Thursday, September 3, 2015

September 3

Bill Armour (1869)
Mike Kahoe (1873)
Art Fromme (1883)
Ed Konetchy (1885)
Eddie Stanky (1915)
MORRIE Martin (1922)
Steve Boros (1936)
Alan Bannister (1951)
Rene Gonzales (1960)
Dave Clark (1962)
Eric Plunk (1963)
Ced Landrum (1963)
Luis Gonzalez (1967)
Chad Fox (1970)
Matt Capps (1983)


Bill Armour managed Cleveland from 1902-1904 and Detroit from 1905-1906.  He also managed in the minor leagues for several years.
Outfielder Cedric Bernard Landrum did not play for the Twins, but was briefly in their minor league system.  He was born in Butler, Alabama, went to high school in Sweet Water, Alabama, attended the University of North Alabama, and signed with the Cubs as a free agent in 1985.  Standing a 5’9″ and weighing 165 pounds, he hit for a solid average in the minors, although with little to no power.  He was hitting .336 at AAA Iowa in 1991 when he was brought up to the majors in late May.  He was strictly a reserve, appearing in 56 games but getting only 86 at-bats.  He was back in AAA in 1992 and hit .311, despite being traded to the Milwaukee in mid-season.  A free agent after the 1992 season, the Twins signed him on February 23 and sent him to AAA Rochester.  He played in four games, batted four times, and went 0-for-4 before being released on April 17.  The Mets signed him about a month later, bringing him to the majors in mid-August.  He was once again a reserve, getting 19 at-bats in 22 games.  He was released after the season and was out of baseball in 1994.  He made a comeback in 1995, playing in AAA Colorado Springs in the Rockies’ organization, but hit only .259 and his playing career came to an end.  In 105 major league at-bats, he hit .238/.304/.286 with 27 stolen bases.  After his playing days ended, he remained in baseball, coaching first with the Expos’ organization and then in the Orioles’ system.   He was the batting coach for the Joliet Jackhammers in 2011.  At last report, Ced Landrum was an instructor for Lone Star Baseball, an instructional baseball academy in Euless, Texas.
Right-handed reliever Matthew Dicus Capps was with the Twins from 2010-2012.  Born and raised in Douglasville, Georgia, he was drafted in the seventh round by Pittsburgh in 2002.  He was a starter from 2003-2004, doingWELL in that role in rookie ball in 2003 but poorly at Class A in 2004.  He became a full-time reliever in 2005 andADVANCED rapidly, starting the season in Class A and ending it in the major legaues.  He never went back to the minors again, other than on a rehab assignment in 2008.  He was a set-up man in 2006, took over as closer at mid-season in 2007, and has been a closer ever since.  He has never put up big saves numbers, which seems to be at least partly a function of having played on bad teams most of his career.  After one and a half successful years as the Pirates’ closer, he had a bad year in 2009, posting an ERA of 5.80 and a WHIP of 1.66.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Washington.  He was having a fine season there when he was traded to Minnesota for Joe Testa and Wilson Ramos.  He has set a personal record for saves in 2010 with forty-two, sixteen of them for Minnesota.  He began 2011 as a set-up man for Joe Nathan, but became the closer when Nathan appeared not to be fully recovered from surgery.  It did not go particularly well, and Capps lost the closer role to Nathan at mid-season.  It was later reported that he was pitching with an injury much of 2011.  He was injured again for much of 2012, but pitched well when he could pitch.  He signed with Cleveland for 2013 but was again injured nearly the entire season, appearing in only six games in AAA.  He was still in the Indians organization in 2014, but was able to make only four minor league appearances.  He signed with Atlanta for 2015 but was released in May without having appeared in a game.  As a Twin, Matt Capps was 7-11, 3.61, 1.17 WHIP.  He appeared in 126 games and pitched 122 innings, saving 45 games.  He’s 32 today and hasn't had a healthy season since 2010.  We wish him well, but at this point one has to think the chances of Matt Capps coming back to be a useful pitcher are extremely remote.

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