Tuesday, January 1, 2013

January 1

Tim Keefe (1857)
Hugh Nicol (1858)
Webster McDonald (1900)
Ethan Allen (1904)
Hank Greenberg (1911)
Joe Reichler (1915)
Sherry Robertson (1919)
Earl Torgeson (1924)
Carl Scheib (1927)
Roy Majtyka (1939)
Bill Bethea (1942)
Rick Albert (1951)
Bob Owchinko (1955)
La Marr Hoyt (1955)
Fernando Tatis (1975)

Utility player Sherrard Alexander Robertson was the Twins’ farm director in their first decade of existence. He was the nephew of Clark Griffith and the brother of Calvin Griffith and became the Joe Cronin’s brother-in-law. Born in Montreal, Canada, he attended the University of Maryland and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1939. Robertson did not hit much in the minors, but still got brief trials with Washington in 1940 and 1941. He appears to have been in the big leagues for all of 1943, and then lost a couple of years to military service. An infielder in the minors and early in his major league career, Roberson began playing some utfield in 1947, and did both the rest of his career. He was primarily a reserve for his entire career; the closest he got to regular play was in 1949, when he appeared in 110 games and had 374 at-bats. He also set a career high in home runs that year with 11. Washington placed him on waivers in May of 1952 and he was selected by the Philadelphia Athletics, with whom he finished that season. His playing career ended after that; in parts of ten major league seasons, he hit .230/.323/.342 in 1,507 at-bats. Robertson then joined the Washington front office. He became farm director in 1958, and came to Minnesota with the team in 1961. He remained farm director through 1970. On October 23, 1970, Sherry Robertson was killed in a car accident near Houghton, South Dakota, where he had gone on a hunting trip. He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. In his honor, the Twins created the Sherry Robertson Award, given annually to their minor league player of the year.

Infielder William Lamar Bethea played briefly for the Twins in 1964. He was born in Houston and attended the University of Texas. St. Louis signed him as a free agent in 1963. He hit very well in Class A in 1963, although less well when promoted to AA at mid-season. Minnesota drafted him in the 1963 first-year draft. He had a fairly undistinguished 1964 campaign in AA Charlotte, but still received a September call-up, hitting .167 in 30 at-bats. He got off to a poor start in AA in 1965, was placed on waivers, and was selected by the Yankees. He continued to not hit for two more years in the Yankees organization, and after the 1967 season, he moved on to the California system. He had a better year in 1968 at AA El Paso, but again did not hit when moved up to AAA in 1969, and his playing career came to an end. He then became an assistant baseball coach at the University of Texas, a position he held from 1970-1989. Bethea then became the head baseball coach at Arkansas State, a job he held until his retirement in 2002.  He was inducted into the University of Texas Hall of Fame in 1986. At last report, Bill Bethea was living in the Jonesboro, Arkansas area.

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