[2] When he returned to baseball, he posted back-to-back strong seasons (earned run averages of 2.88 and 2.78) in the Eastern League, including a 20–4 won–lost record in 1955.

Minnick made the Southern Association All-Star team during a season in which he won 17 games and lost 6, with a 3.09 ERA.

He entered the game in the sixth inning with Washington trailing 9–3, and Minnick retired six of the seven batters he faced, issuing only a base on balls to Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

In Minnick's two MLB games, he posted an 0–1 (4.82) record, permitting 14 hits and two bases on balls, with seven strikeouts, in 91⁄3 innings pitched.

After baseball, Minnick and his wife, Helen, settled in Rocky Mount, Virginia, where he operated a trucking company and they raised their family.