Saturday, September 12, 2015

September 12

Nick Young (1840)
Bob Groom (1884)
Fred Luderus (1885)
Spud Chandler (1907)
Charlie Keller (1916)
Andy Seminick (1920)
Stan Lopata (1925)
Albie Pearson (1934)
Mickey Lolich (1940)
John Montague (1947)
Scotti Madison (1959)
Thom Brennaman (1963)
Keith Hughes (1963)
Luis Castillo (1975)
Sean Burroughs (1980)
Macier Izturis (1980)
Carmen Pignatiello (1982)


Nick Young was the secretary of the National Association, was the first secretary of the National League and was National League president from 1881-1903.
The son of broadcaster Marty Brennaman, Thom Brennaman has broadcast games for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and Arizona Diamondbacks, as well as the Fox Network.
Catcher Charles Scott “Scotti” Madison did not play for the Twins, but was drafted by them. Born and raised in Pensacola, Florida, he was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 1980 draft out of Vanderbilt. Madison was started at AA Orlando and did not do well, batting only .230. Dropped down to Class A Visalia in 1981, he hit much better, and was traded to the Dodgers that offseason with Paul Voight in a trade that brought Bobby Castillo and Bobby Mitchell to the Twins. Madison slumped again when promoted to AA and AAA in 1982, but did better after that, batting over .300 in a 1983 split between AA San Antonio and AAA Albuquerque. He was purchased by the Tigers organization during 1984 spring training, and after a solid season at AA Birmingham and a good 1985 split between Birmingham and AAA Nashville, Madison was given a brief callup by the Tigers. He got another brief chance with the Tigers in 1986, but then became a free agent and signed with the Royals. He was named the most popular player on the Omaha Royals in 1987, and got to Kansas City briefly in both 1987 and 1988, and became a free agent again, signing with Cincinnati. In 1989, he played in 40 games with the Reds, his longest stint in the big leagues, getting 108 at-bats. He played third base for Cincinnati, despite not having played there much in the minors. Madison’s career ended after that year: he had a career batting average of .163 in 166 at-bats. Now living in Georgia, Scotti Madison was the founder of RAPHA Products Group, whose flagship product is the Triggerlite flashlight.  At last report, he was the director of special markets for AFLAC.
Outfielder Keith Wills Hughes did not play for the Twins, but was in AAA for them in 1992. He was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1981. He hit .329 with 15 homers in Class A in 1983, and in mid-1984 was traded to the Yankees in a deal that involved Shane Rawley. He hit .307 for the Yankees in AA in 1986. Hughes was with the Yankees briefly in 1987 but was traded back to Philadelphia in early June in a deal involving Mike Easler. He was with the Phillies for about two months that season, then was traded to Baltimore. He was with the Orioles the majority of the 1988 season, used mostly as a reserve right fielder. He was back in the minors in 1989, and after that season he was traded once again, this time to the Mets. He hit .309 in AAA and earned a September call-up, but was released after the season. He signed back with the Yankees for 1991, spent the season in AAA, and signed with Minnesota for 1992. He was in AAA Portland all year, hitting .271/.344/.416 in 221 at-bats. A free agent again after that season, he signed with Cincinnati, again spending most of the year in AAA but getting four at-bats in the majors. He was out of baseball in 1994, came back in 1995 to spend the season in AAA with the Royals, and then his playing career was over for good. As a major league player, he hit .204/.286/.284 in 201 at-bats. Keith Hughes now lives in Philadelphia and at last report was sales manager for Millicare/EBC, a company which provides customized carpet maintenance programs for commercial businesses.
Second baseman Luis Antonio (Donato) Castillo played for the Twins in 2006-2007. He was born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, went to high school in Humacao, Dominican Republic, and was signed by the Florida Marlins as a free agent in 1992 at age 16. He had a high batting average, although with almost no power, throughout the minor leagues, posting a career minor-league average of .303. He came up to the Marlins in 1996 as a part-time player, and did not get a full-time major league job until 1999, He made the most of it, hitting .302 and stealing 50 bases. Castillo remained the starting second baseman for the Marlins through 2005, hitting over .300 five times, making three all-star appearances, winning three gold gloves, and playing on two world championship teams. In the 2005-06 off-season, he was traded to the Twins for Scott Tyler and Travis Bowyer. Castillo was the starting second baseman for the Twins in 2006 and the first four months of 2007, and continued to hit as he had, batting .299/.357/.363 as a Twin. At the end of July, 2007, he was traded to the Mets for Drew Butera and Dustin Martin. Castillo hit poorly during an injury-plagued 2008, bounced back to hit .302 in 2009, but again hit poorly in an injury-plagued 2010.  The Mets released him in spring training; he signed with Philadelphia, but was released again nine days later, bringing his major league career to an end. At last report, Luis Castillo was living in Caldwell, New Jersey.
The son of big leaguer Jeff Burroughs, third baseman Sean Patrick Burroughs appeared in ten games for the Twins in 2012.  He was born in Atlanta and attended high school in Long Beach.  Along the way, he became a hero for a Long Beach team that twice won the Little League World Series.  He was drafted by San Diego in the first round in 1998 and played for the U. S. Olympic gold medal team in 2000.  He did not hit for much power in the minors but posted high batting averages.  He reached AAA in 2001 and was the starting third baseman for the Padres in 2002 at the age of only 21.  He started well, but slumped badly in May and was sent back to AAA, returning as a September call-up.  He was back as the starter in 2003-2004 and posted solid batting averages, but had no speed and no power.  He lost the starting job again in 2005, this time for good, and was traded to Tampa Bay at the end of the season.  He did little for the Devil Rays and was released in August.  He moved on to Seattle for 2007 but was released again in mid-June.  He was then out of baseball for four years, which he attributes to a drinking problem.  In 2011, he attempted a comeback with Arizona.  Still only thirty, he tore up the Pacific Coast League and was called up to the Diamondbacks in mid-May, where he did fairly well as a bench player.  He signed with Minnesota for 2012 and started the season in the majors, but got only seventeen at-bats in April, going 2-for-17, and was sent to Rochester, where he was decent but nothing more.  A free agent after the season, he signed with the Dodgers, but hit only .220 in 52 games of AA ball.  Since then he's been playing in the Atlantic League and doing extremely well.  He's thirty-five today.  His major league career is almost certainly over, but he can probably remain in baseball in some capacity for quite some time if that's what he chooses to do.
Left-hander Carmen Peter Pignatiello did not play for the Twins, but was in AAA with them for about a month in 2009. He was born in Hammond, Indiana, went to high school in Lenox, Illinois, and was drafted by the Cubs in the twentieth round in 2000. He was a starter for much of his minor league career, but began switching to relief in 2005. He did pretty well in that role in 2006 and 2007, spending about three weeks in the majors with the Cubs in 2007, pitching two innings in four games. He began 2008 in the majors, appearing in two more games and pitching two-thirds of an inning before being sent back to AAA. He had a bad year in AAA that season and became a free agent after the season was over. The Twins signed him and sent him to AAA Rochester, where he pitched seven innings in four games, posted an ERA of 14.14, and was released on May 1. He finished the year with Schaumberg of the independent Northern League; then his playing career came to and end.  In his major league career, he appeared in six games, pitched 2.2 innings, and posted an ERA of 6.75.  Carmen Pignatiello was the pitching coach for the Joliet Slammers of the Frontier League from 2011-2012.  He currently owns a Nationwide Insurance agency in the Chicago area.

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