Frank Peters

Francis Joseph Peters

• Bats Right, Throws: Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight: 195 lb.
• School Oregon State University
• High School Anaheim High School

• Born March 25, 1944 in Corvallis, OR USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Frank Peters played 10 seasons in the minors, five of them in AAA.

Peters began his career in the Baltimore Orioles chain. He split 1964 between the Stockton Ports (.304) and the Elmira Pioneers (.234). In 1965, Frank batted .323 with 16 homers for Stockton and .167/.259/.184 for Elmira. In 1966, he spent all season with Elmira, hitting .258/.356/.381 with 78 walks and 83 runs. He also led Eastern League third basemen in fielding percentage (.952), assists (308), putouts (88), errors (20) and double plays (22). He was four runs shy of the league lead.

The Oregon native moved up to AAA in 1967 and would never drop lower until his days as a player-manager. He hit .241/.310/.382 for the '67 Rochester Red Wings. A utility infielder, he was .004 shy of the International League in fielding at short with a .974 mark and his .971 would have led third basemen had he qualified.

In 1968, Peters batted .247/.309/.362 for Rochester, primarily manning second base. Baltimore at the time had a major league infield of Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Davey Johnson and Boog Powell so there was little demand for Frank's infield skills at that level.

Peters returned to Rochester in 1969 and hit .282 in his first 36 games before finishing the year with the Vancouver Mounties (.278/.333/.323 in 95 G). In 1970, Frank joined the Milwaukee Brewers chain, starting a 3-year stretch of different organizations each year, all three with the Portland Beavers, oddly enough. He hit .249/.306/.339 in 1970; had he qualified, his .990 fielding percentage would have led Pacific Coast League second sackers.

In 1971, Portland was a Minnesota Twins affiliate and Peters batted .317/.359/.425 for his best season; he missed the PCL's top 10 in average by .010. He spent his last year with Portland in 1972 when they were part of the Cleveland Indians chain; he hit .245/.309/.303 and threw a scoreless inning.

He managed the 1974-1975 Portland Mavericks, maintaining his ties to Portland baseball. On August 31, 1974, he undertook the most unusual strategy of having each player play each position for an inning; Portland won the game over the Tri-City Ports, 8-7. He also played regularly in 1974, hitting .283/.358/.425 while going 1-1 with a save and a 5.63 ERA on the mound.