Arthur Grant Mills (March 2, 1903 – July 23, 1975) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. A

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, Mills worked in 19 games for the – 28 Boston Braves, and later spent five full seasons (– 48) as a coach for the Detroit Tigers of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Mills was the sole member of

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Steve O'Neill Stephen Francis O'Neill (July 6, 1891 – January 26, 1962) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, most notably with the Cleveland Indians. As a manager, he led the Detroit Tig ...

's coaching staff for the

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Tigers. He also spent 13 seasons in the minors as a player and coach. The native and lifelong resident of

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the ...

, was the son of "Wee Willie" Mills, a pitcher who appeared in two games for the New York Giants. Art Mills was 16 years old when he joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; he was discharged for being underage after service aboard the battleship

USS New Mexico (BB-40) USS ''New Mexico'' (BB-40) was a battleship in service with the United States Navy from 1918 to 1946. She was the lead ship of a class of three battleships, and the first ship to be named for the state of New Mexico. Her keel was laid down ...

. Listed as tall and , Mills began his professional pitching career in the Class A Eastern League in 1924, and after three seasons at that level, he made the opening day roster of the 1927 Braves, a struggling second-division team in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

. He appeared in 15 games, 14 as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

, and earned his only MLB decision when he was charged with an 8–7 loss to the Giants on July 3 at the Polo Grounds. Despite a creditable 3.82

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

, Mills was sent back to the minors for the balance of 1927. He was able to return to Boston for four more games with the Braves in . But he was ineffective in his second and final big-league trial. Overall with the Braves, he allowed 27

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

, 58 hits and 26 bases on balls, with only seven strikeouts, in 45

inning pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one inni ...

. He played his last game in organized baseball in 1934 and then returned to the semipro ranks in Utica from 1935–43. During his 1931–32 stint with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

of the International League, Mills was managed by former big-league

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

O'Neill, and when O'Neill was skipper of the Detroit Tigers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he named Mills to his coaching staff in 1944. Mills was the only full-time coach listed for the 1945 Tigers, who defeated the Chicago Cubs in seven games to become World Series champions during the last year of the World War II manpower shortage. O'Neill and his three-man coaching staff were released by Detroit after the 1948 season. Mills then coached in the top-level Pacific Coast League from 1949–51 before leaving the game. Mills died on July 23, 1975, in Utica. He is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Art 1903 births 1975 deaths Baseball players from New York (state) Boston Braves players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Detroit Tigers coaches Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball pitchers Sportspeople from Utica, New York Pittsfield Hillies players Providence Rubes players Rochester Tribe players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Williamsport Grays players Burials at Forest Hill Cemetery (Utica, New York)

See also

References

External links