitches often harder to hit than those from the other side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right-handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch hitters and LOOGY’s and why some players want to become switch-hitters.
Switch-hitting at its best
Switch-hitters have been around for ever it seems and yet according to sources that I have researched, only about 6% of baseball batters have been switch-hitters. You have to wonder if switch-hitting is such an advantage, why haven’t more of baseball best hitters been switch-hitters? The best career batting average for a switch-hitter is .316 by Frankie Frisch and he currently ranks 71st all-time. Some of the best switch-hitters in our era have been Chipper Jones at .306 and Pete Rose at .303. Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez has a career average of .302 making him the highest currently active switch-hitter. Switch-hitters have been around for a long time and there have been some pretty good ones over the years, in addition to the players I just mentioned, you have to add players like Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, George Davis, Lance Berkman, Tim Raines and Chili Davis to the list of switch-hitting greats.
Switch-hitting and the rules
A question often asked is can a batter switch for right to left or left to right during an at bat. The only rule that I can find that seemingly applies is 6.06(b) which states that “A batter is out for illegal action when he steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch.” Based on that, it appears you can switch from one batters box to the other as often as you want as long as you do it before the pitcher gets in his pitching position.
In the Twins 53 years of existence the team has had 62 players that were switch-hitters but not all of them actually batted and we will touch more on that later. The Twins very first switch-hitter was actually a pitcher, Pedro Ramos. Ramos pitched and batted (1 for 4 with 2 RBI) in the Twins very first game when Ramos and the Twins shut out the New York Yankees 6-0 on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. The first Twins switch-hitting position player to appear in a game was SS Marty Martinez when he had an at bat against the Yankees at Met Stadium on May 30, 1962 in game 2 of a doubleheader. Martinez actually appeared in 3 earlier games as a Twins but was used strictly as a pinch-runner by manager Sam Mele. It wasn’t until 1976 however; that the Twins actually had a regular position player switch-hitting and that year they had two, rookie catcher Butch Wynegar and SS Roy Smalley. The Twins are playing their 53rd season and there has only been one year, 1973 that they have not had a switch-hitter step into the batters box wearing a Twins uniform. On the other hand, they had nine switch-hitters (Cristian Guzman was the only starter) at one time or another on their 1999 team that finished 63-97.
Twins switch-hitting pitchers
Looking at the Twins 62 switch-hitters, eleven of them were pitchers and claimed to be switch-hitters but only Pedro Ramos, Jim Perry, Dan Serafini, JC Romero, and Joe Mays actually set foot in the batters box. The other six, Stan Perzanowski, Darrell Jackson, Pete Filson, Jason Ryan, Pat Neshek, and Eric Hacker were switch-hitters only on the back of their baseball cards because they never batted in a Twins game. Jim Perry actually hit five home runs as a Twin.
Home runs from each side of the plate club
The Twins switch-hitter with the most home runs is Roy Smalley and he hit 163 career home runs and 110 of them were when he was a Minnesota Twin. The “home runs from each side of the plate” club is relatively exclusive but three of the members were Twins. Roy Smalley accomplished that rare feat twice, once against the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome on May 30, 1986 and once earlier in his career as a New York Yankee in 1982. Chili Davis became the second Twin to join the club when he did it against the Royals on October 2, 1992. Ryan Doumit became the third Twin to do so when too joined the exclusive fraternity against the Royals on July 22, 2012. Chili Davis hit a home run from each side of the plate 11 times in his illustrious 19 year career. Just for comparisons sake, Mickey Mantle did it on 10 occasions.
One oddity that seems to stand out to me is how few of the switch-hitters employed by the Twins over the years actually threw left-handed. If you exclude the 11 switch-hitting pitchers from the list you are left with 51 switch-hitters and only one of the 51 threw left-handed, the other fifty were right-handed. Kind of strange. The lone left-handed position player was John Moses. But keep in mind that John Moses an outfielder by trade, actually pitched in 3 games for the Twins and it gets even stranger.
Twins best switch-hitters
So let’s take a look at the Twins top switch-hitters, there is no good way to rank them so I will list here all the Twins switch-hitters that have 1,000 or more plate appearances in a Twins uniform. The chart also shows positions played, games played, home runs and batting average. All the numbers on this chart are their Twins career numbers. Many of these players played for other teams but those numbers are not included here, I am only interested in their numbers as Minnesota Twins for this story.
Some interesting numbers and players on this chart, about half the players were starters and half were utility players. No surprise that Smalley is the leader in home runs or that Chili Davis is second on that list but finding that Cristian Guzman is number 3 in the Twins switch-hitter home run list really surprised me.
A bonus question for you, this Twins switch-hitter had a career .425 batting average albeit in just 43 plate appearances, do you know who he is?
Back in December 2010 I did a post about Twins player ejections and determined that the Twins all time leader in player ejections was Torii Hunter with five. I mentioned in that article that I would look at manager ejections in the future and I have finally gotten around to doing it. Torii was ejected for the sixth time as a Twin on June 10, 2015 (updated 6/11/2015).
The Twins have had 12 managers since 1961 with some serving in that role for as little as 66 games but in the last 16 seasons they have had just two managers, Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire. According to the Twins, each player or manager ejected has to pay their own fines but I personally have my doubts about that. So let’s take a closer look at these managers and see how many times they ran afoul of an umpire. We will start at the bottom and work our way up the list of Twins managers career ejections.
0 – Cookie Lavagetto managed in the majors for all or parts of five different seasons with the Washington Senators and the Twins managing a total of 657 games and during that time he was never ejected. Cookie was ejected once as a player (10 seasons) and twice as a coach (12 seasons).
1 – Johnny Goryl managed the Twins for just 73 games in the latter part of 1980 and early portion of 1981 and got the “out” sign from the umps just once as the Twins manager but he was ejected once as a player (6 seasons) and three times as a coach (13 seasons).
2 – You wouldn’t expect to find the fiery Billy Martin this low on the ejection list but he only stayed around for one season as the Twins skipper and the umpires gave him the heave-ho just twice as the Twins manager but he was ejected a total of 46 times in his 16 seasons as a major league manager but he doesn’t even make the top 10 list. Billy also had 6 ejections during his 11 years as a player but as a coach (4 seasons) he never had to leave the game early.
3 – The mild-mannered players manager Sam Mele took the Twins to the 1965 World Series and was the Twins manager for all or parts of seven seasons. Mele hit the showers early just three times as the Twins manager and he did not have any run-ins with the umps during his 10 seasons as a player or two years as a coach.
4 – The only managing gig that Cal Ermer ever had was with the Twins for part of 1967 and all of 1968 and he had disagreements with umpires on four occasions that called for an early dismissal. Ermer spent 7 seasons in the minors as a player but never got the call to the big leagues as a player. Ermer coached for four seasons and was asked to leave the premises early in two games.
4 – Ray Miller was another Twins manager that didn’t last a full season, managing part of 1985 and most of 1986 but during that time he managed to find himself in the umpires cross-hairs four times and he clocked a total of 10 career ejections during his four seasons as a big league manager. Since he never played in the big leagues he had no ejections as a player but did get thrown out of one game while serving as a coach.
4 – Bill Rigney was a big league manager for 18 season between 1956-1976 and has notched 49 manager ejections, four of them were with the Minnesota Twins. Rigney was in the big leagues as a player for eight seasons and the umpires had him end his day early five more times. (SABR now has Rigney with 51 career ejections.)
5 – Paul Molitor was named as the Twins 13th manager in November 2014. Molitor has five career ejections as a player and three ejections as a coach (all in 2001) on his resume. Molitor earned his first ejection as a manager at Target Field on June 10, 2015 when he came out to back up Torii Hunter who was arguing a called strike three in a game against the Kansas City Royals. Torii Hunter was also ejected. Last ejection April 20, 2017.
5 – Tom Kelly was named the Twins skipper late in 1986 and hung on to that role through the 2001 season before resigning. TK ended up winning two World Series and winning 1,140 of the 2,385 games he managed. During this stretch TK was booted out of only 5 games, once each in 1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, and in 2000. He was sent packing for disagreeing on calls at first base twice and arguing balls and strikes three times. Kelly played in the big leagues during one season and coached for four more but he didn’t have any issues with the umpires that called for his dismissal.
5 – Frank Quilici took over from Bill Rigney as the manager about midway in 1972 and had that role through 1975. During Frank’s managing career the umpires asked him to head for an early shower five times. Frank played in the bigs during five different seasons and coached for two more without irritating any of the umpires, at least to the point of ejection.
7 – Gene Mauch managed for 26 seasons winning 1,901 of the 3,940 games with stops in Philadelphia, Montreal, Minnesota and California. The umpires saw fit to send Mauch packing a total of 43 times, seven of these early exits came as the Twins skipper. Mauch played in the majors for nine seasons and had a number of disagreements and the men in blue saw to it that Mauch was neither seen nor heard five times.
10 – Who would have thought that Billy Gardner would be so disagreeable that in his six seasons as a big league manager (five in Minnesota and one in KC) that umpires would send him home early 10 times (all as a Twins manager). I guess it was the fact that Gardner managed some pretty bad teams including the 1982 60-102 bunch that maybe drove him over the edge at times. It is Gardner however that is credited with molding these youngsters into ball players that would help the Twins win it all in 87 and 91. Gardner played big league ball in 10 different seasons and coached in five more but he never was ejected from a game until he became a manager.
Gardy is on his way to an early shower in 2006 as NIck Punto looks on.
63 – That bring us to the current Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire. Gardy is a player and fan friendly manager that has had more than his share of disagreements with major league umpires, so many in fact that he has now moved up to a tie for 10th on the list of all-time MLB career manager ejections list. With just four more “your outta here” by the umpires Gardy will pass Joe Torre and have 9th place all to himself. The only active manager ahead of Gardenhire is Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland with 68 and you have to figure he will keep adding to his ejection total. As Gardy prepares for his 12th season as the Twins manager he already had 63 ejections on his resume as a manager plus one additional early exit as a coach back in 1998. One of Gardy’s 63 ejections was during game 2 of the 2010 ALDS against the New York Yankees at Target field. The Twins have played in Minnesota for 52 seasons and had eleven managers prior to Gardenhire and when you add up all those manager ejections you get a total of 45. Gardy has managed a total of 1,773 Twins games so that means he gets ejected once every 28.14 games and averages just under 6 early showers a season. Gardenhire has a high of 8 ejections in a season twice and his low was just 3 ejections and that was in 2012, maybe Gardy is starting to mellow or he just realized he had a bad team last year and didn’t want to waste his energy arguing with the umpires.
Hunter Wendelstedt III
So who is the man who has sent Gardy to the showers the most frequently over the years? The one and only Hunter Wendelstedt III has called for an early exit by Gardy on five occasions and he only has 63 career ejections so Gardy has 12.6% of Wendelstedt’s ejections. Isn’t it strange that Gardy has been ejected 63 times and Wendelstedt has 63 ejections on his career resume too. Next on the list are Chris Guccione and Gerry Davis with four Gardenhire ejections each. The first time that Gardy was run by Wendelstedt was on July 18, 2005 in a 3-2 loss at the Metrodome. Gardy was not pleased and had this to say after the game but I should warn you that if you have young children near by you might want to “eject them from the room” before you hit the play button. If you are listening to this at work you might want to turn the volume down.
By the way, the umpire with the most career ejections is Bill Klem with 256 but he umpired 5,369 games between 1905-1941 and is in the Hall of Fame. The active umpire with the most career ejections is Bob Davidson with 156.
If you look back in franchise history the Washington Senators had 18 different managers from 1901 -1960 (Bucky Harris served in that capacity three different times) and these managers were ejected a grand total of 43 times with Bucky Harris leading the pack with 12 heave-ho’s but he managed the Senators for 18 seasons and 2,776 games.
The best manager meltdown I think I have ever seen has to be Phillip Wellman on June 1, 2007 when he was the skipper for the AA Mississippi Braves. Here is a video clip of the epic ejection, Wellman ended up with a 3 game suspension for his efforts.
Looking through various MLB record and stats and getting some help from David Vincent at SABR I was able to get a list of MLB managers that have been thrown out of a game at least 50 times during their career’s. I added in the number of games they managed and came up with a ratio of how often they get ejected. The lower the “games per ejection” the more often the manager has been ejected. You can see that Ron Gardenhire is in some pretty select company.
Managers with 50 or more ejections (through 2014 season)
Ejections
Manager
Games Managed
Games per Ejection
1.
161
Bobby Cox#
4,501
27.96
2.
118
John McGraw#
4,768
40.41
3.
94
Earl Weaver#
2,541
27.03
3.
94
Leo Durocher#
3,738
39.77
5.
86
Tony LaRussa#
5,094
59.23
6.
80
Paul Richards
1,837
22.96
6.
80
Frankie Frisch#
2,246
28.08
8.
72
Jim Leyland
3,496
48.56
8.
72
Ron Gardenhire
2,107
29.26
10.
66
Joe Torre#
4,292
65.03
11.
63
Lou Piniella
3,544
56.25
12.
63
Bruce Bochy*
3,222
51.14
13.
58
Clark Griffith#
2,917
50.29
14.
52
Charlie Manual
1,794
34.50
15.
51
Bill Rigney
2,561
50.22
16.
50
Mike Hargrove
2,350
47.00
* = active managers
# = in Baseball Hall of Fame as managers except for Frisch who is in as a player and Griffith who is in as an Executive
Let’s take a look at each baseball franchise and see which of their managers has the most ejections to his credit. You might note that some of these managers made the list more than once. Data is current through the 2013 season.
Rank
Team
Manager
Ejections
Games managed that team
1
Braves
Bobby Cox
140
3,860
2
Giants
John McGraw
105
4,424
3
Orioles
Earl Weaver
94
2,541
4
Twins
Ron Gardenhire
72
2,107
5
Pirates
Frankie Frisch
47
1,085
6
Dodgers
Tom Lasorda
43
3,040
7
Cardinals
Tony LaRussa
39
2,591
8
Phillies
Charlie Manual
41
1,415
9
Angels
Mike Scioscia
36
2,430
10
Padres
Bruce Bochy
33
1,926
11
Indians
Mike Hargrove
29
1,312
12
White Sox
Jimmy Dykes
28
1,850
12
White Sox
Paul Richards
28
774
12
Mariners
Lou Piniella
28
1,551
12
Blue Jays
Cito Gaston
28
1,731
16
Rays
Joe Maddon
27
1,134
17
Tigers
Jim Leyland
30
1,294
18
Red Sox
Terry Francona
25
1,296
18
Brewers
Phil Garner
25
1,180
18
Brewers
Ned Yost
25
959
21
Yankees
Ralph Houk
23
1,757
21
Reds
Sparky Anderson
23
1,450
21
Mets
Joe Torre
23
709
24
A’s
Tony LaRussa
22
1,471
24
Rockies
Clint Hurdle
22
1,159
26
Rangers
Bobby Valentine
20
1,186
27
Nationals/Expos
Buck Rodgers
18
1,020
28
Cubs
Leo Durocher
17
1,065
29
Diamondbacks
Bob Melvin
15
677
29
Royals
Buddy Bell
15
436
31
Astros
Phil Garner
13
530
32
Marlins
Fredi Gonzalez
11
555
I need to thank David Vincent from SABR and retrosheet.org for providing material for this article.
UPDATE April 28, 2013 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the Twins/Rangers game earlier today giving him 64 manager ejections or if you chose not to count playoff (1) ejections he stands at 63.
UPDATE May 25, 2013 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the Twins/Tigers game earlier today giving him 65 manager ejections or if you chose not to count playoff (1) ejections he stands at 64.
UPDATE July 13, 2013 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the Twins/Yankees game earlier today giving him 66 manager ejections or if you chose not to count playoff (1) ejections he stands at 65.
UPDATE August 29, 2013 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the Twins/Royals game earlier today giving him 67 manager ejections or if you chose not to count playoff (1) ejections he stands at 66.
UPDATE September 12, 2013 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the Twins/A’s game last night giving him 68 manager ejections or if you chose not to count playoff (1) ejections he stands at 67.
UPDATE May 11, 2014 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from the Twins/Tigers game today giving him 68 regular season ejections or if you chose to also include playoff (1) ejections he stands at 69.
UPDATE June 22, 2014 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from today’s Twins/White Sox game at Target Field giving him 69 regular season ejections or if you chose to also include playoff (1) ejections he stands at 70.
UPDATE July 5, 2014 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from today’s Twins/Yankees game at Target Field giving him 70 regular season ejections or if you chose to also include playoff (1) ejections he stands at 71.
UPDATE July 30, 2014 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from yesterday’s Twins/Royals game at Kauffman Stadium giving him 71 regular season ejections or if you chose to also include playoff (1) ejections he stands at 72.
UPDATE August 19, 2014 – Ron Gardenhire was ejected from yesterday’s Twins/Royals game at Target Field giving him 72 regular season ejections or if you chose to also include playoff (1) ejections he stands at 73. This ejection moved Gardy into a tie with Jim Leyland for 8th place on the all-time manager ejection list
Update June 11, 2015 – Paul Molitor was named as the Twins 13th manager in November 2014. Molitor has five career ejections as a player and three ejections as a coach (all in 2001) on his resume. Molitor earned his first ejection as a manager at Target Field on June 10, 2015 when he came out to back up Torii Hunter who was arguing a called strike three in a game against the Kansas City Royals. Torii Hunter was also ejected.
Update July 26, 2015 – Paul Molitor earned his second managerial career ejection at Target Field yesterday when he was ejected by umpire Jeff Nelson for arguing an Aaron Hicks checked swing that was called strike three.
Update August 23, 2015 – Paul Molitor was ejected for the third time in his managerial career, this time in Camden Yards in a Twins win against the Orioles. Molitor loss his cool when Miguel Sano was called out on a check swing. Funny thing was that Molitor was sent packing twice because the home plate umpire ejected him when Molly came out to argue and the home plate umpire was not aware that the first base umpire had already ejected him.
Update May 4, 2016 – Paul Molitor ejected by Scott Barry for arguing balls and strikes at Minute Maid Park in a 16-4 loss to the Astros.
Update April 20, 2017 – Paul Molitor ejected by Alan Porter in the ninth inning for arguing balls and strikes at Target Field in a 6-2 loss to the Indians.
Cookie Lavagetto was the Washington Senators manager when they became the Minnesota Twins but he lasted just 66 games and finished with a 25-41 record in 1961.
Harry Arthur “Cookie” Lavagetto was born December 1, 1912 in Oakland, California and died in his sleep on August 10, 1990 in Orinda, California at the age of 77. He acquired his nickname from his Oakland Oaks teammates, who called him “Cookie’s boy,” because he had been hired by Oaks’ president Victor “Cookie” Devincenzi. Lavagetto played 3B and 2B in the major leagues for 10 seasons and played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1934-1936 and was a four-time All-Star while with the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1937 -1947. Cookie did not play ball in the majors from 1942-1945 due to serving his country in the military during World War II. Cookie enlisted in the US Navy in February 1942 even though he was classified 3-A and was sworn in as Aviation Machinist Mate 1st class. He is most widely known as the pinch hitter whose double with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning ruined Bill Bevens’ bid for the first World Series no-hitter in Game 4 of the 1947 World Series and gave his Brooklyn Dodgers a breathtaking victory over the New York Yankees, a game known as The Cookie Game. You can listen to a broadcast clip of that play here. The Dodgers went on to lose the 1947 World Series to the New York Yankees 4 games to 3.
Cookie Lavagetto
After being released by the Dodgers following the 1947 Series, Lavagetto returned to Oakland to finish his playing career with the Oaks (1948–50). When Oakland manager Chuck Dressen was named leader of the Dodgers in 1951, Lavagetto accompanied him as one of his coaches. He was a loyal aide to Dressen with Brooklyn (1951–53) and the PCL Oaks (1954) and followed him to the Washington Senators when Dressen became their manager in 1955.
But on May 7, 1957, with the Senators languishing in last place, Dressen was fired and Lavagetto was named his successor. Little changed under Lavagetto’s reign and the Senators finished last in 1957, 1958 and 1959. Finally, in 1960, Lavagetto’s Senators rose to fifth place in the eight-team American League, but the Senators’ promising 1960 season was too little and too late to keep the franchise in Washington; owner Calvin Griffith moved the club to Minnesota where it became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.
Yankee manager Ralph Houk inspects the jacket of Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto prior to the Twins first ever game, played April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. Twins win 6-0. Courtesy of the Minnesota Twins
Lavagetto was the first manager in Twins’ history, but he did not finish the 1961 season. With the Twins mired in ninth place having lost 11 in a row and 16 out of their last 17 games in the new ten-team AL, owner Calvin Griffith asked Lavagetto to take a vacation and go fishing to get away from the everyday pressure of major league baseball. Cookie took a seven-game leave of absence starting on June 6th while coach Sam Mele took over as the Twins skipper and then returned to the helm on June 13th but he was fired June 23 with the club still in ninth place. He was replaced by Sam Mele, under whom the Twins became pennant contenders the following season. Lavagetto’s major league managing record was 271 wins and 384 defeats (.414) and he was 25-41 as the Twins first skipper.
Cookie Lavagetto then returned to the coaching ranks with the New York Mets form 1962-1963 and then back home in the Bay area with the San Francisco Giants from 1964-1967 before stepping away from baseball.
There are a couple of nice stories about Cookie Lavagetto in the Baseball in Wartime Blog and you can read the stories by clicking here and here.
There are some nice photo’s of Lavagetto at this New York Mets blog called Centerfield Maz.
Tom Verducci wrote a piece called A Game for Unlikely Heroes for Sports Illustrated back on November 29, 1999 that you might enjoy reading.
Lavagetto made the cover of Sports Illustrated as the Twins skipper on May 15, 1961 and Walter Bingham did a nice article about Cookie in that issue he called “Not Such a Tough Cookie.”
Donald Ray Mincher a former Minnesota Twin and baseball lifer in every sense of the word passed away yesterday in Huntsville, Alabama after a lengthy illness at the age of 73. Mincher was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent prior to the 1956 season and in the process passed up a football scholarship to the University of Alabama and started his pro career by playing for the Duluth-Superior White Sox in the class C Northern League as he started climbing the minor league ladder towards a big league career. Mincher who threw right-handed was a slugging left-handed hitting first baseman who stood 6’3″, weighed about 205. Before Don could put on a White Sox uniform in a big league game, he along with catcher Earl Battey and $150,000 were sent to the Washington Senators for 1B Roy Sievers in April of 1960. Don Mincher made his big league debut on April 18, 1960 at Griffith Stadium in a 10-1 Senators win over the Boston Red Sox. Mincher became one of the “original” Minnesota Twins when owner Calvin Griffith moved the Washington Senators to Minnesota after the 1960 season. Mincher went on to play for the Twins through the 1966 season playing in 617 games and hitting 92 home runs while hitting .244. Mincher was good enough to have been a regular on many other teams but with the power hitting Twins of the 60’s, Mincher could not crack the everyday starting line-up. Although not a regular, Mincher was never-the-less a feared slugger as his league leading 15 intentional bases on balls during the Twins pennant winning 1965 season will attest. Don played in all seven games of the 1965 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers hitting only .130 in 25 plate appearances but he did hit a home run in-game 1 off of HOF and Dodger great Don Drysdale. In the seventh inning of a game against the Kansas City Athletics at Metropolitan Stadium on June 9, 1966, Mincher was one of five Minnesota players to hit home runs (the others were Rich Rollins, Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew, and Zoilo Versalles). This still stands as the major league record of homers in an inning. Three of the home runs were hit off starter A’s starter and future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter, the other two off of reliever Paul Lindblad. After the 1966 season the Twins traded Mincher, outfielder Jimmie Hall and pitcher Pete Cimino to the California Angels for pitcher Dean Chance and a PTBNL that turned out to be infielder Jackie Hernandez. Mincher ended up making the American League All-Star team in his first season as an Angel and played in California for two years before the Seattle Pilots drafted him in the second round of the 1968 expansion draft. Don again made the All-Star team in 1969 as a Pilot and finished that season hitting 25 home runs and he also stole 10 bases that season at the age of 31. In January on 1970, the Pilots had turned into the Milwaukee Brewers and the Brew Crew traded Mincher to the Oakland A’s where he hit a career high 27 home runs. In 1971 Mincher was traded to the Washington Senators who became the Texas Rangers in 1972. The Rangers then traded Mincher back to the Oakland A’s where Don played the final 47 games of his big league career. Mincher appeared in the 1972 ALCS and the Oakland A’s 1972 World Series earning his championship ring.
When you look at Mincher’s 13 year big league career you will find that he hit 200 home runs (with five 20+ home runs seasons) and hit .249 and had a .798 OBP in 4,725 plate appearances. Don Mincher is the only player to play for both the original Washington Senators and the expansion Washington Senators, as well as both teams that they moved to become, the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers. Additionally, he played for a third team, the Seattle Pilots, in its first and final season before relocating to a new city (but was traded before playing a game for the Milwaukee Brewers).
Don Mincher as President of the Southern League
After his playing days, Mincher returned to his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama and managed a sporting goods store for about a decade before becoming General Manager of the Huntsville Stars in 1984. He then led a group that owned the club from 1994 to 2001. In 2000, he became President of the Southern League, a position he held until retiring in late 2011 due to health issues, at which point the league named him President-Emerius.
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. In 2010, he was presented with the “King of Baseball” award, the highest honor bestowed by Minor League Baseball.
Mincher is survived by his wife Pat, son Mark, daughters Lori Lumpkin and Donna Hopper and six grandchildren. Funeral services are pending. We at Twins Trivia want to extend our heart-felt condolences to Don Mincher’s family, friends and fans.
Updates as of March 6
I asked Mincher’s teammate and long-time friend pitcher Jim Kaat for his memories of Don and here is what Jim had to say: “Minch” or “Mule” as we called him was a great teammate….when we needed a big hit and he was at the plate our cry from the dugout was ”Kick Mule!!” we had a great relationship…one of the few 1st basemen that could play deep and well off the line when I pitched and trust that I would get to 1st to cover the base…he prevented a lot of would be hits off me by doing that. He and Jerry Zimmerman were close buddies and roommates, they could usually come up with some good pranks…[i.e. the day after I gave up back to back to back hr’s in Baltimore they hung a 45 rpm record of the 5th Dimension’s “up up and away” in my locker] I knew immediately it was them…..Don had a great sense of humor, developed into a real good power hitter after they quit telling him to pull everything. He and Pat had a great 50 plus years together. I really enjoyed his company on and off the field.. He had a great life as a player and later a club owner and president of the southern league…. Time marches on..as I look at the box score of game 2 of the ’65 series on my office wall I am reminded of that. Don is the 11th player out of 22 that played in that game that have passed on….. Thanks for the memories “Mule”!!
Kitty
Here is a very nice note that I received from Lori Webb (VP – Operations) of the Southern League.
I was first introduced to Don Mincher when I was hired to work at the Southern League office in Marietta, GA in September 1994. At that time, he was owner and General Manager of the Huntsville Stars. When former president Arnold Fielkow resigned in early 2000, Don became Interim President and served in that capacity until he was elected president in October of that year. While Don chose to work out of his home office in Huntsville, I managed the league office from Marietta. We spoke on the phone almost every day until last September when he entered the hospital for surgery.
During the last 12 years we worked together, Don and I forged a strong and mutually respectful working relationship, and we also considered each other friends. Don was always willing to share his knowledge of the game and taught me a lot about baseball. He was “old school” in that respect, and it was always fun to be in his company when other former players were around – to hear their stories, the friendly ribbing back and forth, and to just be in the presence of a former Major Leaguer who had such a love for the game of baseball and such a respect for the sport that turned into a lifelong career for him and his family. I especially remember Don introducing me to his old roommate, Harmon Killebrew, when we attended the annual Rickwood Classic game in Birmingham a couple years ago. I sat and listened as these two old friends reminisced about “the good old days” and you could tell these two guys were cut from the same cloth. Perhaps they will meet up again now in heaven where they will both certainly reside for eternity.
What I will remember most about Don is that he was a family man first and last, and was a true Southern gentleman. He was my boss, but he was also my mentor and friend. I will miss him so much, but will always cherish the advice he gave me and I am so happy I was able to be associated with this very humble, decent, gentle, fair man for so many years. He had a lot of good friends not only in baseball, but in his beloved hometown of Huntsville, AL, as well.
Everyone that met Don Mincher considered him their friend. His dry wit, thoughtful consideration of matters big and small, and his genuine personna will be very greatly missed. It is certainly the end of an era in the Southern League with his passing, but we are all richer for having known him.
Thanks for this opportunity to share my thoughts about Don with you.
Lori M. Webb
VP – Operations
Southern League
David Laurila interview with Don Mincher that ran in Baseball Prospectus in January 2011. The interview is split in two part and well worth your time. Part 1Part 2
Don Mincher was a winner with a great love for life. He worked hard to become a great all-around player and he worked very hard on his defense. The fact that Harmon Killebrew also played 1st base kept Don from being an everyday player with the Twins. Don proved that by becoming an All-Star player when he was traded to other teams. But what I really loved about big Don was his attitude and personality. I was a rookie in 1965 and he played a big part in helping me on defense to position myself according to whom we were playing against. He made it fun.
When we won the American League championship, it was three days later and he (Mincher) approached manager Sam Mele. He said, Sam, could you answer a question I’ve wondered about? Sure Mule, what’s the question. Minch said, when you win a championship, when do you stop celebrating? It broke Mele up and he responded by saying, you’d better be ready for the World Series, or you’ll find out. Minch hit the first home run against the Dodgers in the Series. We’ll miss him as a friend and a great teammate. “Save a place for us up there Mule”
A conference on the mound during a Twins – Red Sox game between Twins pitcher Dave Boswell in one of his early career starts, manager Sam Mele and catcher Earl Battey after Boswell’s first three pitches were hit for two doubles and a home run.
Manager Sam Mele: What’s he got?
Catcher Earl Battey: I don’t know, I haven’t caught a pitch yet.
December 30, 2009 – The Minnesota Twins have had 12 managers since the team moved here from Washington after the 1960 season. I thought that it would be interesting to see how many games each of them had played at the major league and minor league level before they moved into “management” so to speak and to see if there is any correlation between playing experience and managing a team at the major league level. The games listed below are strictly games played and not coached or managed either in the minors or majors.
July 4, 2009 – Here are some fun and interesting quotes pertaining to the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators that I found in The Sports Illustrated archives.
Frank Kostro, Minnesota Twins utility man: “So far I’ve played right, left and first base and I’m Polish. Does that make me a utility pole?” – 4/29/1968
Mickey Mantle, injured Yankee, after batting practice at the Minnesota Twins’ Metropolitan Stadium: “This is the greatest home-run stadium I’ve ever seen. If this were my home park I’d hit 90 homers some year.” – 7/29/1963
Dick Erickson, head groundkeeper at Met Stadium in Bloomington, MN. asked what his job would be if the Twins and Vikings move into a domed stadium in 1981: “I guess I’ll just scrape the bubble gum off the field.” – 12/18/1978
Dave St. Peter, Twins president, on having real grass in the ballpark that Minnesota plans to open in 2010: “It will be a great joy to see somebody riding a mower instead of a vacuum cleaner.” – 9/24/2007
Sam Mele, to his family after he was fired by the Minnesota Twins: “What are you crying for? All these years you’ve been saying you’d like to have me home for the summer. Well, that’s where I’ll be now.” – 6/19/1967
Ellis Clary, Minnesota Twins scout, whose team is in the thick of its divisional race despite one of baseball’s lowest payrolls: “We’ve got the only players who’ll make more in their World Series shares than in salary.” – 8/6/1984
Calvin Griffith, 285-pound former owner of the Minnesota Twins upon running into equally hefty Craig Kusick, a onetime Twins first baseman who now teaches high school phys ed: “You and I should attend some of your classes.”
Ron Davis, former Minnesota Twin reliever who had a knack for giving up late-game homers, on the boos he still hears at appearances in the Twin Cities: “When it’s 10 years later and they still hate you, that’s what you call charisma.” – 2/20/1995
Mrs. Laura Quilici, hearing that her son Frank had been named manager of the Minnesota Twins: “Oh, the poor kid. He’s going to get an ulcer now.” – 7/17/1972
Jim DeShaies, Minnesota Twin pitcher on ignoring baseball tradition and changing his seat in the dugout during teammate Scott Erickson’s recent no-hitter: “I think everybody gets caught up in superstitions. But I don’t put much stock in them—knock on wood.” – 5/16/1994
Tony Perez, Cincinnati Reds coach, on wire-service reports that pitcher John Smiley was unhappy about his trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Minnesota Twins: ” John Smiley is going to change his name to John Frowny.” 4/6/1992
Don Baylor, Minnesota Twins DH, on why he would say no if George Steinbrenner offered him the Yankees’ managing job: “I came into this game sane, and I want to leave it sane.” – 10/19/1987
Cookie Lavagetto, manager of the likely last place Washington Senators, after reprimand by Commissioner Ford Frick for saying the Yankees would win pennant by 15 games: “I wanted to get them overconfident so we could beat them.” – 4/14/1958
Billy Gardner, Minnesota Twins manager, on outfielder Darrell (Downtown) Brown, who has hit one home run in 591 career at bats: “That must be an awful small town.”
Tom Kelly, Minnesota Twins manager, explaining why he made pitcher Pat Mahomes walk off the field with him after pulling him during a 17-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers: “Then we would have to take only half the boos each.” – 5/10/1993
Junior Oriz, Minnesota Twins catcher, after teammate Scott Erickson threw a two-hitter for his 12th straight win: “He’s unbelievable. He’s like that guy in Texas who’s 41, or 42, or 43.”
Sam Mele, ousted Minnesota Twins manager, asked what he had noticed most about the club this summer: “They got going right after I left.” – 9/25/1967
Gene Mauch, Minnesota Twins manager, on having a blood relative, Roy Smalley on his team: “Sometimes I look on Roy as my nephew, but sometimes only as my sister’s son.” – 5/26/1980
Hal Naragon, Minnesota Twins catcher, on whether Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski will turn out to be the Red Sox new Ted Williams: “He’s like Ted from the shoelaces down.” – 9/18/1961
Gene Mauch, of the Minnesota Twins, who is in his first year as an American League manager: “I’ve seen more inferior umpiring so far this season than I saw in 16 years as a manager in the National League.” – 7/19/1976
Calvin Griffith, president of the Washington Senators, who once promised to keep the club in Washington “as long as I live,” in an amendment: “As long as we make a living.” – 7/14/1958
