Saturday, March 14

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The practice fields at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches are where Astros fans spend their spring mornings, hoping for a glimpse of their favorite player passing between practice fields or maybe get an autograph or a picture.

For 89-year-old Astros fan Jan Mingus, it’s the highlight of her year.

“I just enjoy the weather in Florida, and I like the sound of the bat hitting the ball and the ball hitting the glove,” she said. “Just the whole atmosphere.”

If you’ve spent any time on the back fields, you’ve seen Mingus, who is unmistakable with white hair coming out from under her blue cowboy hat, an orange shirt and wonderful smile. She stands along the railing that separates the fans and players each day in search of that one autograph she needs. Or even a hug from a young player.

“One year, Altuve gave me a hug every single day,” she said.

The players call her “Grandma Jan.” Altuve, when told recently that Mingus was 89 years old, smiled and said she looks 15 years younger.

“She loves getting autographs watching practice and watching the game,” he said. “She’s awesome. She’s probably the best Astros fan ever.”

There are plenty of fans who’ve been around longer, but few can match the passion of Mingus. She grew up listening to Yankees games in Binghamton, N.Y., and moved to Houston in 1991, quickly becoming an Astros fan. Baseball is her blood. Her uncle, Glenn Spencer, pitched for the Pirates from 1928-33.

She started coming to Spring Training with her kids on the weekends and liked it so much that she started coming for a week. Then for six weeks, which she has been doing for about 20 years. Mingus attends the morning workouts and then watches home games from her chair atop section 105, keeping a scorebook with the MLB GameDay app on her phone. She doesn’t miss a pitch.

“This keeps her alive,” said Astros fan Sabrina Gettler, who rents a home with Mingus each year and drives her to and from the ballpark daily. “The hunt to get the autograph -- she gets one player every day and every player has one ball. Her whole living room is full of baseball she’s collected over the year.”

Indeed, Mingus says she has about 1,500 autographed baseballs in her house in Houston and she is on the search for more.

“I still need Mike Burrows,” she said. “I want to get [prospect Alimber] Santa on the Futures [Game] ball, so he’s on the back field now so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Mingus comes to Florida at the end of the World Series and stays until spring is over. She has season tickets to Astros games at Daikin Park and sits in the upper deck, so spring is her only chance to get close to the players.

“She told [Astros outfielder] Zach Cole the other day, ‘You see me every day in Spring Training, but during the season I’m way up so you’re not going to see me during the season, but I’m rooting for you,’” Gettler said.

Astros fan Donna Hopkins, a 71-year-old retired coach and teacher from Houston, began coming to Spring Training full-time with her husband because Mingus told her how much fun it would be. It hasn’t disappointed. The couple sits next to Mingus each game.

“She is always happy,” Hopkins said. “She just absolutely loves baseball, and she loves these players. They're like her children or her grandchildren, I guess you could say. But, yeah, she's an amazing person."

Mingus loves to volunteer. She was the marketing director for a photo finishing company for years, and when she moved to Houston 35 years ago, she made stained glass and sold it at art festivals.

“I did that until my son said, ‘I’m tired of helping you set up,’” Mingus joked.

So, she retired. At age 82. Since then, baseball has been her life and she has no plans to stop coming to Spring Training.

“The thing I don’t want to do is sit on the couch all day,” she said. “That’s a quick ending. As long as I stay busy, I stay well.”

With All-Star closer Josh Hader set to begin the season on the injured list and All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña likely to join him, my latest Opening Day roster projections looks a bit different than it did heading into camp. Here’s the latest guess at what the roster could like on March 26.

• Teng values bullpen experience, but aspires to join Astros' deep rotation

• More on Hader opening the season on the injured list

In his second Grapefruit League start on Wednesday, Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. struck out four batters and walked one in three innings, while allowing three hits. Coming off his first healthy offseason in about five years, he hit 94.8 mph and is pitching well.

McCullers’ goal this year is to be in the strike zone more, which means pitching to contact. He threw nine of 14 first-pitch strikes against the Orioles. A healthy and effective McCullers has been a major positive development this spring. 

“I think strikeouts will come for me, but it’s really the last thing on my mind moving forward,” he said. “I really just want to be in the box, in the zone early, force the contact. I think in the past, it’s been ‘Let’s wait this guy out.’ But I think now with the way my body’s moving, my command of the two-seam and the four-seam and the cutter, I felt like I would be in the box with a lot more confidence. I spent 10, 11 years chasing strikeouts and I think it can get you in bad spots, and with the zone being the automated zone, I got to be in there.”

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