Former Oklahoma Basketball, Baseball Star Ryan Minor Dies at Age 49

Ryan Minor, a former two-sport Oklahoma Sooners star who played three seasons for the Baltimore Orioles before becoming a longtime minor-league coach in Maryland, died Friday after a battle with cancer.

Minor was 49 years old. He was diagnosed in September 2022 with Stage IV colon cancer and recently entered hospice.

The news was shared on social media by his twin brother, Damon Minor.

As a member of the OU basketball team, Minor was named the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year in 1995. He averaged 16.5 points per game through four seasons with the Sooners.

He also spent three seasons on the OU baseball team alongside Damon. Joined the roster late each spring after the conclusion of basketball season, Minor batted .266 with 11 home runs, 15 doubles and 43 RBIs in 203 career at-bats.

Minor contributed to one of the most dominant seasons in Oklahoma baseball history, when the team went 42-17 during the regular season before going undefeated in the NCAA Tournament on their way to a College World Series title.

He was selected in the third round of the 1996 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Instead, Minor went to the MLB, where he went on to make history with the Baltimore Orioles. He was the player who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. to end his consecutive games played streak at 2,632 against the New York Yankees on Sept. 20, 1998.

After spending parts of three seasons with the Orioles and one with the Montreal Expos, Minor ended his MLB career after 142 games.

He went on to become a longtime coach in the Orioles farm system. The Delmarva Shorebirds, the Single-A affiliate of the O's, honored Minor as the first Shorebirds jersey ever retired in an August ceremony.

He is survived by his wife, Allyson, and their daughters Regan and Finley.