Don Mincher died a few days ago. He’s among a handful of players whose names instantly bring Jim Bouton‘s Ball Four to mind. Here’s a look at some of Mincher’s career achievements.
Mincher was by far the best regular on offense for the 1969 Seattle Pilots. Only 6 guys appeared in at least 100 games for the Pilots (imagine that!) and the next highest OPS+ to Mincher’s 132 was Wayne Comer at 109.
Mincher was no stranger to excellent performance with the bat. In 1967, among first-basemen with at least 400 plate appearances, he slotted 4th overall in OPS+, right between Willie McCovey and Mickey Mantle.
In fact, the meat of Mincher’s career was great, with a 10 year run from 1962 to 1971 playing almost exclusively at first base, working to a 130 OPS+ over 4203 PAs.
Among the 13 players to play at least half their games at 1B over that period (and with 4000 PAs overall), Mincher had the 5th-best OPS+, just behind Orlando Cepeda:
Rk | Player | PA | Age | HR | RBI | Pos | Tm | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Willie McCovey | 164 | 5360 | 24-33 | 326 | 916 | *37/9 | SFG |
2 | Boog Powell | 137 | 5493 | 20-29 | 259 | 882 | *37/9 | BAL |
3 | Norm Cash | 134 | 5582 | 27-36 | 266 | 779 | *3/9 | DET |
4 | Orlando Cepeda | 134 | 5336 | 24-33 | 232 | 813 | *3/79 | SFG-TOT-STL-ATL |
5 | Don Mincher | 130 | 4203 | 24-33 | 187 | 583 | *3/97 | MIN-CAL-SEP-OAK-TOT |
6 | Bill White | 121 | 4246 | 28-35 | 131 | 566 | *3/97 | STL-PHI |
7 | Donn Clendenon | 118 | 4918 | 26-35 | 155 | 671 | *3/7985 | PIT-TOT-NYM |
8 | Ron Fairly | 116 | 5135 | 23-32 | 113 | 630 | *39/87 | LAD-TOT-MON |
9 | Deron Johnson | 112 | 4402 | 23-32 | 176 | 644 | *357/9 | KCA-CIN-ATL-PHI |
10 | Wes Parker | 111 | 4333 | 24-31 | 60 | 411 | *3/987 | LAD |
11 | Ernie Banks | 106 | 5189 | 31-40 | 214 | 778 | *3/5 | CHC |
12 | Joe Pepitone | 106 | 5108 | 21-30 | 208 | 681 | *38/97 | NYY-TOT-CHC |
13 | Danny Cater | 103 | 4059 | 24-31 | 52 | 434 | *375/948 | PHI-CHW-TOT-KCA-OAK-NYY |
To give you an idea of some career comps for Mincher, there are presently 4 players with 4,500-5,000 career plate appearances with an OPS+ between 125 and 130: Mincher, Chase Utley, Jason Bay, and Cliff Johnson. Obviously Utley and Bay will likely not finish in that group.
Rk | PA | From | To | HR | RBI | Pos | Tm | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ginger Beaumont | 5160 | 126 | 1901 | 1910 | 31 | 529 | *8/79 | PIT-BSN-CHC |
2 | Roy Campanella | 4815 | 123 | 1948 | 1957 | 242 | 856 | *2 | BRO |
3 | Ripper Collins | 4204 | 126 | 1931 | 1941 | 135 | 659 | *3/97 | STL-CHC-PIT |
4 | Roy Cullenbine | 4786 | 132 | 1938 | 1947 | 110 | 599 | *973/58 | DET-TOT-SLB-CLE |
5 | Alvin Davis | 5010 | 127 | 1984 | 1992 | 160 | 683 | *3D | SEA-CAL |
6 | Oscar Gamble | 5197 | 127 | 1969 | 1985 | 200 | 666 | D97/8 | CHC-PHI-CLE-NYY-CHW-SDP-TOT |
7 | Jim Ray Hart | 4236 | 127 | 1963 | 1974 | 170 | 578 | *57D/9 | SFG-TOT-NYY |
8 | Larry Hisle | 4780 | 123 | 1968 | 1982 | 166 | 674 | 87D9 | PHI-MIN-MIL |
9 | Bob Horner | 4213 | 127 | 1978 | 1988 | 218 | 685 | *53 | ATL-STL |
10 | Cliff Johnson | 4603 | 125 | 1972 | 1986 | 196 | 699 | *D32/79 | HOU-TOT-NYY-OAK-TOR |
11 | Sixto Lezcano | 4814 | 124 | 1974 | 1985 | 148 | 591 | *97/8D | MIL-STL-SDP-TOT-PHI-PIT |
12 | Don Mincher | 4725 | 127 | 1960 | 1972 | 200 | 643 | *3/97 | WSH-MIN-CAL-SEP-OAK-TOT |
13 | Stan Spence | 4445 | 125 | 1940 | 1949 | 95 | 575 | *89/73 | BOS-WSH-TOT |
14 | Riggs Stephenson | 5135 | 129 | 1921 | 1934 | 63 | 773 | *74/59 | CLE-CHC |
15 | Roy Thomas | 5198 | 123 | 1901 | 1911 | 7 | 219 | *8/79 | PHI-TOT-BSN |
If we limit the search to retired players and expand the group to 4,200-5,300 PAs, and OPS+ between 123 and 132, here is the group: