Former Expo Ryan Minor dies at 49

December 26, 2023

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Former Montreal Expos third baseman Ryan Minor passed away on Friday after a courageous battle with colon cancer.

He was 49.

His twin brother, Damon, who also played in the big leagues, shared the sad news on social media.

Minor is best remembered as the player who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. at third base for the Baltimore Orioles on September 20, 1998 when Ripken ended his iron-man streak at 2,632 games.

“I guess it’s better to talk about it than to be forgotten,” Minor told Yahoo Sports in 2018 about being linked to the end of Ripken’s streak. “I like to talk baseball.”

But Minor saw his most big league action with the Expos in 2001 when he suited up for 55 games with the club. That was also his final major league campaign.

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Multisport star

Born on January 5, 1974 in Canton, Ohio, Minor went to Hammon High School in Hammon, Okla., where he grew to 6-foot-7 and was a standout baseball and basketball player.

Not surprisingly, he also starred in both sports at the University of Oklahoma. On the diamond, he pitched and played first base, while on the hardcourt, he was a high scoring forward.

In 1994, he helped lead the Sooners to a College World Series title and the next year he was named Big Eight Player of the Year for his hoops prowess. After his senior season, Minor was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 1996 NBA draft. He had been telling baseball scouts that he planned to pursue a pro basketball career, but the Orioles took a flier on him in the 33rd round.

The 6-foot-7 Minor suited up for seven pre-season games with the 76ers before he was released. He later played 32 contests for the Oklahoma City Cavalry of the Continental Basketball Association.

Signs with Orioles

But Minor was also convinced to sign with the Orioles and he began his pro career with their Rookie Ball team in Bluefield in 1996. And when the O’s invited him to big league spring training in 1997, he quit basketball to focus on the diamond.

The 1997 season was a breakout campaign for Minor. With the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds, he batted .307 with 24 home runs and 42 doubles in 134 games. He was promoted to double-A Bowie in 1998 and hit .250 with 17 home runs and 71 RBIs in 138 games prior to being recalled by the O’s.

He’d play in nine big league contests that year, including his historic September 20th start in place of Ripken. In that game, Minor went 1-for-4 and was flawless defensively at the hot corner in the O’s 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees at Camden Yards.

Traded to Expos

Unfortunately, Minor was cursed with the label of being Ripken’s heir apparent in Baltimore — a label that was impossible to live up to. Minor batted .194 in 46 games for the O’s in 1999 and then .131 in 32 contests in 2000 before he was dealt to the Expos for right-hander Jorge Julio on December 22, 2000.

Just eight days earlier the Expos had acquired third baseman Fernando Tatis from the St. Louis Cardinals and Tatis was penciled in as the club’s starting third baseman, which left Minor in an uphill battle for playing time.

In spring training in 2001, Expos manager Felipe Alou encouraged Minor to learn to play outfield to improve his versatility, and Minor embraced that challenge.

“People think I’ve played a lot, but I’ve only played four years of professional baseball,” Minor told the Montreal Gazette early in camp that year. “I started late, and so I’m still kind of young at this. But given an opportunity, I think I could help this team.”

True to his word, Minor did help the team early that spring. In a contest against the Cardinals on March 9, he started in left field and went 3-for-4 with two home runs in an Expos’ 9-8 loss.

But with Tatis and Geoff Blum above him on the Expos’ depth chart at third base, Minor was optioned to the triple-A Ottawa Lynx on March 22.

Hot start with Expos

Less than two months later, Minor was recalled when Tatis was sidelined by a knee injury. In his first regular season action with the Expos, Minor went 2-for-2 in an Expos’ 7-2 loss to the Dodgers at Olympic Stadium on May 16. The following day he belted his first home run as an Expo – a solo shot off Dodgers reliever Terry Adams in the eighth inning – in an Expos’ 3-1 win.

Two days later, Minor enjoyed his second two-hit game for the Expos in a 20-7 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Through his first four games with the Expos, Minor went 5-for-13, good for a .385 batting average. But it was mostly downhill from there, as he was shuffled between triple-A and the Expos. Minor finished the season 15-for-95 (.158 batting average) in 55 games with the Expos.

Claimed by Mariners

On November 16, 2001, Minor was claimed off waivers from the Expos by the Seattle Mariners. He’d spend part of a season in triple-A with the Mariners and parts of two others in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ and Florida Marlins’ organizations.

He completed his playing career with the independent Atlantic League’s Lancaster Barnstormers in 2005.

Coaching career

Minor then transitioned into coaching with the Atlantic League’s Road Warriors in 2006 and two years later, he’d rejoin the Orioles’ organization as a hitting coach for the Delmarva Shorebirds.

In 2010, he became the manager of the Shorebirds and continued in that role through 2012. After one season as a skipper of the class-A Advanced Frederick Keys, Minor returned to Delmarva to serve as their dugout boss from 2014 to 2017.

His final pro managerial gig came with the Detroit Tigers’ Rookie ball Florida Complex League team in 2021.

In August, the Delmarva Shorebirds retired Minor’s No. 44. It was the first number the team has retired. Last month, it was announced that Minor would be part of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame’s class of 2024.

Minor is survived by his wife Allyson and two daughters, Regan and Finley.