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Whatever Happened to Mike Reinbach?


BRobinsonfan

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Mike was a 1st round draft pick in 1970 for the Orioles.  In 1974 at the age of 24 he earned his cup of coffee with the Orioles playing in just 12 games in which he was 5 for 20.  He was sent back to the minors for the 1975 season where he slashed a respectable .290/.375/.439 in 435 at bats at AAA.  

He had success in the minor leagues before getting his chance in the bigs.  For example, in 1972 he hit .348/.458/.628 in 141 games split between AA/AAA with 31 homers!  

After the 1975 campaign he was done.  I know the Orioles had Paul Blair, Ken Singleton and Don Baylor in the outfield in 1975 but it seems like Reinbach could have been a fourth outfielder or at least trade bait.  Does anyone know what happened to him?   

 

 

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According to Baseball Reference, Reinbach played five years for Hanshin in the Japan League from 1976-80.  He hit .296 over the five years, averaging about 19 HR and 65 RBI per season.

His life came to a sad end in 1989 when he drove his car off a cliff.

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On 10/20/2022 at 10:26 PM, WillyM said:

According to Baseball Reference, Reinbach played five years for Hanshin in the Japan League from 1976-80.  He hit .296 over the five years, averaging about 19 HR and 65 RBI per season.

His life came to a sad end in 1989 when he drove his car off a cliff.

Very sad, if he took his own life. Do you this is what happened?

I could only find this:

Quote

Reinbach retired after his 1980 season at Japan and spent most of the decade as a pioneer in the burgeoning home computer industry. He was killed in an automobile accident in 1989, when his car went off a precipice in Palm Desert, California while driving to Palm Springs. He was 39 years old.

 

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I found this on him. Seems like it was not a suicide, but an accident:

"Recently, Mike's ex-Sister-in-Law Lin was kind enough to email me and set the record straight.

I considered Mike another brother even after he and my sister split he was still part of my family. I met Mike when I was 12 and he been dating my older sister, Mike was an only child so he was intrigued by the interactions of my family (4 kids) and my uncle who lived with us at the time. I was devastated at his death. I will let you know that he did not commit suicide. He was driving to Palm Springs with his girlfriend who also had a young child. I spoke with her after Mike's death but have lost touch with her, she was badly injured but survived the accident. She wrote to me after she was released from the hospital to let me know that it was purely an accident. So it has been frustrating to see reports that he committed suicide, he had so much to live for and was loved and would never have left his son this way."

http://baseballcardbreakdown.blogspot.com/2015/11/setting-mike-reinbach-story-straight.html

Interesting fellow to look back at is stats though. This guy's blog has a lot of info on his baseball cards and such.

Saying that, he's a guy I like to play with in Out of the Park Baseball and see if they could have had a major league career. Imagine if we had a 22-year old left-handed hitting outfielder who slashed .346/.457/.617/1.074 with 30 HR, 97 BB to 81 Ks? Now, he did play half his games at McCormick Field where the RF line was just 297 ft and right-center just 326 ft so that certainly helped his power output. Light hitting Royal Stillman, also a left-handed hitter hit a career high 23 homers there. His next highest output was 14 in Rochester in 1975.

Now he did make 15 errors in the OF which is pretty bad, so it's possible that he was a pretty bad defensive outfielder. 

The next year in Rochester (AAA) he lost a bunch of time when he broke his ankle so his numbers were down. He got an invitation to spring training in 1974 and actually made he team, but Earl Weaver used him sparingly and mostly as a pinch hitter, with him getting just 3 starts at DH, and only one in RF, laying further claim that he was probably a pretty bad defensive outfielder.

In his last major league at bat, he pinched hit for Mark Belanger in the bottom of the 9th and struck out against Steve Foucault in a 4-2 loss to the Rangers on 1 June. He was sent back to Rochester and it appears he didn't play a ton there either, and ended up slashing just .233/.325/.380/.705. 

In 1975, at 25-years old, he actually put up a good year in Rochester slashing .290/.375/.439/.814 in 501 PAs, but never even got a call up in September on a poor hitting Orioles team. While Ken Singleton blocked him at RF, the Orioles played 36-year old Tommy Davis at DH where he slashed just .283/.315/.357/.671 at DH including just .273/.306/.359/.665 in 344 PAs against right-handers. You got to wonder whether Reinbach would have done better with those PAs?

After the Orioles traded for Reggie Jackson, Reinbach reached out to the Hansin Giants and mad a deal. He would go on to have a great career over there becoming a fan favorite for his hustle and homeruns. 

This article gives a great recap over there including a video where he hots a home run (starting at 1:12 mark.)

https://www.thehanshintigers.com/team-history/imports-year-by-year/mike-reinbach/

Maybe I will go back and run a season with him as DH instead of Tommy Davis in 1975. If I do I'll give you guys the results. 

reinbach-baseballcard.jpg.afa57730112139141dd893391d0f4f47.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/26/2022 at 10:58 PM, WillyM said:

The Baseball Reference item left it very much open to question whether Reinbach had committed suicide or not.

Thanks to Tony-OH for setting the record straight.

You're welcome. I honestly wondered myself so I started some research. I love doing that kind of stuff.

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  • 1 month later...
On 10/26/2022 at 2:16 PM, Tony-OH said:

I found this on him. Seems like it was not a suicide, but an accident:

"Recently, Mike's ex-Sister-in-Law Lin was kind enough to email me and set the record straight.

I considered Mike another brother even after he and my sister split he was still part of my family. I met Mike when I was 12 and he been dating my older sister, Mike was an only child so he was intrigued by the interactions of my family (4 kids) and my uncle who lived with us at the time. I was devastated at his death. I will let you know that he did not commit suicide. He was driving to Palm Springs with his girlfriend who also had a young child. I spoke with her after Mike's death but have lost touch with her, she was badly injured but survived the accident. She wrote to me after she was released from the hospital to let me know that it was purely an accident. So it has been frustrating to see reports that he committed suicide, he had so much to live for and was loved and would never have left his son this way."

http://baseballcardbreakdown.blogspot.com/2015/11/setting-mike-reinbach-story-straight.html

Interesting fellow to look back at is stats though. This guy's blog has a lot of info on his baseball cards and such.

Saying that, he's a guy I like to play with in Out of the Park Baseball and see if they could have had a major league career. Imagine if we had a 22-year old left-handed hitting outfielder who slashed .346/.457/.617/1.074 with 30 HR, 97 BB to 81 Ks? Now, he did play half his games at McCormick Field where the RF line was just 297 ft and right-center just 326 ft so that certainly helped his power output. Light hitting Royal Stillman, also a left-handed hitter hit a career high 23 homers there. His next highest output was 14 in Rochester in 1975.

Now he did make 15 errors in the OF which is pretty bad, so it's possible that he was a pretty bad defensive outfielder. 

The next year in Rochester (AAA) he lost a bunch of time when he broke his ankle so his numbers were down. He got an invitation to spring training in 1974 and actually made he team, but Earl Weaver used him sparingly and mostly as a pinch hitter, with him getting just 3 starts at DH, and only one in RF, laying further claim that he was probably a pretty bad defensive outfielder.

In his last major league at bat, he pinched hit for Mark Belanger in the bottom of the 9th and struck out against Steve Foucault in a 4-2 loss to the Rangers on 1 June. He was sent back to Rochester and it appears he didn't play a ton there either, and ended up slashing just .233/.325/.380/.705. 

In 1975, at 25-years old, he actually put up a good year in Rochester slashing .290/.375/.439/.814 in 501 PAs, but never even got a call up in September on a poor hitting Orioles team. While Ken Singleton blocked him at RF, the Orioles played 36-year old Tommy Davis at DH where he slashed just .283/.315/.357/.671 at DH including just .273/.306/.359/.665 in 344 PAs against right-handers. You got to wonder whether Reinbach would have done better with those PAs?

After the Orioles traded for Reggie Jackson, Reinbach reached out to the Hansin Giants and mad a deal. He would go on to have a great career over there becoming a fan favorite for his hustle and homeruns. 

This article gives a great recap over there including a video where he hots a home run (starting at 1:12 mark.)

https://www.thehanshintigers.com/team-history/imports-year-by-year/mike-reinbach/

Maybe I will go back and run a season with him as DH instead of Tommy Davis in 1975. If I do I'll give you guys the results. 

reinbach-baseballcard.jpg.afa57730112139141dd893391d0f4f47.jpg

Thanks for the great research on Mike.  If you ever run that simulation I'd love to see how it turns out.  

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