Richard Alan Mills (January 29, 1945 – March 28, 2015) was a former right-handed

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 ...

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 had originally been drafted by the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in the 1965 amateur draft and by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in the January 1966 draft, but did not sign with a Major League team until he was drafted by his hometown

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in June 1966. He made his Major League debut for Boston in 1970, coming into the sixth inning in relief of

Chuck Hartenstein Charles Oscar Hartenstein (May 26, 1942 – October 2, 2021) was an American professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for five different teams between the 1966 and 1977 seasons. Listed at , , Hartenstein bat ...

to finish an 8–2 blowout loss to the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

. His only other Major League appearance came in relief in another blowout, pitching two-thirds of an inning in an eventual 13–2 loss to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

. Mills is the father of Ryan Mills, who pitched for seven seasons in the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

minor league system. The elder Mills began a website about pitching and pitching instruction. On that website, he noted that the injury-plagued

Mark Prior Mark William Prior (born September 7, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current coach. A onetime top prospect of the Chicago Cubs, he pitched for the team from 2002 to 2006 in a career that was marred by injuries. In ...

had scapular loading in his pitching mechanics. He died of

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

on March 28, 2015.

References

External links

All About Pitching
- Dick Mills's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Dick 1945 births 2015 deaths Baseball players from Massachusetts Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Red Sox players Covington Red Sox players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Pawtucket Red Sox players Winston-Salem Red Sox players Pittsfield Red Sox players Greenville Red Sox players Deaths from cancer in Arizona Deaths from melanoma