Saturday, March 4, 2023

March 4

Red Murray (1884)
Jeff Pfeffer (1888)
Dazzy Vance (1891)
Lefty O'Doul (1897)
Buck Canel (1906)
Clyde McCullough (1917)
Mel Queen (1918)
Leo Righetti (1925)
Cass Michaels (1926)
Bob Johnson (1936)
Jack Fischer (1939)
Danny Frisella (1946)
Tom Grieve (1948)
Harry Saferight (1949)
Sam Perlozzo (1951)
Mark Wagner (1954)
Jeff Dedmon (1960)
Tom Lampkin (1964)
Giovanni Carrera (1968)
Dave Stevens (1970)
Mark Wegner (1972)
Sergio Romo (1983)
Nick Castellanos (1992)

Born in Argentina, Buck Canel broadcast major league baseball to Latin America for over four decades, calling forty-two World Series.

The father of Dave Righetti, Leo Righetti played in the minors for twelve years, eight of them in AAA.

Harry Saferight made it to the majors with Pittsburgh in 1979, but did not appear in a game.  He got to the on-deck circle three times, but each time the last out was made before he had a chance to bat.

St. Paul native Mark Wegner has been a major league umpire since 1998.

Catcher Clyde Edward McCullough did not play for the Twins, but was a coach with them in their inaugural season of 1961.  Born and raised in Nashville, he started his pro career with an independent team in Class D Lafayette in 1935 at age eighteen.  He signed with the Yankees for the 1936 season and spent 1937-1939 at AA for them.  He did not hit for a high average, but started to develop some power in 1939.  The Cubs obviously saw something in him and bought him for 1940.  He hit .324 with 27 homers for Buffalo that season and got a September call-up.  It would be seventeen years before he played in the minors again.  He was with the Cubs through 1948, with the exception of two years of military service.  He was then traded to Pittsburgh, for whom he played from 1949-1952.  The Cubs reacquired him after that season, and he stayed there through 1956.  He never spent a full season as a regular catcher--the most he ever played was in his first season of 1941, when he appeared in 125 games and got 418 at-bats.  Most of the time he would play in about half the team's games.  Despite that, he made the all-star team twice, in 1948 and 1953.  After the Cubs let him go, he played for AAA Miami in 1957, then ended his playing career.  He managed in the minors in 1958-59, then became a coach for the Senators/Twins from 1960-61.  He then moved on to the Mets, managing in their minor league system through 1969.  He managed in the Expos system for two more years, then his managing career was done.  In eleven years as a minor league manager, he won four league championships and made the playoffs one other time.  He was a minor league instructor in the Mets organization from 1974-76.  He was the bullpen coach of the San Diego Padres in 1982.  Sadly, he was found dead in his hotel room on September 18 of that year, apparently from a heart attack.  He was sixty-five years old, which does not sound at all old to me any  more.

Infielder Samuel Benedict Perlozzo got a September call-up with the Twins in 1977.  Born in Cumberland, Maryland, he attended George Washington University.  Perlozzo then signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1972.  Primarily a second baseman, he had some decent but unexceptional years in the minor leagues.  In his AAA debut in 1977, however, he hit .310 at Tacoma with an OBP of .393, earning that September call-up.  Perlozzo went 7-for-24 with the Twins, hitting two triples.  In 1978, he fell to .244 at Tacoma and was released the following March.  San Diego signed him, and he hit .301 at AAA Hawaii in 1979, getting another September call-up.  This time he went 0-for-2 with a walk.  After the season, he was sold to Yakult in the Japanese Central League.  He came back to the United States in 1981, playing for AAA Tidewater in the Mets' organization, and then his career came to an end.  He went into managing and coaching after that.  He was a minor league manager in the Mets' organization from 1982-1986, then became a major league coach.  He was on the coaching staff of the Mets (1987-1989), Cincinnati (1990-1992), Seattle (1993-1995), and Baltimore (1996-2005).  On August 4 of 2005, Perlozzo became the Orioles' manager, a position he held through June 18, 2007.  In 2008, he rejoined the Seattle coaching staff, and he was a coach for Philadelphia from 2009-2012.  It appears that he was out of baseball in 2013, but in December of that year he was hired by the Twins as their minor league outfield and baserunning coordinator.  He was a coordinator for player development for the Twins, but is not currently listed on their website.  The most logical guess appears to be that he has retired.

Right-hander David James Stevens pitched for the Twins from 1994 through 1997.  Stevens was born in Fullerton, California, attended high school in La Habra, California, and was drafted by the Cubs in the 20th round in 1989, not signing until May of 1990.  He did not appear to be anything special in the minors; he did go 10-1 in 1993, but with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in a year split between AA and AAA.  The latter part of the year, in AAA, he was converted from starting to relief.  Following the 1993 season, the Cubs traded Stevens and Matt Walbeck to Minnesota for Willie Banks.  He got off to a strong start in the Salt Lake bullpen in 1994 and made his major league debut on May 20 of that year.  It did not go well--in 20 appearances, he posted a 6.80 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP.  Despite that, Stevens started 1995 with the Twins, and when Rick Aguilera was traded in early July, Stevens became the Twins' closer.  There was no particular reason to think that would work, and it didn't.  In 1997, Stevens moved to the starting rotation, which also didn't work.  He was sent to AAA, then placed on waivers in August.  The Cubs claimed him and moved him back to the bullpen.  He split time between the majors and AAA with the Cubs through 1998.  The Cubs released him after the season.  He was signed by Cleveland for 1999, released in June, signed by Seattle, released again in July, signed by Pittsburgh in February of 2000, released in April, signed with Atlanta, and was in the minors there (with the exception of two major league appearances) through the 2001 season.  He was then out of baseball until 2004, when he appeared in three separate independent leagues.  As a Twin, Dave Stevens was 14-12, 5.82 with 21 saves and a 1.70 WHIP in 191.2 innings.  At last report, Dave Stevens had returned to his home town of LaHabra, California.

Right-handed reliever Sergio Francisco Romo came to the Twins in 2019.  Born and raised in Brawley, California, he attended Arizona Western College, the University of North Alabama, and Colorado Mesa University before being drafted by San Francisco in the twenty-eighth round in 2005.  Always a reliever, he pitched well in the minors and came up to the Giants in late June of 2008.  He pitched well for several years with the Giants, was a part-time closer in 2012, and took over the job full-time in 2013.  He lost the job in 2014, however, but continued to pitch well for the Giants through 2016.  He was a free agent after that season and signed with the Dodgers for 2017, but was traded to Tampa Bay in July of that year.  He was both a closer and an opener for the Rays in 2018, once starting games on consecutive days.  He signed with Miami for 2019 and pitched well, but was traded to the Twins at the July deadline with Chris Vallimont for Lewin Diaz.  He was a solid reliever for them down the stretch and in 2020.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Oakland for 2021.  He was not awful, but did not give the Athletics what they really hoped for, either.  A free agent again, he signed with Seattle for 2022, was released in late June, signed with Toronto eight days later, was released again in less than a month, and finished the season in the Mexican League.  As a Twin, he was 1-3, 3.59, 8 saves, 1.03 WHIP. He was been a very consistent reliever for most of his career, only four times posting an ERA over 4.00 and only three times posting a WHIP over 1.20.  Those have all come in recent seasons, however, indicating that he is probably at the end.  He turns forty today.  As we say, teams are always looking for pitching, so it's possible that someone will give him another shot, or he may return to the Mexican League.  It seems likely, though, that Sergio Romo's career is nearly over, and possibly already is over.

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