May 2

Eddie Collins (1887)

Bing Crosby (1904)

George Giles (1909)

Joe Falls (1928)

Eddie Bressoud (1932)

Gates Brown (1939)

Clay Carroll (1941)

Keith Moreland (1954)

Dr. A (1956)

Felix Jose (1965)

Paul Emmel (1968)

Jerrod Saltalamacchia (1986)

Neftali Feliz (1988)

Erasmo Ramirez (1990)

Jonathan Villar (1991)

Entertainer Bing Crosby was part-owner and a vice president of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1947 into the 1960s.

Joe Falls was a long-time sportswriter in Detroit and had a weekly column in The Sporting News for many years.

Paul Emmel has been a major league umpire since 1999.

It appears that no players with connections to the Minnesota Twins were born on this day.

May 1

Frank Foreman (1863)

George McQuillan (1885)

Victor Starffin (1916)

Johnny Berardino (1917)

Al Zarilla (1919)

Von Joshua (1948)

Rudy Meoli (1951)

Roy Lee Jackson (1954)

Charlie O’Brien (1960)

Jose Lind (1964)

Armando Reynoso (1966)

Marcus Stroman (1991)

Born in Russia, Victor Starffin was Japanese baseball’s first 300-game winner.

Infielder Johnny Berardino played in the major leagues for eleven years and appeared in 912 games, but is best known as Dr. Steve Hardy on General Hospital, a role he played from 1963-1996.

Infielder Rudolph Bartholomew Meoli did not play for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for a couple of months in 1979.  He was born in Troy, New York, went to high school in Covina, California, and was drafted by California in the fourth round in 1969.  He hit .351 in rookie ball, but after that his averages, while solid enough, are not that impressive, especially when combined with the fact that he had little power.  He did, however, draw quite a few walks, giving him very good OBPs.  He moved steadily up the ladder, reaching AA in 1971 (a year when he got a September call-up) and AAA in 1972.  He was in the majors for all of 1973, a year in which he was they Angels’ “most regular” shortstop, starting 87 games.  He did not hit, batting only .223, and spent much of 1974 in the minors, coming back to California at the end of July.  He got another full year in the majors in 1975 as a utility player, batting .214 in 126 at-bats.  The Angels gave up on him at that point, and he started moving around.  California traded him to San Diego after the 1975 season, but he was traded again, this time to Cincinnati, before the 1976 season started.  He was in AAA Indianapolis for two seasons, then was sold to the Cubs before the 1978 campaign.  He started the season as a utility infielder for the Cubs, but hit even worse than previously and was sent back to AAA in early July.  The Cubs released him after the season and he signed with Philadelphia for 1979.  He got back to the big leagues for about six weeks, but again did nothing offensively and was sold to Minnesota in late June.  He was in AAA the rest of the season, batting .265/.360/.365 in 189 at-bats.  He was released by the Twins prior to the 1980 season, signed with San Francisco, but was released at the end of spring training and his playing career ended.  There was obviously something teams liked about him, because he kept getting chances, but he hit .212/.289/.267 in 626 major league at-bats spread over six seasons.  He seems to be fondly remembered in his original home town of Troy.  At last report, Rudy Meoli was a director for World Outdoor Products, Inc. of Fullerton, California.

Right-hander Roy Lee Jackson made 28 appearances for the Twins in 1986.  Born and raised in Opelika, Alabama, he attended Tuskegee University and signed with the Mets as a free agent in 1975.  He was a starter early in his minor league career and pitched well, reaching AAA in 1977.  He pitched well in AAA for four consecutive years, consistently posting ERAs in the mid-threes, but got only brief chances in the majors until 1980, when he began shifting to the bullpen.  He was with the Mets for the second half of the season that year and was pretty average.  After the season, Jackson was traded to Toronto.  He was a pretty valuable man in the Blue Jays’ bullpen for four seasons.  His best year was probably 1982, when he was 8-8, 3.06 with a 1.11 WHIP in 97 innings.  Jackson was still pitching well for Toronto in 1984, but was released late in spring training in 1985.  He did not sign for a month and then went to AAA with Baltimore.  The Orioles traded him to San Diego in late June.  He pitched well for the Padres, but was released again late in spring training of 1986.  The Twins signed him the same day.  He made 28 appearances as a Twin and actually pitched fairly well, posting a 3.86 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 58.1 innings.  Still, the Twins let him become a free agent, and he signed with Milwaukee for 1987.  Jackson made four appearances at AAA for the Brewers, did poorly, and his playing career came to a sudden end.  He believes that the sudden end to his career was because he was vocal about his Christian religious beliefs.  The charge is hard to prove, of course,  but he sure seemed to get released a lot for a pitcher who wasn’t that bad.  He is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.  The Museum of East Alabama, located in “historic downtown Opelika”, has “a large selection of memorabilia from Roy Lee’s Career”, so if you’re ever in historic downtown Opelika, be sure to stop by.  Roy Lee Jackson is currently living in his home town of Opelika, where he is the pastor of the New Creation Service Center, a non-denominational church.

April 30

Dave Eggler (1849)

Charley Jones (1850)

Jack Sheridan (1862)

Jumbo Brown (1907)

Chet Laabs (1912)

Ernie Tyler (1924)

Ken Retzer (1934)

Ray Miller (1945)

Phil Garner (1949)

Tracy Ringolsby (1951)

Jeff Reboulet (1964)

Ryan O'Rourke (1988)

Edouard Julien (1999)

Jack Sheridan was the first home plate umpire to crouch behind the catcher in the style that umpires do today.

Ernie Tyler was the umpires’ assistant for Baltimore Orioles home games from 1960 through 2010.  He went from opening day of 1960 through July 27, 2007 without missing a game, a streak of 3,769 games.  He missed two games that weekend to go to Cooperstown for the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. into the Hall of Fame.

Ray Miller was the manager of the Twins in 1985 and 1986, replacing Billy Gardner and being replaced by Tom Kelly.

Tracy Ringolsby has been a baseball writer since 1976 and was given the Spink Award in 2005.

Catcher Kenneth Leo Retzer did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system in 1965.  He was born in Wood River, Illinois and signed with Cleveland as a free agent in 1954.  He began in Class D and rose very slowly.  He hit for good averages most years, but with very little power.  He reached Class A in 1956, but then missed 1957 due to military service.  When he came back in 1958, he was once again in Class A.  He got to AAA in 1959, went to the Philadelphia organization in mid-season of 1960, and was in the White Sox’ chain in 1961.  He appears, however, to have remained the property of the Indians all that time, as he was traded in early September of 1961 by Cleveland to Washington.  He was in the majors the rest of the season, batting .340 in 57 at-bats.  He stayed with the Senators through 1963 and was their main catcher for those years, although he only caught 80-100 games each season.  His average dropped each season and he was considered to be a poor defensive catcher, so when he got off to a poor start in 1964 he was sent to the minors in early May.  After the 1964 season Washington traded Retzer to Minnesota for Joe McCabe.  He spent 1965 at AAA Denver, hitting .270/.361/.357.  He went to spring training with the Twins in 1966, but was traded to Houston shortly before the season started for Walt Bond.  He remained in AAA for the rest of his career, playing in the Houston organization in 1966 and in the Baltimore and Cleveland systems in 1967.  For his career, Ken Retzer hit .264/.316/.367 in 690 at-bats.  He did a number of things after baseball, including owning a restaurant in San Diego, being an instructor at a fitness center, and being a juvenile home attendant in Edwardsville, Illinois.  He eventually moved to the Phoenix area, was active in the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, and was reputed to be a very nice man.  Ken Retzer passed away at his home on May 17, 2020.

Infielder Jeffrey Allen Reboulet played for the Twins from 1992-1996, taking over the utility infielder role from Al Newman.  He was born in Dayton, Ohio, went to LSU, and was drafted by Minnesota in the tenth round in 1986.  He was a shortstop for most of his minor league career.  His highest minor league average was .287 in Class A in 1986; he never topped .260 in a full minor league season after that.  He also had no power:  his highest home run total in the minors was four.  Still, he came up to the majors in May of 1992 and stayed for ten years.  He was always a reserve:  the Twins used him primarily at shortstop, but he also played quite a bit of second and third as well as outfield.  In his years with the Twins, he played every position except pitcher.  His best year as a Twin was 1995, when he hit .292 in 216 at-bats.  As a Twin, Jeff Reboulet hit .248/.335/.342 in 450 games with just over a thousand at-bats.  He became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with Baltimore, where he stayed for three years.  After his worst year in the majors, when he hit .162 in 154 at-bats in 1999, he was sent to Kansas City.  He had one year as a Royal, then moved to the Dodgers for two years.  He was sent back to the minors for a month in 2002 and was released late in spring training of 2003, signing with Pittsburgh in April.  Reboulet began 2003 in AAA, but came up to the majors in mid-May and got the most at-bats he’d ever had in a season, 261.  He was pretty much the same hitter he’d always been, however, and after that season his playing career came to an end.  After his retirement, Jeff Reboulet went back to Dayton and is the owner of Masters Pro Sports & Entertainment, a financial services company that assists professional athletes with their finances.  He is also the president of REB Sports Academy of Kettering, Ohio, an indoor sports training facility, and is a consultant with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Left-handed reliever Ryan Patrick O'Rourke pitched for the Twins in 2015 and 2016.  He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, went to high school in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, attended Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, and was drafted by Minnesota in the thirteenth round in 2010.  He both started and relieved in his first couple of years as a pro but has been a reliever since 2012.  His minor league record had been less than stellar, and he appears to have been used as a left-handed specialist even in the minors.  He spent the second half of 2015 with the Twins and pitched well for the first month, but ended up with an ERA of 6.14 and a WHIP of 1.41.  He did, however, get 24 strikeouts in 22 innings (28 games).  He split 2016 between Rochester and Minnesota, doing very well for the Red Wings and fairly well for the Twins.  Unfortunately, he then missed the 2017 season with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.  He missed most of 2018 as well, pitching just 14.1 innings.  He signed with the Mets for 2019.  At that time, we said,  "We wish him well, but the odds certainly seem to be against him making it back to the big leagues."  Well, whatever the odds were, he beat them, because he made two appearances for the Mets in 2019 and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings.  He didn't pitch very well in AAA, though, and was released in early August.  The Twins picked him up and he finished the season pitching for Rochester.  He became a free agent after the season and played winter ball that year, but then retired.  At last report, Ryan O'Rourke was an assistant baseball coach and director of player development with Holy Cross University.  He is also an associate with Horvath & Tremblay, a real estate brokerage in Boston.

Second baseman Edouard Julien has appeared in eight games for the Twins at this writing.  He was born in Quebec, Canada, attended Auburn University, and was drafted by the Twins in the eighteenth round in 2019.  He did not play in the COVID year of 2020, but progressed quickly through the Twins' minor league system, reaching high-A in 2021, AA in 2022, and first AAA and then the majors in 2023, coming up to stay in mid-June.  He had a fine season, batting .263 with 16 home runs and an OPS of .839.  He's off to a solid start in 2024, with a lower batting average but more power.  He turns twenty-five today.  He'll never win a Gold Glove, but as long as he can hit like this there will be a spot for him in a major league lineup.

April 29

Frank Hankinson (1856)

Ernie Johnson (1888)

Mickey McDermott (1929)

Steve Ridzik (1929)

Ed Charles (1933)

Luis Aparicio (1934)

Akira Ohgi (1935)

Tom House (1947)

Rick Burleson (1951)

Bob McClure (1952)

Ron Washington (1952)

Steve Crawford (1958)

John Vander Wal (1966)

Sterling Hitchcock (1971)

Rafael Betancourt (1975)

Tony Armas (1978)

Akiri Ohgi was a long-time manager in Japan, winning nearly a thousand games.

Rick Burleson was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1969, but did not sign.

Infielder Ronald Washington was with the Twins from 1981-1986.  Born and raised in New Orleans, Washington signed with Kansas City as a free agent in 1970.  He was in the Royals’ system for six years, only one of them higher than Class A, and did nothing of any particular note apart from play several positions; he was used as a catcher, outfielder, shortstop, and second baseman.  Washington was traded to the Dodgers after the 1976 season.  He thrived in AAA Albuquerque, hitting .348 in about a year there.  He got a September callup in 1977, but was apparently injured much of 1978.  He was in the Mets’ organization in 1979, and was traded to Minnesota in late March of 1980 for Wayne Caughey.  In 1981, Washington hit .289 with 15 homers in AAA Toledo and got a September call-up.  He was the semi-regular shorstop for the Twins in 1982-1984, sharing the position with Lenny Faedo and Houston Jimenez, among others.  He hit for a decent average, but rarely walked and had little power.  He also was not considered a particularly good defensive shortstop.  Washington was put into more of a utility role in 1985, spent time in the minors in 1986, and was released in late March of 1987.  As a Twin, Ron Washington hit .265/.294/.373 in 1,258 at-bats.  Baltimore picked him up and sent him to AAA Rochester, bringing him back to the majors for the second half of the season.  He moved on to Cleveland for 1988, getting one more full season in the majors as a reserve shortstop.  He moved on to AAA for Houston for 1989, getting about three weeks in the majors, then to Texas’ AAA team for 1990 before ending his playing career.  Ron Washington remained in baseball after that, serving as a minor league coach and manager for the Mets from 1991-1995, and coaching at the major league level for Oakland from 1996-2006. He was the manager of the Texas Rangers from 2007-2014, reaching the World Series in 2010 and 2011, but resigned when it was revealed he'd had an extra-marital affair.  He was a coach for the Oakland Athletics from 2015-16 and was the third base coach for the Atlanta Braves from 2017-2023.  Ron Washington became the manager of the Los Angeles Angels in 2024.

April 28

Frank Warfield (1899)

Red Lucas (1902)

Charlie Metro (1918)

Tom Sturdivant (1930)

Jackie Brandt (1934)

Pedro Ramos (1935)

Tom Browning (1960)

John Cerutti (1960)

Russ Morman (1962)

Luis Quinones (1962)

Barry Larkin (1964)

Jim Poole (1966)

Jorge Sosa (1978)

Sean Douglass (1979)

Yoslan Herrera (1981)

David Freese (1983)

John Gaub (1985)

Dillon Gee (1986)

John Gaub was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-fifth round in 2003, but did not sign.

Right-hander Pedro (Guerra) Ramos played for the Twins in 1961 and was the starting pitcher in the first game the Minnesota Twins ever played.  He was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1953.  He had a fine year in 1954, split between Class C and Class B ball, and started 1955 in the major leagues, pitching mostly out of the Washington bullpen.  He split 1956 between starting and relieving, and joined the starting rotation permanently in 1957.  He led the league in losses the last three years the team was in Washington, but did not pitch that badly.  His ERA for those three years was 3.93 and his WHIP was around 1.30.  In two of those years he led the league in starts and batters faced, in one of them he led the league in innings, and he made the all-star team in 1959.  When he came to Minnesota, he continued along that same path:  Ramos was 11-20, 3.95 with a WHIP of 1.30.  Just before the 1962 season, the Twins traded him to Cleveland for Vic Power and Dick Stigman.  He had another sub-.500 year with a sub-four ERA, going 10-12, 3.71 in 201 innings, the sixth consecutive season he had thrown more than 200 innings.  A fast runner, he was sometimes used to pinch-run on days he wasn’t pitching.  He pitched well for the Indians again in 1963 but had a bad year in 1964 and was traded to the Yankees in September.  The Yankees put him in the bullpen and he took over as their closer, saving eight games in 13 appearances to help the Yankees get to the World Series.   He had two more fine years in the Yankees bullpen as well.  He was traded to Philadelphia during Spring training of 1967, but after pitching eight poor innings he was surprisingly released.  The Phillies turned out to be right, however.  Ramos signed with Pittsburgh in 1968, but pitched poorly in AAA.  He pitched briefly with the Pirates in 1969, but was released again in early June.  Cincinnati picked him up and kept him in their bullpen the rest of the season, but things did not go well there, either.  Ramos signed with Washington late in spring training of 1970, but could do no better and was released at the end of April, ending his playing career.  He did a variety of things after that.  He scouted in Latin America, opened a cigar business in Miami, and spent some time in prison on drug and weapons charges.  He was a part-time pitching coach for Miami Dade Community College in the 1990s.  At last report, Pedro Ramos was the owner of a cigar manufacturing business in Nicaragua.

Infielder Luis Raul (Torruellas) Quinones played in three games for the Twins in 1992.  Born and raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Quinones was signed by San Diego as a free agent in 1980.  He was somewhat up and down in his minor league career, but was mostly pretty average at bat; his best year prior to making the majors was 1982, when he hit .288 with 16 homers in a season spent mostly at AA Amarillo.  Oakland took him in the Rule 5 draft after that season and obviously worked something out to keep him, because he spent most of the season in the minors before getting his first taste of big league life with 45 plate appearances.  Oakland moved him on to Cleveland after the 1983 campaign.  He was in the minors for the Indians for a little over a year, getting traded to San Francisco in May of 1985.  He was in the big leagues with the Giants for most of 1986, getting called up in early May.  He was used almost exclusively as a reserve, playing in 71 games but making only 22 starts.  The Giants released him after the season.  He signed with Oakland, but eight days later was traded to the Cubs for Ron Cey.  He was with the Cubs the second half of 1987, but was on the move again before the next season, traded to Cincinnati.  He was in AAA most of 1988 but came up to the Reds in May of 1989 and stayed there through 1991.  He never hit; his best year was 1989, when he hit .244 with 12 home runs.  The Reds released him after 1991 and he signed with Minnesota.  Quinones started the 1992 campaign with the Twins but played in only three games, going 1-for-4 with an RBI, before being sent to AAA.  He did not have a particularly good year at AAA Portland, and was allowed to become a free agent after the season.  He signed with Houston and started the 1993 season in AAA with the Astros, was released, signed with the Mariners, and stayed in AAA with the through the 1994 campaign.  He was apparently out of baseball for a few years, although he may have been playing in Mexico or something, and then played for independent Atlantic City in 1998-1999 before ending his playing career.  Luis Quinones was a manager and coach in the low minors for quite a while, and was the batting coach of the Batavia Muckdogs in the Marlins organization in 2016.  We lose track of him after that, however, and no information about what Luis Quinones is doing now was readily available.

Right-hander Sean Reed Douglass did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2004.  Born and raised in Lancaster, California, he was drafted by Baltimore in the second round in 1997.  His minor league record is not particularly exceptional but is fairly solid; he would generally post an ERA in the low-to-mid-threes and a WHIP in the 1.30-1.40 range.  He was up with the Orioles for parts of three seasons, bouncing back and forth between Baltimore and AAA from 2001-2003.  His time in the majors was not successful, and the Orioles put him on waivers after the 2003 season.  Minnesota signed him and took him to spring training in 2004, but they placed him on waivers near the end of the exhibition season.  Toronto signed him and he started the season in the majors, but after three scoreless innings he was sent back to AAA.  He came back to the Blue Jays in late July, but was not particularly successful.  A free agent after the season, he moved on to Detroit and got the most playing time of his career, making sixteen starts for the Tigers.  He did not do much with them, though, and was waived after the season.  Cleveland selected him, but apparently thought better of it and released him less than two months later.  He played for a few years in Japan, but then his playing career came to an end.  For his major league career, Sean Douglass was 7-13, 6.11, 1.61 WHIP in 207.2 innings.  He appeared in 54 games, 31 of them starts.  His last season in Japan appears to have been 2008.  At last report, Sean Douglass appeared to have returned to his home town of Lancaster, California.

Right-hander Yoslan (Betancourt) Herrera did not pitch for the Twins, but he made six starts for AAA Rochester in 2010.  He was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba.  He was a member of the Cuban National Youth team from 1999-2000 and pitched for Pinar del Rio in the Cuban National League.  He was left off the Cuban Olympic team in 2004 due to injury.  In 2005, he defected and settled in the Dominican Republic.  Herrera signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 2007.  He was in the Pirates’ system for three seasons, spent mostly in AA.  He struggled in his first year but pitched pretty well there in 2008-2009.  The Pirates seemed reluctant to give him a chance at a higher level, however; despite going 17-10, 3.35 in his last 212 innings of AA, he got only five appearances at AAA.  He did make five major league starts in 2008, going 1-1, 9.82 in 18.1 innings.  The Pirates let him go after the 2009 season and he signed with Minnesota for 2010.  His first three starts there were pretty good, but his last three were awful and he was released with a record of 0-3, 6.08 in 26.2 innings.  What he did for the next couple of years is unclear, but he spent 2013 playing for Lancaster in the Atlantic League.   He did well enough in Lancaster to catch the attention of the Angels, who signed him for 2014.  He began in AAA, but after four solid relief appearances there he came back to the major leagues after a six-year absence, appearing in twenty games and posting an ERA of 2.70.  He signed with the Angels again for 2015 but was released before spring training and went to Japan, where he had a strong season for Yokohama.  That seems to have ended his playing career, and no information about what Yoslan Herrera has done after baseball was readily available.

Right-hander Dillon Kyle Gee appeared in fourteen games for the Twins in 2017.  Born and raised in Cleburn, Texas, he attended the University of Texas at Arlington and was drafted by the Mets in the twenty-first round in 2007.  Primarily a starter throughout his minor league career, he did quite well in the low minors and reached AAA in 2009.  He was pretty average in AAA in 2010 but got a September call-up from the Mets anyway.  He began 2011 back in AAA, but after just two starts he came up to the majors and was in the Mets' rotation the rest of the season.  He stayed there through 2014 and was pretty much an average major league starter through that time--nothing great, but nothing terrible.  He began the 2015 season still in the rotation and was pitching pretty much the same way he always had, but he was injured in early May.  He tried to come back in June, made there unsuccessful appearances, and went back to AAA, which is where he stayed the rest of the season.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Kansas City, for whom he wasn't terrible but wasn't really very good, either.  He both started and relieved, but did much better as a reliever.  He signed with Texas for 2017 but appeared in just four games before being released in mid-June.  The Twins signed him four days later and sent him to Rochester, bringing him to Minnesota in August.  He was surprisingly good for the Twins, going 3-2, 3.22, 1.27 WHIP in 36.1 innings (14 games, 3 of them starts).  He again was much better out of the bullpen, going 2-0, 1.14 out of the pen as a Twin.  You'd think a major league team would've been interested in that, but instead he went to Japan for 2018, where he made just four starts before being injured.  He announced his retirement in late January of 2019.  At last report he was living in the Dallas area and was a self-employed real estate investor.

April 27

Hi Myers (1889)

Allan Sothoron (1893)

Rogers Hornsby (1896)

Horace Stoneham (1903)

Johnny Hayes (1910)

Buddy Armour (1915)

Enos Slaughter (1916)

John Rice (1918)

Greg Kosc (1949)

Willie Upshaw (1957)

Patrick Lennon (1968)

Frank Catalanotto (1974)

Chris Carpenter (1975)

Pedro Feliz (1975)

Benj Sampson (1975)

Luis Perdomo (1984)

Corey Seager (1994)

 Horace Stoneham was the owner of the Giants from 1936-1976.

John Rice was an American League umpire from 1955-1973.

Greg Kosc was an American League umpire from 1976-1999.

Outfielder Patrick Orlando Lennon was in the Twins’ minor league system for a couple of months in 1995.  Born and raised in Whiteville, North Carolina, he was named North Carolina High School Athlete of the Year in 1986 and was drafted by Seattle with the eighth pick of the 1986 draft.  His early minor league numbers were fairly pedestrian, but in 1991 he hit .329 with 15 homers at AAA Calgary, earning him a September call-up.  Lennon was apparently injured much of 1992, as he had only 48 at-bats in AAA and two in the majors.  He became a free agent after 1992 and signed with Colorado.  He was released in April, signed and was out of baseball until July, when he signed with Cleveland.  A free agent again after the season, he went to Boston for 1994, was released in July of 1995, and signed with the Twins.  He hit .400 in 115 at-bats, but the Twins still let him go after the season.  He spent a month in the big leagues in with Kansas City in 1996 and was released at the end of April.  Lennon signed with Oakland and finished the season in their minor league system.  He started the 1997 in AAA with the Athletics, but was called up in mid-May and spent most of the rest of the season in the majors, the most big-league playing time he ever got (116 at-bats in 56 games).  Lennon signed with Anaheim for 1998, was released in spring training, and went to Toronto, where he got 33 major league at-bats over two seasons before being released in June of 1999.  He finished the season for the Tigers’ AAA team, was in AAA for Montreal in 2000, split 2001 between the Yankees’ AAA team and the Mexican League, split 2002 and 2003 between AAA and independent Long Island, and was a Long Island Duck in 2004 and 2005 before his playing career finally came to an end.  He played in the minors for twenty seasons, hitting .295 in nearly six thousand at-bats, but got only 189 at-bats in the big leagues.  At last report, Patrick Lennon was a partner in Play Like A Pro Baseball in North Hauppauge, New York.  He also does inspirational/motivational speaking.

Left-hander Benjamin Damon Sampson pitched for the Twins for parts of two season from 1998-1999.  He was born in Des Moines and went to high school in Ankeny, Iowa.  Minnesota drafted him in the sixth round in 1993.  He pitched well in the low minors, but less well as he went up the ladder.  In parts of four AAA seasons, totally nearly three hundred innings, he never had an ERA below five.  Despite that, he got two shots with the Twins, which is probably more of a statement about the Twins’ pitching in the late 1990s than anything else.  He got a September call-up in 1998 following his best AAA season, when he went 10-7, 5.14 with a WHIP of 1.55 for Salt Lake.  He made the Twins out of spring training in 1999 and was their fifth starter.  That lasted for three starts, by which time Sampson had an ERA of 15.00.  He stayed in the majors most of the season, pitching out of the bullpen except for one start in early August.  He did not pitch well in either role, and was sent to the minors on August 19.  He was in the organization three more years, pitching well in Ft. Myers in 2001 and in New Britain in 2002, but flopped again when promoted to AAA Edmonton later in 2002.  The Twins finally let him go after that season and he signed with Colorado, for whom   he had a good  year at AA Tulsa.  He then went to Taiwan for 2004 and to Italy for 2005 before retiring as a professional player.  Benj Sampson’s big-league numbers, all with Minnesota, are 4-2, 6.83 with a WHIP of 1.78 in 88.1 innings.  He appeared in 35 games, six of them starts.  After retirement, he went into the business world.  From 2006 to 2008, he was an account manager for USA ScoreTables, working with high schools in Texas to install scrolling media into gymnasiums, arenas, and stadiums.  At last report, Benj Sampson was a senior director for school development for Fuel Education, LLC in the Dallas area.

Right-hander Luis M. Perdomo was with the Twins for about two months in 2012.  He was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, and was signed by Cleveland as a free agent in 2003.  He apparently spent a couple of years in the Dominican Summer League, as b-r doesn’t give any stats for him until 2006.  A reliever his entire career, his numbers in the low minors are pretty good.  Still, he did not make AA until mid-way through the 2008 season and was traded to St. Louis in late July.  He was left unprotected that off-season and was chosen by San Francisco in the Rule 5 draft.  The Giants kept him, but put him on waivers in early April before he had played a game for them.  San Diego claimed him and kept him in the majors almost the entire season.  He did not pitch particularly well, however, going 1-0, 4.80, 1.52 WHIP in 35 appearances (60 innings).  He did pitch well in AAA in 2010, but did not pitch well when sent there again in 2011 and was allowed to become a free agent.  Minnesota signed him and sent him to New Britain.  He pitched very well there, continued to pitch well when promoted to Rochester, and spent nearly two months in the majors, where he did okay in seventeen innings.  In 2013, however, his luck ran out.  He did very poorly in Rochester and was released in late August.  He continued pitching, however, going to the Mexican League in 2014 and to the Atlantic League in 2015-16 before his playing career ended.  As a Twin, Luis Perdomo was 0-0, 3.18, 1.59 WHIP in fifteen appearances.  Wikipedia says he was nicknamed "The Dominican Blur", which I don't remember at all.  When one goes to Google for information, one mostly finds stuff about the former San Diego pitcher, who does not appear to be related to "our" Luis Perdomo.  Thus, no information about this Luis Perdomo was readily available.

April 26

Jack Barry (1887)

Ray Caldwell (1888)

Hack Wilson (1900)

Bernard Malamud (1914)

Sal Maglie (1917)

Virgil Trucks (1917)

Ron Northey (1920)

Granny Hamner (1927)

Amos Otis (1947)

Tom Norton (1950)

Mike Scott (1955)

Steve Lombardozzi (1960)

Curtis Wilkerson (1961)

Brian Anderson (1972)

Geoff Blum (1973)

Kosuke Fukudome (1977)

Joe Crede (1978)

Alejandro Machado (1982)

Shawn Kelley (1984)

Sean Rodriguez (1985)

Aaron Judge (1992)

Bernard Malamud wrote the book "The Natural".  He probably wrote some other books as well.

Right-handed reliever Thomas John Norton made 21 appearances for the Twins in 1972.  Born in Elyria, Ohio, he attended St. Clair County Community College of Port Huron, Michigan.  Norton signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1969.  He was somewhat up and down in his minor league career.  After a decent but unspectacular season in AA Charlotte in 1971, Norton played the full 1972 season for the Twins.  He was apparently injured part of that time, as he went two months without appearing in a game.  For an undrafted 22-year-old who had never pitched above AA, he was pretty good:  0-1, 2.78 with a WHIP of 1.39 in 32.1 innings.  Those would be his career numbers, though, as he never pitched in the big leagues again.  He pitched well for AA Orlando from 1973-1975, but flopped whenever he was promoted to AAA.  Minnesota gave up on him after the 1975 season.  He made three starts for AA Knoxville in the White Sox organization in 1976 (he was a starter most of his minor-league career), but then his playing career came to an end at age 26.  It was a brief career, but he got to spend a full season as a major league player, and there is probably not a huge number of pitchers with over 20 appearances who have lower career ERAs.  At last report, Tom Norton was living in retirement in Sheffield Lake, Ohio.  Well, probably not in the actual lake, but in the town named after it.

Second baseman Stephen Paul Lombardozzi was with the Twins from 1985-1988.  Born in Malden, Massachusetts, he attended the University of Florida and then was drafted by Minnesota in the ninth round in 1981.  He hit quite well in the low minors, but less well as he went up the ladder.  Still, he hit .264 with 14 homers in AAA Toledo in 1985, which was good enough to get him a September call-up in which he hit .370 in 54 at-bats.  He became the starting second baseman the next year and would hold the job for two seasons.  Lombo never hit anywhere near as well again, but he was an excellent defensive player.  He helped the Twins win the championship in 1987, but early in 1988 the Twins decided they could no longer live with his lack of offense and traded for Tom Herr.  Due to Herr’s injuries, Lombardozzi still started about half the games, but in spring training of 1989 he was traded to Houston for two players to be named later (Ramon Cedeno and Gordon Farmer).  Lombo never got much of a chance in Houston, spending most of his time in the minors, and was released in May of 1990.  Detroit picked him up and sent him to AAA the rest of the season, after which his career came to an end.  As a Twin, Steve Lombardozzi hit .233/.307/.345.  After his playing career ended he ran a small business for a while, but then decided he wanted to get back into baseball.  He was a minor league infield instructor for the Pittsburgh Pirates for a while.  He was the head baseball coach at Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland from 2012-2015.  At last report he was the owner of Double Play Academy of Fulton, Maryland.  His son, also named Steve Lombardozzi, was a major league infielder from 2011-2015 and in 2017.

Third baseman Joseph Crede played for the Twins in 2009.  A cousin of major league pitcher Dennis Higgins, Crede was born in Jefferson City, Missouri and attended high school in Westphalia, Missouri.  The White Sox drafted him in the first round in 1996.  Crede had some fine years in the minors; his best was probably 2002, when he hit .312 with 24 home runs for AAA Charlotte.  Those numbers were for less than a full season, because after having been given cups of coffee in the majors in 2000 and 2001, Crede was brought up for good in late July of 2002.  He immediately became the starting third baseman for the White Sox, a job he held through the 2008 season.  He was a very durable player early in his career and had some fine seasons for the Southsiders.  His best year was 2006, when he hit .283 with 30 home runs and won a Silver Slugger award.  The next year, however, injuries started to bother him, and he was never the same player again.  He inexplicably made his lone all-star team in 2008, when he hit only .248 with 17 homers.  He became a free agent after that season and signed with Minnesota.  Crede was the Twins’ regular third baseman when healthy, but unfortunately “when healthy” was only about half the team’s games.  As a Twin, he hit .225/.289/.414, with 15 home runs in 333 at-bats.  He was out of baseball in 2010, signed a contract with Colorado for 2011, but did not report to spring training, deciding instead to retire.  At last report he was living on a farm near Westphalia, Missouri.  He is a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Infielder Alejandro Jose Machado did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system from 2008-2009.  Born in Caracas, Venezuela, he signed with Atlanta as a free agent in 1998.  He had some fine years in Class A, but struggled for a while when placed above that, which is understandable given his age.  He played for several different organizations in the minors.  The Braves traded him to Kansas City in July of 2001, the Royals sent him to Milwaukee in July of 2003, Milwaukee essentially gave him to Montreal in March of 2004, and the now Nationals traded him to Boston in January of 2005.  He was gradually getting better as he went along, and in 2005 Machado hit .300 at AAA Pawtucket.  That got him a September call-up, in which he went 1-for-5 with a walk and scored four runs.  At present, those are his career numbers, as he has not made it back to the majors since.  He dropped to .260 at Pawtucket in 2006, became a free agent, signed with Washington, and was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft, when he was selected by Minnesota.  He was not able to stay healthy after that.  Machado missed the entire 2007 season with injuries, but was in the Twins’ system the next two years.  He was still injured part of the 2008 season, but hit .338 in 195 at-bats.   Injuries again plagued him in 2009, when he hit .253 in 150 at-bats spread over four minor league teams.  He became a free agent again after the 2009 season and signed with Florida.  He was sent to AAA, released in mid-May, and finished the season in AA with Atlanta.  He became a free agent after the season but did not sign with anyone, ending his playing career  At last report, Alejandro Machado was an instructor with Elev8 Baseball, an instructional academy in Delray Beach, Florida.