After battling health issues for several years, Don Mincher is retiring as president of the Class AA Southern League, effective immediately.
Mincher conveyed the news to Southern League owners at the league’s meetings in Pensacola.
Steve DeSalvo, general manager of the Mississippi Braves and vice president of the Southern League, will assume the role of interim president until a new president is elected. A search for a replacement is underway.
Mincher was elected president of the league in 2000. Before becoming president, he was general manager of the Southern League’s Huntsville Stars from 1984 until he assembled a group of local owners who purchased the team in 1994. He sold his interest in the club when he was elected president of the League in 2000. He played 13 seasons in the Major League, capped off by a World Series win in 1972 as a member of the Oakland Athletics.
A success on and off the field, Mincher was enshrined in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, as well as being presented with the Warren Giles Award for Minor League Baseball’s most outstanding service as a league president that same year. In 2010, Mincher was named “King of Baseball” — the highest honor bestowed by Minor League Baseball.
He’s not totally leaving the scene: He will serve as President Emeritus of the Southern League.
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