May 25

Al Reach (1840)

Lip Pike (1845)

Joe Judge (1894)

Martin Dihigo (1905)

Chester Williams (1906)

Lindsey Nelson (1919)

Bill Sharman (1926)

Jim Marshall (1931)

W. P. Kinsella (1935)

Glenn Borgmann (1950)

John Montefusco (1950)

Bob Knepper (1954)

Kerwin Danley (1961)

Bill Haselman (1966)

Dave Hollins (1966)

Joey Eischen (1970)

Todd Walker (1973)

Miguel Tejada (1974)

Chris Young (1979)

Scott Hairston (1980)

Jason Kubel (1982)

Eric Young (1985)

Pat Dean (1989)

Neil Ramirez (1989)

Al Reach played major league baseball from 1871-1875.  He later founded the A. J. Reach Company, which was the largest sporting goods company in the United States at one time (it eventually merged with Spalding).  This company also published the Reach Guide, an influential baseball publication, from 1883-1927.

Martin Dihigo was a star in the Negro Leagues, winning 250 games as a pitcher and also winning two batting titles.

Lindsey Nelson was one of the most famous broadcasters in the country at one time.  He broadcast New York Mets games from 1962-1978 and San Francisco Giants games from 1979-1981, but was better known as the voice of Notre Dame football.

Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Sharman was a minor league outfielder from 1950-1953 and in 1955, reaching AAA with St. Paul.

W. P. Kinsella has written several books on baseball, most notably "Shoeless Joe" the book on which the movie "Field of Dreams" was based.

Kerwin Danley was a major league umpire from 1998-2021.

Catcher Glenn Dennis Borgmann played in part or all of eight seasons for the Twins, from 1972-1979.  He was born in Paterson, New Jersey and attended the University of South Alabama.  Minnesota drafted him in the first round of the June Secondary draft in 1971.  He advanced rapidly through the minors, and after hitting .336 with 12 homers at AAA Tacoma in 1972, he got his first taste of the majors, spending the second half of the 1972 as the Twins’ regular catcher.  He did not hit in the majors, though, and was back in Tacoma for most of 1973, getting only a September call-up.  Borgmann was back as the regular catcher in 1974-1975, hitting .252 in the former year but only .207 in the latter.  After that, a combination of injuries and the emergence of Butch Wynegar as the Twins’ catcher limited Borgmann’s playing time.  He caught in only 118 games total over the next four seasons.  Borgmann became a free agent after the 1979 season and signed with the White Sox.  He was in AAA most of the year, coming up to Chicago for the last two months.  In 1981, Borgmann signed with Cleveland, but he did not get back to the major leagues and his playing career ended after that season.  After leaving baseball, he worked in the auto parts industry and for the Meadowlands race track.  He is a member of the South Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame.  At last report, Glenn Borgmann was living in Butler, New Jersey.

Infielder David Michael Hollins was with the Twins for most of the 1996 season.  He was born in Buffalo and attended the University of South Carolina.  Hollins was drafted by San Diego in the sixth round in 1987.  He was in the Padres’ organization for three seasons, hitting for a good average with moderate power.  He advanced a level at a time, but was left unprotected after the 1989 campaign and was taken by Philadelphia in the Rule 5 draft.  He was with the Phillies all of the 1990 season but played sporadically and not very well, hitting .184.  He started 1991 in Philadelphia, still playing sparingly, and was sent down in late April to get some playing time.  He came back in mid-July and this time was ready to stay a while.  He was the regular third baseman the rest of the way and hit .298.  He never hit that high in a full season, but he stayed in the .270s as a Phillie, and developed power, hitting 27 home runs in 1992 before settling in consistently in the teens for homers.  Hollins moved to first base in 1995 to make room for Charlie Hayes and was traded to Boston in late July.  He played in only five games for the Red Sox before missing the rest of the season with an injury.  A free agent after the season, Hollins signed with Minnesota and went back to third base.  He was decent but unspectacular as a Twin, hitting .242/.364/.396 in 422 at-bats.  Hollins was traded to Seattle in late August for a player to be named later (David Arias, n/k/a David Ortiz, a true player to be named later).  He became a free agent after the season and moved to Anaheim, where he stayed for two seasons.  The first was a good one, the second not so much, and he was traded to Toronto late in spring training of 1999.  He got off to a slow start and was released by the Blue Jays in late June.  The White Sox signed him, but kept him in AAA the rest of the season.  In 2000, Hollins signed with Tampa Bay in January, was released in May, signed with Baltimore in July, was released in August, and signed the same day with Cleveland.  All of that season was spent in the minors as was all but two games of 2001.  He signed back with Philadelphia in 2002 and was in AAA with them most of the next two years, getting 17 at-bats in the majors.  His playing career ended after the 2003 campaign.  He remained in baseball for quite a while, serving as a coach at Binghamton in 2005 before becoming a scout for the Phillies, a job which lasted until 2020.  At last report, he was working with the Darren Daulton Foundation, which provides assistance for people suffering from primary malignant brain tumors.  Dave Hollins is a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.  His son, also named Dave but going by the nickname Bubba, played in twelve games for Batavia in the Miami organization in 2017.

Infielder Todd Arthur Walker played for the Twins in parts of five seasons from 1996-2000.  He was born in Bakersfield, California, went to high school in Bossier City, Louisiana, and then attended LSU.  He was drafted by the Twins with the 8th pick of the 1994 draft.  He hit very well in the minors, with his best year coming in 1996 when he hit .339 with 28 homers for AAA Salt Lake, getting called up at the end of August.  He started 1997 as the Twins’ starting third baseman, but was sent down in late May after hitting .194.  He came back in late August, played well in September, and replaced Chuck Knoblauch as the Twins’ second baseman in 1998.  He had a strong season, hitting .316 with 12 homers.  He was decent, although not as good, in 1999.  His defense was considered less than adequate, as was his attitude, and when he got off to a slow start in 2000 he was sent back to AAA and then traded to Colorado with Butch Huskey for Todd Sears and cash.  As a Twin, he hit .285/.341/.413 in 1,374 at-bats.  Walker resurrected his career in Colorado, batting over .300 in about a year, but was traded again in mid-season, this time to Cincinnati.  He continued to hit, but again did not stay long, this time becoming a free agent and signing with the Cubs prior to the 2004 season.  He was a Cub for two and a half years, continued to hit decently, and was traded to San Diego in late July.  The Padres released him in late March of 2007.  Walker signed with Oakland and didn’t hit badly for a bench player, but he was released in mid-May, ending his playing career.  Todd Walker was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in July of 2009, was named to the College World Series legends team in 2010, and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.  He also had his uniform number retired at LSU.  He was the head baseball coach at Calvary Baptist Academy, a private high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, from 2012-2015.  At last report, he was a baseball analyst for the SEC network and was living in Shreveport.

Outfielder/DH Jason James Kubel has been with the Twins in 2004, from 2006-2011, and in 2014.  He was born in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, attended high school in Palmdale, California, and was drafted by Minnesota in the twelfth round in 2000.  He hit very well throughout the minors.  His best year was 2004, when he started by hitting .377 with 6 homers in 138 at-bats in New Britain and followed that by hitting .343 with 16 homers in 350 at-bats in Rochester.  He made his major league debut on August 31 of that year and continued to hit, batting .300 with two home runs in 60 at-bats.  Unfortunately, he then tore up his knee in the Arizona Fall League.  Kubel missed all of 2005, started 2006 in the majors, was sent back to AAA for a month, and all-in-all had a poor year, leading some to believe he might not make it back.  He proved those people wrong in 2007 and was a good major league player through 2012.  2009 was his best so far, as he hit .300 with 28 home runs and finished 24th in MVP voting.  He had a down year in 2010, but still hit 21 homers and drove in 92 runs.   He hoped to rebound in 2011, but battled injuries and played in only 99 games.   He became a free agent after the season and signed with Arizona, for whom he had a solid season in 2012.  He was hampered by injuries again in 2013, had a poor season, and was traded at the August deadline to Cleveland, for whom he continued to play poorly.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Minnesota for 2014.  Twins fans hoped it would be a successful reunion, but it was not to be and he was released in mid-June, ending his playing career.  It was a solid career, though:  as a Twin, Jason Kubel hit .269/.334/.449 with 105 home runs in 798 games.  His brother-in-law, Michael Tonkin, played for the Twins from 2013-2017 and briefly in 2024.  At last report, Jason Kubel was living in the Los Angeles area and was helping coach youth baseball.  He is a member of the Rochester Red Wings Hall of Fame.

Left-hander Patrick Michael Dean made his debut with the Twins in 2016.  He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, went to high school in Naugatuck, Connecticut, attended Boston College, and was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 2010.  He struggled when promoted to high-A in 2011 and had a rather undistinguished year there in 2012 as well.  He didn't do much in AA in 2013 or 2014 either.  His numbers would indicate that he had no business being promoted to AAA, but he was, and when he got there something clicked.  He went 12-11, 2.82, 1.15 WHIP in 2015 and was 1-1, 3.00, 1.11 WHIP there in 2016 when he was called up to the Twins in May.  It did not go well for him.  He made 19 appearances, nine of them starts, and went 1-6, 6.28.  He went to Korea for 2017-2018.  He didn't do all the well there, but the Twins re-signed him for 2019.  He didn't make it out of spring training, though, getting released in late March.  He pitched well in two starts for Southern Maryland in the Atlantic League, then signed with Colorado.  He went to AAA, but it did not go well for him there, to put it kindly.  He became a free agent after the season and went unsigned, bringing his playing career to an end.  No information about what Pat Dean has done since then was readily available, but he posts on instagram, so he is presumably alive and well.

Right-hander Neil Andrew Ramirez made eight appearances for the Twins in 2016.  Born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, he was drafted by Texas in the first round in 2007.  He was in Class A through 2010, not really doing very much, but he made six AA starts in 2011, did pretty well, and was promoted to AAA, where he did okay the rest of the season.  He had a poor 2012 but did well in 2013 back in AA.  He went to the Cubs as the player to be named later in the deal that sent ex-Twin Matt Garza to Texas.  He was promoted to the majors in late April of 2014 and had an outstanding season in the Cubs bullpen, going 3-3, 1.44, 1.05 WHIP.  He missed half of the 2015 season due to shoulder injuries, but pitched pretty well when healthy.  It's been all downhill since then, though.  He was waived by the Cubs in late May of 2016, claimed by Milwaukee, waived again two weeks later, and claimed by the Twins.  He did okay in his first five appearances for the Twins, but his last three were awful and he finished the season in Rochester.  As a Twin, he was 0-0, 6.14, 1.71 WHIP in 14.2 innings.  He signed with the Giants for 2017, was waived in early May, was claimed by Toronto, was released ten days later, and signed with the Mets two days after that, made twenty appearances for them, was released again, and finished the year in AAA for Washington.  In 2018 he signed with Cleveland, for whom he pitched well in AAA and was called up to the Indians in early May.  He was kind of okay for them, but certainly nothing special.  He was still with Cleveland at the start of 2019 but didn't get much accomplished and was released in early August.  Toronto signed him a few days later but released him in early August.  He signed with the Angels for 2020 but did not play for them.  He signed with Guadalajara in the Mexican League for 2021, but apparently did not play for them, either.  He did, however, pitched for High Point in the Atlantic League in 2023-2024.   From 2014-2015 Neil Ramirez had an ERA of 1.87 and a WHIP of 1.11.  After that his ERA was 5.68 and his WHIP is 1.57.  One suspects it was the shoulder, but whatever the reason, he was clearly not the same pitcher after 2015.  At last report, Neil Ramirez was the head of the Pro Athlete Division of Cornerstone Advisor Group in Hickory, North Carolina.

May 24

Fred Jacklitsch (1876)

Jack Pfiester (1878)

Joe Oeschger (1892)

Willy Miranda (1926)

Ellie Rodriguez (1946)

Rob Ducey (1965)

Carlos Hernandez (1967)

Todd Rizzo (1971)

Danny Bautista (1972)

Bartolo Colon (1973)

Brad Penny (1978)

Adam Conley (1990)

Chad Green (1991)

Adam Conley was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-second round in 2008 but did not sign.

Infielder Guillermo (Perez) “Willy” Miranda did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 1961 at the end of his career.  He was born in Velasco, Cuba and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1948.  He was in the Washington farm system through 1951, spending three of those four seasons at AA Chattanooga.  He did not hit much, averaging around .240, but got about six weeks in the majors as a reserve in 1951, going 4-for-9 in sparing use.  He made the big leagues for good in 1952, although he moved around for a while.  Washington traded him to the White Sox after the 1951 season, the White Sox traded him to the Browns in mid-June, the Browns put him on waivers two weeks later and he was selected by the White Sox again, he was traded back to the Browns after the 1952 season, he was sold to the Yankees in mid-June of 1953, and he was traded to the former Browns, now the Baltimore Orioles, after the 1954 season (the latter trade involved seventeen players, the largest swap between two teams in baseball history).  He was a reserve in those years, known as a slick fielder, as tremendous with the glove as he was awful with the bat (many contemporaries proclaimed him the best-fielding shortstop they’d ever seen, while at the plate one manager said that “his weakness is pitched balls.”)  The Orioles made him their regular shortstop in 1955, and he responded with his best offensive season.  He still only hit .255 with no power, but it was enough for him to retain the shortstop job in 1956.  He dropped to .217 that year, however, and his days as a regular were over.  He stayed with the Orioles as a reserve through the 1959 season, but was traded to the Dodgers in mid-March of 1960.  He spent the season in AAA and then found his way to the Minnesota system, playing at AAA Syracuse in 1961.  He hit pretty much as he always had, majors or minors:  .230/.307/.295 in 278 at-bats.  That brought his playing career to an end.  For his major league career, Willy Miranda hit .221/.282/.271 in 1,914 at-bats over nine seasons.  After his career ended, Miranda moved back to Baltimore.  Willy Miranda passed away from lung cancer on September 7, 1996.

Left-hander Todd Michael Rizzo did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system in 2000.  He was born in Media, Pennsylvania, went to high school in Concordville, Pennsylvania, and signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in 1992.  He pitched in A ball for them that season, but did not do much and was released in June of 1993.  He pitched in the Texas-Louisiana League in 1994 and caught the attention of the White Sox, who signed him for the 1995 season.  Used exclusively in relief, he climbed the ladder at a pace of a level a season, posting good ERAs with high WHIPs.  He was in AAA in 1997 and started 1998 in the majors.  The Sox appear to have tried to use him as a LOOGY, but in a small sample size left-handers absolutely murdered him (11-for-19) while he did okay against righties (5-for-20).  He went 0-0, 13.50 in 6.2 innings spread over nine appearances, which sounds worse than it was as all the runs scored on him came in three of the nine outings.  Still, he was back in the minors by the end of April.  He stayed there most of the rest of his career, getting one more brief shot at the majors for a week in July of 1999 with similar results.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota.  Rizzo was with AAA Salt Lake all of the 2000 season, going 6-4, 3.39, 1.44 WHIP in 72.1 innings (62 appearances).  He moved on after the season, pitching in the Dodgers’ and Giants’ organizations in 2001 and then playing for Camden in the independent Atlantic League from 2002-2006 with the exception of a stint in the Baltimore system in 2003.  At last report, Todd Rizzo was the pitching coordinator for Maplezone Sports Institute in the Philadelphia area.

Right-hander Bartolo Colon made fifteen starts for the Twins in 2017.  He was born in Altamira, Dominican Republic, went to high school in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and was signed by Cleveland in 1993.  He pitched quite well in the minors and made the big club out of spring training in 1997.  He was up and down a couple of times that year, but came up to stay at mid-season.  He struggled that year, but came into his own in 1998, going 14-9, 3.71 and making his first of four all-star teams.  He remained with the Indians through mid-season of 2002 and was a good pitcher all of that time, finishing fourth in Cy Young voting in 1999.  He was then traded to Montreal and finished the season there, ending up sixth in Cy Young voting in 2002.  He was traded to the White Sox for 2003, then signed as a free agent with the Angels in 2004.  He won the Cy Young award in 2005 when he won twenty games for the only time in his career.  He then struggled through some injury-plagued seasons, appearing in only forty-eight games from 2006-2009 and missing all of 2010.  He came back with the Yankees in 2011 and then had two very good seasons for Oakland from 2012-13, finishing sixth in Cy Young voting in the latter season.  He then went to the Mets for three seasons, making his fourth all-star team in 2016.  It looked as if that would be his last hurrah, though.  He signed with Atlanta for 2017, made thirteen mostly bad starts, and was released in mid-June.  The Twins signed him in mid-July.  He made a few good starts for them, but his numbers for Minnesota were 5-6, 5.18, 1.44 WHIP in 80 innings (15 starts).  It looked like that might be it for him, but he signed with Texas for 2018.  He pitched well there at first, but could not sustain it.  He did not pitch in 2019 or in 2020, but he pitched for Monclova in the Mexican League in 2021 and did okay.  He did not pitch in 2022--wikipedia says he planned to play winter ball, but b-r.com does not record that he actually did so.  He did not play in 2023, either, but that offseason he played winter ball in the United League, based in the Middle East and South Asia.  That appears, finally, to have ended his playing career at age fifty,  He wrote a book, "Big Sexy:  In His Own Words", available on amazon.com.  At last report, Bartolo Colon was living in New Jersey, but also frequently returned to his home town of Altamira.

May 23

Dummy Hoy (1862)

Deacon Phillippe (1872)

Zack Wheat (1888)

Halsey Hall (1898)

Arch McDonald (1901)

Willis Hudlin (1906)

Augie Galan (1912)

Lennie Pearson (1918)

Lawrence Ritter (1922)

Clyde King (1924)

Skip Bertman (1938)

Tom Penders (1945)

Reggie Cleveland (1948)

Buck Showalter (1956)

Ricky Gutierrez (1970)

Ramon Ortiz (1973)

Mike Gonzalez (1978)

Mike Dunn (1985)

Jordan Zimmerman (1986)

Kyle Barraclough (1990)

Cesar Hernandez (1990)

Tyler Beede (1993)

Michael Helman (1996)

Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher in the first World Series game.  He lived in what would become the state of South Dakota from 1875-1896, where his family farmed near the town of Athol.

Legendary sportswriter and broadcaster Halsey Hall broadcast Twins games from 1961-72.

Arch McDonald was an early baseball broadcaster known for his re-creations of games.

Author Lawrence Ritter wrote the excellent book, "The Glory of Their Times".

Skip Bertman was the head baseball coach at LSU from 1984-2001.

College basketball coach Tom Penders played minor league baseball for the Indians in 1968.

Right-hander Ramon Diogenes Ortiz was a member of the Minnesota Twins for about four and a half months in 2007.  A native of Cotui in the Dominican Republic, Ortiz was signed by the Angels as a free agent in 1995.  He generally pitched well in the minors, although he appears to have been slowed by an injury in 1998.  He reached AAA in 1999 and after only nine starts there was promoted to the majors in August.  He was immediately thrown into the rotation, but he wasn’t ready, going 2-3, 6.52.  He split the next year between AAA and the majors, but by 2001 he was in the big leagues to stay.  He was in the Angels starting rotation for three full years, from 2001-2003.  His best year was clearly 2002, when he went 15-9, 3.77 with a WHIP of 1.18.  His ERA soared to 5.20 the next year, and when he got off to a poor start in 2004 Ortiz was sent to the bullpen.  The Angels traded him to the Reds for 2005, but while he stayed in the rotation he really did not pitch any better than he had the year before.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Washington for 2006 and again spent the entire year in the rotation despite pitching poorly.  He signed with Minnesota as a free agent for 2007.  He was again in the rotation and pitched well in his first three starts, but slipped to average for his next two and bad for his next five.  Ortiz went to the bullpen after that and was traded to Colorado in mid-August for Matt Macri.  As a Twin, he was 4-4, 5.14 in 28 appearances, ten of them starts.  He pitched 91 innings for Minnesota.  Ortiz became a free agent after the 2007 season and played in Japan for the Orix Blue Wave in 2008, where he continued to not pitch very well.  He came back to the United States for 2009, pitching at AAA Phoenix in the Giants’ organization.  He signed with the Dodgers for 2010 and made sixteen appearances in the majors, most of them poor ones.  The Dodgers released him in early June, he was in the Mets’ organization for about a month and a half, and he finished the season at AAA with Tampa Bay.  He was released by the Rays in March of 2011, but signed with the Cubs a month later and battled his way back to the big leagues, spending half the season in Chicago.  A free agent again after the season, he signed with San Francisco for 2012.  He was released near the end of spring training, but signed with the Yankees and spent the season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he had a fine season in AAA but did not get another shot at the majors.  Once again a free agent after the season, he signed with Toronto for 2013.  He started the season in AAA but made it back to the majors for about a month.  That's the last time he's played in what we call Organized Baseball, but  he continued to  play in the Dominican League during the winter and also played in Mexico from 2014-15.  It's pretty impressive to play twelve seasons in the big leagues when you only had one year with an ERA under four and eight years with an ERA over five.  At last report, it appeared that Ramon Ortiz had moved back to Cotui in the Dominican Republic and owned a barbershop there.

Right-hander Kyle David Barraclough appeared in ten games for the Twins in 2021.  Born and raised in Santa Clara, California, he attended St. Mary's College of California.  He was drafted by the Twins in the fortieth round in 2011, but did not sign.  He was later drafted by St. Louis in the seventh round in 2012.  He pitched pretty well in the low minors, but was traded to Miami in July of 2015 for Steve Cishek.  He came up to the majors in August of 2015 and stayed with the Marlins through 2018, pitching quite well in relief.  Miami traded him to Washington after the 2018 season for Unknown Compensation.  I don't know how well Mr. Compensation did, but Barraclough was awful for the Nationals and then got hurt, or more likely he was hurt and that's why he was awful, as his numbers fell off sharply in the middle of May.  He was waived in early August and claimed by San Francisco, for whom he pitched fairly well in September.  He was signed by San Diego for 2020 but was let go before the (shortened) season started and did not pitch that year.  He signed with the Yankees in 2021 and did pretty well in AAA, but was still released in mid-June.  The Twins signed him a couple of days later, sent him to AAA, the brought him to the majors in late August.  He pitched well at times, but he also pitched not well at times, and his record as a Twin was 2-0, 5.54, 1.54 WHIP.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Angels.  They brought him to the majors in May and he did very well in eight appearances, but he spent the rest of the season pitching well in AAA.  He became a free after the season, and despite the fact that teams are always looking for pitching no one wanted him, so he pitched for High Point in the Atlantic League at the start of 2023.  The Red Sox signed him in mid-June and he spent most of the summer in AAA, making three appearances in the majors.  He started 2024 back in High Point, but was signed by Texas in early May, again going to AAA.  He did okay for them, but did not make it back to the majors.  He started 2025 once again back in High Point, but then moved to Oaxaca in the Mexican League.  He was prepared to pitch for Oaxaca again in 2026, but was released in April.  He turns thirty-six today.  In 291 major league games (282 innings), he was 19-16, 3.86, 11 saves, and a WHIP of 1.40.  He also struck out 11.2 per nine innings.  Perhaps he'll return to High Point or some other independent league team, or perhaps he'll move on to the next phase of his life.  We wish him well.

Utility player Michael James Helman appeared in nine games for the Twins in 2024.  He was born in Omaha, attended Texas A&M, and was drafted by Minnesota in the eleventh round in 2018.  He did very well in 2018 but struggles when promoted to high-A in 2019.  He missed the COVID season of 2020.  He was nothing special in high-A in 2021, but did well in AA in 2022 and had an outstanding season in AAA in 2023.  He had another good year at AAA in 2024 and earned a September call-up.  Unfortunately, he wasn't given much of a chance.  Used mostly as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement, he batted .300/.300/.500 in ten at-bats.  The Twins sold him to St. Louis before the 2025 season.  He did not hit in AAA and was waived in mid-May.  Pittsburgh claimed him, but waived him five days later and he was claimed by Texas.  He split the rest of the season between AAA and the majors, spending about two months with the Rangers.  He again wasn't given much of a chance, but did okay when he did play.  He is currently at AAA Round Rock, but isn't doing very well at this writing.  He turns thirty today.  We're rooting for him, but the odds of him getting a regular spot in the majors don't look good at this point.

Right-hander Tyler Joseph Beede has not played for the Twins yet, but is currently at AAA for them.  He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, went to high school in Groton, Massachusetts, attended Vanderbilt, and was drafted by San Francisco in the first round in 2014.  He struck out a batter per inning in college, but also walked 4.7 per nine, a problem that would plague him throughout his career.  He pitched well in the low minors but struggled when promoted to AA in 2015. He did much better in his second try at AA in 2016, but did poorly in AAA in 2017 and 2018, despite which he made two starts for the Giants, again pitched poorly.  He did well in  seven AAA starts in 2019, however, and was in the Giants' rotation most of that season, going 5-10, 5.08.  He missed the 2020 COVID season and pitched poorly again in AAA in 2021, despite which he again made one major league appearance.  He made six appearances for the Giants in 2022 and then was waived and claimed by Pittsburgh.  He was in the majors the rest of the season, continuing not to pitch well.  He went to Japan in 2023, was unimpressive, and was signed by Cleveland for 2024, for whom he pitched poorly in AAA and in twelve major league appearances.  He signed with the Twins in mid-April of 2025, wasn't very good, and was released in early June.  He then made five starts in the Atlantic League and three in the Mexican League, not doing very well there, either.  He signed with the Cubs for 2026 and is once again pitching poorly in AAA.  It sounds like we're being really hard on him, but in 201 major league innings he's 8-16, 5.55, 1.58 WHIP.  In 314,1 AAA innings he's 13-30, 6.21, 1.72 WHIP.  He turns thirty-three today.  There's obviously something about him teams like, because he keeps getting chances, but there's really no reason Tyler Beede should ever be in a big league uniform again, and really no reason he should be in a AAA uniform, either.  But he's probably a nice guy, and we wish him well in whatever life after his playing career holds.

May 22

Al Simmons (1902)

Terris McDuffie (1910)

Jose Valdivielso (1934)

Ron Piche (1935)

Rich Garcia (1942)

Walt Hriniak (1943)

Tommy John (1943)

Jim Colborn (1946)

Jose Mesa (1966)

Al Levine (1968)

Julian Tavarez (1973)

Eric Sogard (1986)

Corey Dickerson (1989)

Carson McCusker (1998)

Zebby Matthews (2000)

Terris McDuffie pitched from 1930-1954, playing in the Negro Leagues, the Cuban Winter League, the Mexican League, the Puerto Rican League, the Dominican League, the Venezuelan League, the California Winter League, and the minor leagues.  His biography at b-r.com is worth reading.

Rich Garcia was an American League umpire from 1975-1999.

Tommy John was one of the Twins’ television broadcasters from 1994-1996.

Infielder Jose Lopez Valdivielso was one of the original Twins, playing for them in 1961.  He was born in Matanzas, Cuba.  He started in organized baseball in 1953, joining the Washington organization in 1954.  He came up to the majors in late June of 1955 and was the regular Washington shortstop the rest of the season.  He hit .221 with an OPS of .594, yet somehow got a tenth-place vote for MVP.  He was again the regular shortstop for much of 1956, although he spent a month or so in the minors.  He hit a little better, but not much.  Valdivielso then spent some time playing in other organizations, although whether he actually belonged to those other organizations is unclear.  He was at AAA with the White Sox in 1957 and with Boston and San Francisco in 1958.  He was a reserve infielder for Washington for much of 1959, also playing at AAA with Baltimore.  He then got his only two full seasons in the majors, 1960 with Washington and 1961 with Minnesota.  He was a part-time starting shortstop in 1960 and a reserve infielder in 1961.  In his one season as a Twin, he played in 76 games and got 149 at-bats.  He hit .195/.234/.248.  In his major league career, all of which was in the Washington/Minnesota organization, he hit .219/.282/.290 in 971 at-bats.  He was at AAA Vancouver for the Twins in 1962, then moved on to Indianapolis in the White Sox’ organization for two years before ending his playing career after the 1964 season.  After that, he worked in New York City as a youth recreation director before going into broadcasting.  He did Spanish-language broadcasts for the New York Yankees, and was the morning sports reporter at WKDM in Newark, New Jersey.  He was a director emeritus on the board of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.  Jose Valdivielso passed away on March 4, 2025 at the age of ninety.

Right-hander Ronald Jacques Piche did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for part of the 1965 season.  He was born in Verdun, Quebec, Canada, and signed with Milwaukee as a free agent in 1955.  He pitched well in the minors, posting an ERA below three each year from 1955-1961.  He both started and relieved, making his record of success more remarkable.  He reached AAA in 1959 and made his major league debut with the Braves in late May of 1960.  He was used as a short reliever and pitched well, going 3-5, 3.56 with nine saves in 48 innings (37 appearances).  He began 1961 in Milwaukee, but despite the fact that he was pitching well he was sent down in mid-May, not returning until he received a September call-up.  He split 1962 between AAA and the majors, then stayed for the whole season in 1963, his only full year in the majors.  He generally struck out quite a few batters, but also walked quite a few batters, which is probably why he did not get more of a chance in the big leagues.  He was back in the minors in 1964, was traded to the Angels (with Phil Roof) before the 1965 season, and then was sent to Minnesota in June of 1965 “in an unknown transaction”.  The Twins sent him to Denver, where he pitched badly, going 3-4, 5.77 in 53 innings.  Before the 1966 season, Piche was traded to St. Louis in another “unknown transaction.”  He made it back to the majors in late July, staying for the rest of the season.  That would be the end of his major league career, however; his major league numbers are 10-16, 4.19 with 12 saves in 221.1 innings.  He appeared in 134 games, 11 of them starts.  He played for a few more years, however, staying in the Cardinals organization through 1967, going to the Cubs system in 1968-1969, playing in the Mets and Expos chains in 1970, and finishing in the Expos organization in 1972.  After leaving baseball, he moved to Montreal, where among other things he became a volunteer firefighter.  He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Ron Piche passed away on February 3, 2011 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Outfielder Carson Michael McCusker played sixteen games for the Twins in 2025.  Born and raised in Sparks, Nevada, he attended Folsom Lake College in Folsom, California, the only major league player to come from that institution, and was drafted by Milwaukee in the twenty-sixth round in 2017.  He did not sign, however, and instead went to Oklahoma State.  He had a solid career there, but was nothing special, and so went to independent ball for two seasons.  The Twins signed him in 2023 and he had a solid season for them in Class A and high-A.  In 2024 he went to AA and AAA, and then was in AAA in 2025.  Everywhere he went, he hit about the same--a batting average around .260 to .280, double digit home runs, and an OPS of around .840 to .860.  He spent about six weeks with the Twins in 2025 and did not hit, although he wasn't given much of a chance, either--he played in sixteen games, but only had twenty-nine at-bats.  The Twins released him after the season and he went to Japan, where he is off to a slow start for Rakuten.  He turns twenty-eight today.  As a Twin, he hit .172/.200/.172.  We wish he'd been given more of a chance, although there's no way to know what he'd have done with it.  We wish him well.

Right-hander Daniel Zebulon Matthews began his major league career with the Twins in 2024.  He was born in Cullowhee, North Carolina, went to high school in Sylva, North Carolina, attended Walters State Community College and Western Carolina University, and was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 2022.  He pitched solidly in college and reached high-A in 2023.  In 2024 he shot through the Twins' system, starting in high-A, moving to AA, AAA, and then the majors in mid-August.  He went 1-4, 6.69 in nine starts, numbers which are skewed by two really bad starts.  He pitched very well in AAA in 2025, but not well at all in sixteen starts with the Twins.  He got off to a poor start in AAA in 2026, but pitched better more recently and did well in his one major league start at this writing.  He turns twenty-six today, and is one of only three "Zeb" or "Zebby"s to reach the majors.  So far, he is 7-10, 5.59, 1.49 WHIP in 124 major league innings.  It's hard to have a lot of confidence in him, but there are guys who took a while to figure it out but had good careers once they did.  Given the state of the Twins, it seems likely he'll be given a chance to be one of them.

May 21

Fred Dunlap (1859)
Eddie Grant (1883)
Earl Averill (1902)
Hank Johnson (1906)
Mace Brown (1909)
Monty Stratton (1912)
Larry Napp (1919)
Ed FitzGerald (1924)
El Tappe (1927)
Moe Thacker (1934)
Barry Latman (1936)
Bobby Cox (1941)
Kent Hrbek (1960)
Bryce Florie (1970)
Tom Martin (1970)
Chris Widger (1971)
Mark Quinn (1974)
Josh Hamilton (1981)
Andrew Miller (1985)
Matt Wieters (1986)

Larry Napp was an American League umpire from 1951-1974.

El Tappe had a twin brother, Mel Tappe, who also played in the minors.

First baseman Kent Allen Hrbek played his entire 14-year major league career, 1981-1994, with the Twins.  He was born in Minneapolis, raised in Bloomington, and drafted by Minnesota in the 17th round in 1978.  He hit only .203 in 59 at-bats in Elizabethton that year, but improved to .267 with 19 homers in Wisconsin Rapids in 1980.  In 1981, he hit .379 with 27 homers at Class A Visalia, and that was as much as the Twins need to see.  He came to Minnesota in late August and opened 1982 as the Twins’ regular first baseman, a position he held until he retired after the 1994 season.  He made the all-star team in his rookie year of 1982, and would have made a couple of others had he been willing to go to the game.  He also finished second to Cal Ripken for Rookie of the Year in 1982, hitting .301/.363/.485 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs that season.  While Hrbek was a consistently good player for the Twins, his best year appears to be 1987, when he hit .285 with 34 homers and 90 RBIs and an OPS of .934.  He finished 16th in MVP voting that year, which was not his highest finish–that came in 1984, when he hit .311 with 27 home runs and 107 RBIs, finishing second in MVP balloting to Willie Hernandez.  Injuries slowed Hrbek toward the end of his career, and he retired after the players’ strike in 1994.  Kent Hrbek hit .282/.367/.481 in 6,192 at-bats.  He hit 312 doubles, 293 home runs, and drove in 1,086 runs.  He was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2000.  As you probably know, Kent Hrbek hosted an outdoors program, “Kent Hrbek Outdoors”, for several years and is active in raising money for ALS research.

May 20

Walt Burnham (1860)

Joe Harris (1891)

George Grantham (1900)

Pete Appleton (1904)

Hal Newhouser (1921)

Herman Wedemeyer (1924)

Tom Morgan (1930)

Ken Boyer (1931)

Sadaharu Oh (1940)

Bobby Murcer (1946)

Ralph Bryant (1961)

David Wells (1963)

Todd Stottlemyre (1965)

Ramon Hernandez (1976)

Jayson Werth (1979)

Austin Kearns (1980)

Adam Rosales (1983)

Walt Burham was a minor league manager from 1885-1907, winning 1,164 games.

Outfielder Herman Wedemeyer played for Class C Salt Lake City in 1950.  He was a star running back in the All-America Football Conference and later appeared in over 300 episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O, playing Sergeant Edward “Duke” Lukela.

Right-hander Tom Morgan was with Washington at the end of 1960, appearing in fourteen games with them.  On January 31, 1961, before the franchise played a game in Minnesota, he was sold to the Los Angeles Angels.

Sadaharu Oh hit 868 home runs in Japan.

Outfielder Ralph Bryant was drafted by Minnesota in the thirteenth round of the January draft in 1981, but he did not sign.

There do not appear to be any other major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

May 19

Ed Walsh (1881)

Newt Allen (1901)

Goose Curry (1905)

Gil McDougald (1928)

Curt Simmons (1929)

Larry McCoy (1941)

Dan Ford (1952)

Rick Cerone (1954)

Ed Whitson (1955)

Luis Salazar (1956)

Eric Show (1956)

Turk Wendell (1967)

Brandon Inge (1977)

Brian Anderson (1993)

Outfielder Goose Curry was a star in the Negro Leagues, batting over .300 several times.

This author's first baseball glove was a Gil McDougald model.  I had no idea who he was.  But then, he probably had no idea who I was, either.

Larry McCoy was an American League umpire from 1971-1999.

Eric Show was drafted by Minnesota in the 36th round in 1974, but did not sign.

Brian Anderson was drafted by Minnesota in the 20th round in 2011, but did not sign.

Outfielder Darnell Glenn “Disco Danny” Ford played for the Twins from 1975-1978.  Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ford was drafted by Oakland in the first round in 1970.  He spent his first two seasons at Class A Burlington, hitting .354 with 18 homers the second year.  That got him promoted to AAA Tucson, where he also spent two seasons.  Ford hit around .280 with double digit home runs in each season, but the Athletics were apparently not impressed as they traded both Ford and Dennis Myers to Minnesota after the season for Pat Bourque.  Many would argue the Twins got the better end of the deal; Bourque never played in the majors again, while Ford was a solid major league outfielder for Minnesota for four years.  He started 1975 with Minnesota and never went back to the minors.  His year-to-year numbers as a Twin are remarkably consistent.  He batted between .267 and .280 every season with an OPS from .756 to .781.  He hit from 11 to 20 homers each year.  Ford was in center for the Twins in 1975, moved to right in 1976 and 1977, and went back to center in 1978.  As a Twin, Dan Ford hit .272/.331/.435 in 1,999 at-bats.  After the 1978 season, Minnesota traded Ford to California for Danny Goodwin and Ron Jackson.  He spent three seasons as the Angels right fielder and was essentially the same player he had been in Minnesota, although 101 RBIs in 1979 got him a bit of MVP consideration.  The Angels traded Ford to Baltimore after the 1981 season.  He was there for four seasons.  His first one was his first bad season in the majors, as he hit only .235.  Ford bounced back in 1983 with a typical Dan Ford season:  .280/.328/.440.  It was his last good year in the majors, however.  Ford battled injuries his last two seasons, playing sporadically, and retired after the 1985 campaign.  He was never a star, but he was a solid, consistent major league outfielder for eight years, and that’s pretty good.  After leaving baseball, he moved to Louisiana to help run a family ranch, then became a scout, first with Oakland, then with the Angels.  He also worked with at-risk youth, apparently in the Los Angeles area.  At last report, Dan Ford was the owner of Paycation Travel, a travel agency in Benton, Louisiana.