May 18

Babe Adams (1882)

Arndt Jorgens (1905)

Gil Coan (1922)

Jack Sanford (1929)

Carroll Hardy (1933)

Brooks Robinson (1937)

Reggie Jackson (1946)

Osamu Higashio (1950)

Dennis Leonard (1951)

Eric Gregg (1951)

Jim Sundberg (1951)

Andre David (1958)

Jim Bowden (1961)

Erik Hanson (1965)

Eric Young (1967)

Rich Garces (1971)

Joakim Soria (1984)

Pitcher Osamu Higashio is in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, winning 251 games.

Eric Gregg was a National League umpire from 1978-1999.

Two players who share a name with Minnesota Twins players, Scott Baker (1970) and Roy Smith (1976), were also born on this day.

Outfielder Carroll William Hardy played in 11 games for the Twins in 1967.  Born and raised in Sturgis, South Dakota, Hardy attended the University of Colorado and signed with Cleveland as a free agent in 1955.  Hardy began his minor league career that season with Class A Reading; he also played running back for the San Francisco 49ers that season.  He stuck with baseball after that, and was having a fine season at AAA in 1956 when he entered the military.  That cost him the rest of that season and all of the 1957 campaign.  He started 1958 in Cleveland and was doing fairly well in a reserve role when he was injured and missed a month.  He did not do well upon his return and ended the season in AAA.  He was in Cleveland at the start of 1959 as well, but was seldom used and again ended the season in AAA.  Once again a seldom-used major leaguer at the start of 1960, Hardy was traded to Boston in mid-June and finally got to play a little.  His best season was 1961, when he hit .263 as a part-time player.  He got his most playing time in 1962, when he batted 362 times, but he only .215 (although with 54 walks).  That off-season, the Red Sox traded him to Houston for Dick Williams.  He started 1963 with the Astros, but was sent down after a month and did not come back until July of 1964.  He again did not hit, and he was traded to Minnesota just before the start of the 1965 season for Joe Christian.  He spent three years in AAA Denver; his best year was the first one, when he hit .300 with 14 homers.  He got a September call-up and played in 11 games.  His slash line as a Twin is pretty impressive–.375/.444/.750–unfortunately, it is in only 8 at-bats.  He did hit a home run off the Yankees’ Fritz Peterson.  Hardy played in one game in Denver in 1968 and then his playing career came to an end.  He managed at Class A St. Cloud the rest of the 1968 season.  Carroll Hardy is the answer to at least two trivia questions:  he is the only player to pinch-hit for Ted Williams (he also pinch-hit for Roger Maris and Carl Yastrzemski), and he is the only player to break a scoreless tie with a walk-off grand slam in the twelfth inning or later.  He then worked for twenty years in the front office of the Denver Broncos.  He is a member of the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.  At last report, Carroll Hardy was living in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Outfielder Andre Anter David played in parts of the 1984 and 1986 seasons.  He was born in Hollywood, went to high school in Chatsworth, California, and then attended Cal State–Fullerton.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1980.  He hit .324 that season in Class A, but struggled on his first try at AA.  He eventually got things going again, hitting in the .290s in consecutive years at AAA Toledo before getting his first shot at the majors in 1984.  He came up in late June and stayed the rest of the year.  David was used mostly as a pinch-hitter, playing in 33 games but batting only 48 times.  He didn’t do badly given his sporadic playing time, hitting .250 with 7 walks and a home run.  The home run came in his first major league at-bat, and was his only home run in the majors.  He was back in AAA in 1985, but after hitting ,328 there in 1986 he got a September call-up.  He again did not get a chance to play, however, going 1-for-5.  As a Twin, Andre David hit .245/.349/.340 in 53 at-bats.  He was allowed to become a free agent after the 1986 season and signed with the Mets.  He was in AAA for them for two seasons, then moved on to the Brewers’ organization for 1989 before his playing career ended.  He remained in baseball, serving as a minor league coach and manager for the Mets and Royals organizations.  He was a major league hitting coach for the Royals for parts of 2005 and 2006 and has also been their  minor league hitting coordinator.  He is currently the assistant batting coach for the Kansas City Royals.

Right-hander Richard Aron (Mendoz) Garces, Jr. appeared in eight games for the Twins, five in 1990 and three in 1993.  He was born and raised in Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela and signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1987.  He was a reliever every year in the minors with the exception of 1989, when he made 24 starts for Class A Kenosha.  He pitched very well in the low minors and got his first taste of major league ball as a September call-up in 1990, at the age of 19.  He allowed one earned run on four hits in 5.2 innings, although he walked four.  Garces struggled in the high minors, however.  He next made the majors for about two weeks early in the 1993 season, pitching four scoreless innings.  Sent back to AAA Portland, that year was a disaster for him, as he posted an ERA over eight.  He pitched better in 1994 at AA Nashville, but the Twins gave up on Garces and released him after the season.  He signed with the Cubs, pitched very well at AAA Iowa, and came up to the majors in late June.  He pitched well in seven appearances, but was placed on waivers in August and selected by Florida.  He was a Marlin through the end of the 1995 season and then became a free agent.  He signed with the Red Sox, where he finally found a home.  A big man (6′ 0″, 250 lbs.), he was a fan favorite in Boston, acquiring the nickname “El Guapo”.  Garces was with the Red Sox for parts of seven seasons.  Boston was patient with him, as he pitched very well at AAA but not so well in the majors his first couple of seasons with them.  He never pitched a lot of innings–his highest season in the majors was 74.2–but he was a consistently good relief pitcher for the Red Sox from 1998-2001.  In those years, he was 20-4, 3.16 with a WHIP of 1.20 in 228.1 innings.  His best season was 1999, when he was 5-1, 1.55 with a WHIP of 1.06 in 74.2 innings.  He pitched poorly in 2002, and his career was basically over at that point.  He has tried some comebacks, however, pitching in the minors for the Red Sox in 2005 and in independent ball and the Mexican League in 2007-2008.  As a Twin, Rich Garces had a 0.93 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP in 9.2 innings spread over eight appearances.  No information about Rich Garces’ current life is readily available.