Don Mincher 1938-2012

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 OPS+ 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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/8/2012.

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 OPS+ 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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/8/2012.

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:

 

 

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Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago

I always remembered Don Mincher for having played for Washington Senators I & Minnesota Twins, and then Washington Senators II & Texas Rangers. Throw in the Seattle Pilots and that makes an interesting set of “Franchises Played For”.

RIP Don.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago

There was an excellent interview with Mincher a year or two ago in Baseball Prospectus. One of the interesting factoids is that he retired after the 1972 season, but Charlie Finley called him a few weeks after that, and asked him if he’d like to come back and be the A’s first DH. Mincher declined, but in the interview said he really wished he’d returned to play in 1973. He’s probably one of the best lifetime >.250 hitters ever*; a .249 lifetime BA, but a 127 OPS+. Run him through Neutralized Batting and he has .265 BA, batting over .300… Read more »

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Gene Tenace might be second-best(.241 career hitter, 48+ WAR).

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago

Mincher was a Twin during much of my formative baseball years in North Dakota, but he was never one of my favorites for no particular reason. But for those among us who may not have read Ball Four or at least Bill James’ comments on Mincher from it in his Historical Abstract; Bouton expected not to like Mincher & expected him to be a redneck but instead wound up holding him in pretty high regard. From every thing I’ve found about him since, I think a number of people felt that way. And another link to one of my favorites,… Read more »

AlbaNate
AlbaNate
12 years ago

Thanks for that first table–I hadn’t thought about Danny Cater in a looong time.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  AlbaNate

Danny Cater is best remembered as being traded by the Yankees to the Red Sox for Sparky Lyle, a really good trade for the Yankees. Those Sox never seemed to learn.

In 1968 Cater was second to Yaz for the batting title with a .290 average. Anybody know if this was the lowest runner-up BA ever?

Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago

I would guess it was the lowest runner-up all-time.

I checked the top 10’s by year list which has the top 10 in MLB by year and only 1968 and 1880 had the #10 spot as low as .291. Meaning Cater was not in the top 10 MLB averages in 1968.

But someone would need to check every year to ensure each league had 2 representatives within the top 10 to prove it for sure.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

There were also no players in 1968 who scored a 100 or more runs. Looking at the Leaderboards, this is the only non-shortened year (1918, 1981) since 1882 when no one scored a 100 or more runs.

There have been a 100 or more RBI in every non-shortened year since 1906.

Doug
Doug
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

Cater ranked 2nd in the AL for BA in 1968, but only 13th in MLB.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

The 1968 AL was the only season ever where only one player (Yaz,.301) hit .300 or better. Every other year there were at least two other .300 hitters, even in the AL of 1905 and 1945. I remember at the time that many veteran writers thought it was an outrage and complete disgrace to the game, that there was only one .300 hitter that year in the AL, and that he only hit .301. That led to a number a columns reminiscing about the “good ‘ole days” of the 20s/30s, when a guy wouldn’t even be a regular unless he… Read more »

Doug
Doug
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

It is a bit curious, though, that were was just one .300 hitter in the AL, but 5 in the NL (plus 6 more better the the AL’s number 2).

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago

Those Pilots had wheels.
First in the league in SB.
And Mincher, who had never attempted more than 5 steals in a season, attempted 21.
Only successful 10 times, though.

Imbroglio21
Imbroglio21
12 years ago

Even if they are a bit long to read, here are two very interesting pieces about Mincher:

Part 1 – http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12702
Part 2 – http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=12703

Steven
Steven
12 years ago

Not many Twins’ starting players left from that 1965 team.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

Mincher probably had the worst offensive context of any player since the dead-ball era. His first year as a regular was 1963. That year, AL scoring plunged to 4.08 R/G (from 4.44). Then 4.06, 3.94, 3.89, 3.70, 3.41 (’68), 4.09, 4.17, 3.87, and 3.47 in ’72, his final year. That’s a 10-year average of 3.87. In his first year away, AL scoring surged by 23% to 4.28 R/G. On the other hand … Mincher’s raw numbers probably benefited from being platooned, pretty strictly so when he was on a good team like the Twins. Only 20% of his career PAs… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Bill James had a short essay in his NBJHA on the subject you mention; the players with the worst offensive context for their careers. As I recall, Don Buford was at the top of the list for modern (since the deadball era) players. In B-R, under “Advanced Batting”, there is a stat called AIR, which measures the relative offensive levels of a batter’s era and park, with “average” at 100. Buford is at 88, Mincher at 91 – waaaay below average. Both played the majority of their career during the “second deadball era” of 1963-68. The career AIR of a… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

I wasn’t really familiar with Buford but WOW! Played 300+ games at left, 2nd, and 3rd with very good dWARs. Eight straight seasons of 2.0+ oWAR. Not bad for a guy who’s listed at 5’7, 160. (basically my size btw) Has to be one of the most underappreciated/unknown players in baseball history.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

BTW, Buford scored exactly 99 runs three years in a row. He missed between 18-40 games each of those seasons or he would have passed 100 easily. Poor guy never did reach 100 runs scored.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Kevin McReynolds was like that with RBI and HR, 1986-88: consecutive seasons of 96,95,and 99 RBI; 26, 29, and 27 HR. So he never reached 100 runs, RBI, 30 HR,or a .300 BA, despite being a pretty good player for nearly a decade.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

More fun with 99 runs scored…guess how many different players have a season of 99 runs scored? Yep…99!

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Seasons of exactly 99 Runs and 99 RBI:
– Herman Long, 1898
– Ty Cobb, 1922
– Ray Grimes, also 1922 (same year of his record 17 straight games with 1+ RBI)
– Billy Southworth, 1926

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Albert Pujols has scored and driven in over 100 runs every year of his career except 2007 when he scored 99 runs and 2011 when he drove in 99 runs.

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

And both of those season totals were like a kick in my gut. I loved the fact that Pujols was putting together the most beautiful looking back of a baseball card ever and hated that those 99s were gonna stand out. Obviously, his stats still look great.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

For 1969-71 combined (Orioles pennant seasons), Buford ranked 3rd in OBP among all MLB hitters with 1000+ PAs.

As for Buford scoring “just” 99 runs all 3 years, blame it on Weaver batting Mark Belanger #2 for about 100 games in that span.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I’ll guess without looking it up (scout’s honor!) that Willie McCovey was #1 by far.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Lawrence @29 — Oh, my, yes, by a big margin.
1) McCovey, .435
2) Killebrew, .409
3) Buford, .405

Care to guess the other 3 men at or above .400?

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

To be fair, in the third of those years, Buford led the league in runs scored, despite playing only 122 games.

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

“Care to guess the other 3 men at or above .400?”

John, in spite of the fact that I’m almost certain that I’m going to come off looking like an idiot & following Lawrence’s lead of not cheating, I will guess: Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and…. someone else

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Yep.

Looks like the only one I got right was “someone else”.

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I’ll take a stab (I promise I haven’t looked). I’ll guess Joe Torre(for that .360ish BA in ’71), Yaz, and Tony Oliva. Oliva is probably wrong but I couldn’t think of anyone else.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Not surprisingly, Colorado Rockies players, who play in Coors Field (the “Baker Bowl” of the mid/late 90s) are at the other end of the AIR scale, having the _highest_ offensive context:

CAREER AIR:
Helton: 123 (the humidor doesn’t seem to have as much an effect as some people think)
Castilla: 120
Bichette: 118
Walker: 117 (95 and below his first four years)
Galarraga: 109 (above 100 only one of his 1st 8 years)
Burks: 109 (above 101 once his first seven years)

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

I wonder if any other player with exactly 1 PA in a World Series made as much of it as Mincher did? Game 4 of the ’72 Series, last of the 9th, A’s trailing 2-1 with 1 out and 2 on. Mincher, who’d only gotten 64 PAs since rejoining Oakland in a July 20 trade (hitting .148 without a HR), pinch-hit for Dick Green against Clay Carroll, who that year set a new MLB record with 37 saves, and had tossed 9 scoreless innings in the 1970 WS. Mincher singled to RF, plating the tying run and sending Gene Tenace… Read more »

Doug
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Some other good 1 PA WS careers:
– Bobby Kielty, 2007, Game 4, leadoff HR in 8th inning providing eventual margin of victory in 4-3 series clinching win for Red Sox
– Geoff Blum, 2005, Game 3, 2-out solo HR in 14th inning for go-ahead and eventual winning run
– Jesse Orosco, 1986, Game 7, RBI single in 8th inning extends Mets lead as Orosco earns 2-inning save in series clinching win
– Lefty O’Doul, 1933, Game 2, with Giants trailing 1-0, pinch-hit 2-RBI single puts Giants ahead and ignites a big 6-run frame for eventual 6-1 win

Doug
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

The games in #12 were for a single PA in a player’s entire WS career.

For a single PA in one particular WS, I still like Kirk Gibson in 1988. Yes, it was game 1, but the shock value of that 9th inning come-from-behind win completely changed the tone of the series in which the As were so heavily favored, not least because of Eckersley, seemingly invincible but now suddenly humanly frail.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Er, um, yes — obviously Gibson’s HR is the creme de la creme of 1-PA World Series achievements, and I should have noted that explicitly.

PhilM
PhilM
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

How abot Onix Concepcion in 1985, Game 6? He gets “credit” for a Todd Worrell/Darrell Porter passed ball (maybe he was psyching them out from second base?), eventually scoring the tying run with Sundberg right behind him as the game-winner. Concepcion did get into two other games as a pinch runner, but still with no plate appearances: so he earned .207 WPA for zero plate appearances!

Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I remember the A’s pinch-hitting as being really effective during those early 1970’s world series’. Along with Mincher and Mangual – Gonzalo Marquez also got some pinch hits in that 1972 series.

Tmckelv
Tmckelv
12 years ago
Reply to  Tmckelv

Add Pat Bourque, Claudell Washington, Jim Holt, Vic Davalillo, Deron Johnson, George Hendrick, Dave Duncan, Tommy Davis & Jesus Alou to the list of A’s getting Pinch Hits during the Playoffs/World Series from 71-75. Unfortunately the same could not be said for super pinch runner Herb Washington. In the 1974 playoffs he pinch ran in 2 games with 2 CS. Then in the World Series he got picked off in his first game. He must have stayed put after that as he finshed the 1974 post season with 5 G, 0 SB, 2 CS, 1 Pick-off, 0 R. His Post-season… Read more »

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

In his first time up in the WS (1965), Mincher hit a game-tying HR off Don Drysdale, and the Twins routed him. Mincher hadn’t played much (or done much) against lefties that year, but he started every game of that Series. They beat Koufax in game 2, and Mincher had a single in 3 trips against Sandy. But he went 0-6 in games 5 and 7 as Koufax tossed a pair of shutouts (7 hits combined) to give LA the title.

Dr. Remulak
Dr. Remulak
12 years ago

Mincher’s mediocre stats and high OPS+ underscore the “pitcher’s era” in which he played. Besides the higher mound and generally larger ballparks, what else contributed to this anomolous era (strike zone?)?

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Remulak

Starting in 1963 the definition of the strike zone went from “the knees to the shoulders” to “the BOTTOM of the knees to the shoulders.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago

Mincher is one of three players to finish with exactly 200 home runs. The other two are Bill Freehan and Oscar Gamble. Had Mincher played just a little less in his final stop in Oakland, he might have pulled off the quite rare feat of having exactly 1,000 base hits and 200 home runs (he finished with 1,003 hits and none of his last 3 hits were home runs).

Other players to finish with a round number of homeruns:

100 Home Runs: Augie Galan, Duke Sims, Bruce Bochte, John Kruk, Randy Velarde

300 Home Runs: Chuck Klein

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Following up here…two players – Birdie Tebbets and Dee Fondy finished their careers with exactly 1,000 basehits. No one finished with exactly 2,000 hits. Jimmy Collins with 1,999 was the closest. And of course, Clemente finished with 3,000 hits.

Doug
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Tangent alert (barely a tangent, actually).

I happened to be looking at Yaz’s splits and, for his career, he had 6996 PAs at home and the exact same total on the road. What would be the chances of that?

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug,

I’d guess the chances would be about the same as Stan Musial having 1815 hits at home, and 1815 hits on the road…

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I always thought it was cool that Henry Aaron and Babe Ruth finished with the exact same amount of runs scored: 2,174. Pete Alexander and Christy Mathewson tying at 373 career wins is also neat.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago

OPS+ used by itself is limiting, but it does provide quick context.

Michner’s career OPS+ of 127 is higher than Mark Teixeira’s OPS+s the last two years, and his 1967 OPS+ is higher than Adrian Gonzalez’s 2011 OPS+.

I’m not suggesting he’s a better first baseman than Tex or A-Gon, since among other things he was platooned, but he was much better than his traditional stats suggest.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago

#30/ John A.,

Howzabout: Yaz, Willie Stargell, Rico Carty, Reggie Jackson, Dick Allen, Joe Torre, Billy Williams? (I’m thinking of guys who had monster years in those three years).

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Yaz fell just short at .399.
There were just 3 others with a combined .400 OBP in 1969-71:
4) Rusty Staub, .404
5)-6) Frank Robinson and Dick Dietz, .400

Dick Dietz’s random 1970 season (.300/.426/.515, 109 walks, 107 RBI) ranks #11 all-time in batting runs by a catcher. He actually was always a pretty good hitter with an insane walk rate (119 BB/700 PA), but he couldn’t stay healthy for long.

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

If you’re interested in catchers with insane walk rates, check out Wes Westrum, especially in 1951 – a .219 BA, but a .400 OBA. That’s what 104 walks against only 79 hits will do. Since they won the pennant after the three-game playoff, the Giants probably needed almost every walk he drew. He wasn’t the overall hitter that Dietz was.

For his career, Westrum had a .217 BA, but a .356 OBA.
Trivia note: he was on the very first Sports Illustrated cover in 1954; he was the catcher, Eddie Mathews was the batter, and Augie Donatelli was the umpire.

Doug
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Thanks for the tip, Lawrence.

I have a post coming up about someone very similar. I’ll be sure to mention the similarity to Westrum.

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

When I hear about catchers and high walk rates (and very nomminal BA’s) I think about Gene Tenace. Counting partial years, he had seven seasons with more walks than hits and six years of 100+ walks.

Doug
Doug
12 years ago
Reply to  bstar

Bingo. Another good comp. Thanks.

Luis Gomez
Luis Gomez
12 years ago
Reply to  bstar

When I hear about catchers with “insane walk rates” I think about Manny Sanguillen.

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  bstar

Yeah, I think that Manny thought that getting on base by a walk was cheating somehow. But off the top of my head, he may have been the best “bad ball” hitter between Yogi (another catcher!) and Vlad.