Baseball profile: Doug Mientkiewicz—Minnesota Twins

Baseball Digest, Sept, 2003 by Rick Sorci

FULL NAME: Douglas Andrew Mientkiewicz

AGE, HT., WT.: 29, 6-2, 200

Born: June 19, 1974 in Toledo, Ohio

HOME: Ft. Myers, Florida

STATUS/FAMILY: Married (wife Jodi)

NICKNAME: Mint

LIFE OUTSIDE BASEBALL: Non-stop fishing

SPORTS HERO WHEN I WAS YOUNG: Dan Marino (former Dolphins quarterback)

PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED ME THE MOST: My parents. My dad was a hard working, blue collar man. He'd work all day and then come home and have time to be a good father. That was inspiration and it rubbed off on me. I hope I'll be half the father my dad was.

BEST ADVICE ANYONE EVER GAVE ME: I received a lot of good advice. My dad's motto was hard work pays off.

PLAYERS, PAST OR PRESENT, I'D PAY TO WATCH PLAY: George Brett, Mark Grace, Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez.

HOBBIES: Fishing

TYPE OF CAR: 1995 GMC Yukon--I have more than 114,000 miles on it.

FAVORITE ACTOR: Al Pacino FAVORITE MOVIE: Scarface

FAVORITE TV SHOW: Spanish Fly, a saltwater fishing program on ESPN

FAVORITE MUSIC: All kinds, but mainly Rock

FAVORITE FOOD: Chicken

FAVORITE BALLPARK: Wrigley Field

PLAYER I LEARNED THE MOST FROM: Alex Rodriguez. We both went to Westminster Christian High School in Miami, Florida. I graduated in 1992 and he graduated in '93. It was nothing he said, it was just watching him play. He was bigger and stronger than everyone else. In high school, you saw a little bit here and a little bit there, but his skills since then became very fine-tuned in a very short period of time.

THE TRUE SIGN OF SUCCESS: Respect

THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTE A BASEBALL PLAYER NEEDS: Humbleness

FAVORITE PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM OUTSIDE OF BASEBALL: Miami Dolphins

CHARACTERISTIC I ADMIRE MOST IN A PERSON: Determination

BEST TIME OF MY LIFE/WHY? I'd say winning the gold medal on Team USA in 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. There's only one other guy in the big leagues who has a gold medal. That's Tino Martinez. When I'm done playing baseball, that's something I can always look back on. Life is pretty good right now with our club being in contention.

IF I COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT BASEBALL IT WOULD BE: No more left-handed relievers.

IF NOT A BASEBALL PLAYER I WOULD HAVE BEEN: A captain on a fishing charter boat.

BEHIND MY BACK THEY SAY: I would hope they say I'm a gamer; or they might say I'm a rotten S.O.B. When we lose, I'm mean. I hate losing.

TOUGHEST PITCHER I'VE FACED: Ricardo Rincon, a lefty reliever. I got one hit off of him in three years.

LIFE AFTER BASEBALL: Fishing ... constantly. I want to have my own charter boat.

MY BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Probably my rookie season (1999) because nothing went right. Also losing to Anaheim in last season's ALCS.

MY MOST EMBARRASSING BASEBALL EXPERIENCE: Having to go to the plate with my numbers being posted on the scoreboard in 1999, my rookie year. Another was last season in Boston, I went to throw a ball into my glove after a play and missed. The ball getting away allowed a run to score in a one-run game.

MY MOST MEMORABLE GAME: It came in the semifinal game of the Olympics when I hit a walk-off homer against South Korea to put us in the gold medal game. We had tied the game in the eighth inning and got the leadoff batter on base in the ninth. I was supposed to move the runner over with a bunt, but he got picked off first. The next pitch, I hit out to win the game.