May 10

Chippy McGarr (1863)

Ed Barrow (1868)

Klondike Douglass (1872)

Harry Salsinger (1885)

Allan Roth (1917)

Hideo Fujimoto (1918)

John McMullen (1918)

Herb Carneal (1923)

Jim Hickman (1937)

Ken Berry (1941)

John Cumberland (1947)

Chris Berman (1955)

Joey Meyer (1962)

Robby Thompson (1962)

Pete Schourek (1969)

Edward Mujica (1984)

Salvador Perez (1990)

Lucas Sims (1994)

Cody Laweryson (1998)

Ed Barrow was the manager of the Boston Red Sox from 1918-1920, and is credited with making the decision to make Babe Ruth an outfielder, rather than a pitcher.  He was then general manager of the New York Yankees from 1921-1944.

Harry Salsinger was the sports editor of the Detroit News for forty-nine years.

Allan Roth was the first full-time statistician employed by a major league team, being hired by Branch Rickey in 1947.  He is credited with promoting the idea that on-base percentage is more valuable than batting average and with providing the first evidence that right-handed batters tend to hit better against left-handed pitchers and vice versa.

Hideo Fujimoto holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA and lowest one-season ERA.

John McMullen was the owner of the Houston Astros from 1979-1992.

With all due respect to John Gordon, Cory Provus, and Kris Atteberry, some of us will always consider Herb Carneal to be the Voice of the Twins.

Chris Berman broadcast baseball on ESPN for several years.

Left-hander John Sheldon Cumberland did not play for the Twins, but went to spring training with them in 1973.  He was born in Westbrook, Maine, attended the University of Maine, and signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1966.  He had a mediocre season in Class A, but the Yankees thought they saw something in him and selected him in the minor league draft.  He had a decent in 1967 in AAA and a solid 1968 there, making his major league debut in the latter season as a September call-up.  He was not as good in 1969 but was not terrible, either, and made two more major league appearances.  He started 1970 with the Yankees and was doing okay, but was traded to San Francisco in mid-July.  1971 was his first full season in the majors and it was his best one:  he went 9-6, 2.92, 1.12 WHIP in 185 innings.  He made 45 appearances, 21 of them starts.  That was as good as it would get for him.  He struggled at the start of 1972, was traded to St. Louis in mid-June, continued to struggle, and after the season was traded to Minnesota with Larry Hisle for Wayne Granger.  That turned out to be a good trade for the Twins, but not because of Cumberland—he was released at the end of spring training.  He signed with the Giants again a couple of weeks later, was released at the end of June, and signed with California.  He made it back to the majors at the end of May, 1974 and pitched fairly well for the Angels for two months, but was sent back to the minors at the end of July.  His playing career came to an end after the season.  For his major league career, he was 15-16, 3.82, 1.24 WHIP in 334.1 innings.  He appeared in 110 games, 36 of them starts.  He stayed in baseball for a while as a coach, most recently working for the Kansas City Royals from 2002-2004.  His son Chris was in the minors for 12 seasons, two of them in the Twins’ organization, but did not make the major leagues.  John Cumberland passed away at his home in Lutz, Florida on April 5, 2024.

First baseman Tanner Joe Meyer did not play for the Twins, but went to spring training with them in 1991.  He was born in Honolulu, went to high school in Kailua, Hawaii, attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and was drafted by Milwaukee in the fifth round in 1983.  A big man (listed at 6′ 3″, 260), he crushed the ball in the minors, averaging thirty home runs a season over his first four seasons and hitting over .300 in three of those seasons.  He was in the majors all of the 1988 season, but was used as a part-time player, mostly at DH, as the Brewers preferred giving playing time to Greg Brock and Billy Joe Robideaux to seeing what their young slugger could do playing every day.  He wasn’t terrible in part-time duty, hitting .263 with 11 homers in 327 at-bats.  In 1989 he got even less playing time, as he continued to lose time to such stalwarts as Brock and George Canale.  He managed to hit seven homers in 147 at-bats, but his average declined.  The Brewers released him after the season, he went to Japan for 1990, then came back to the Twins for 1991.  They got rid of him at the end of spring training, but they at least had a better excuse, as they had Kent Hrbek to play first and Paul Sorrento at AAA.  Also, they did not just release him, but traded him to Pittsburgh for Greg Sims.  He played part-time at AAA in the Pirates’ organization in 1991, then his playing career came to an end.  He was a big guy who struck out a lot, but given his minor league record, one has to wonder what he might have done if someone had just given him regular playing time in the big leagues.  After his playing career he returned to Honolulu, and at last report was a security officer for Maui Memorial Medical Center.  He also was a manager for LLS Pacific, a landscaping company.

Right-hander Cody Orion Laweryson came up to the Twins in 2025.  He was born in Bingham, Maine, attended the University of Maine, and was drafted by the Twins in the fourteenth round in 2019.  He was primarily a reliever until his last year of college, mostly started for the Twins through 2021, and has been mostly in the bullpen since then.  He struggled as a starter in high-A in 2021, which is probably why he was moved to relieving.  He had an excellent 2022 split between high-A and AA, but had a poor 2023 in AAA and continued to pitch poorly when returned to AA in 2024.  In 2025, however, something clicked.  He pitched very well in AA, still did well in AAA, and did well in a September call-up that season.  He started 2026 in the majors, but was put on the injured list with a right forearm strain in early April and has not pitched since.  His major league numbers, all with the Twins, are 0-1, 2.57, 1.85 WHIP with fifteen strikeouts in fourteen innings.  He turns twenty-eight today.  His record so far is a pretty mixed bag, so it's anyone guess what the future will hold for him.

May 9

Frank Bancroft (1846)

Tommy Clarke (1888)

Neck Stanley (1905)

Billy Jurges (1908)

Tony Bartirome (1932)

Ron Jackson (1953)

Tom Chism (1954)

Tony Gwynn (1960)

Aaron Harang (1978)

Prince Fielder (1984)

Chase Headley (1984)

Buddy Boshers (1988)

Jace Peterson (1990)

Oswaldo Arcia (1991)

Cade Smith (1999)

Frank Bancroft managed seven teams in nine different seasons over the period of 1880-1902.

Infielder Tony Bartirome is better known as an athletic trainer, working for Pittsburgh from 1967-1985 and for Atlanta from 1986-1988.

Cade Smith was drafted by Minnesota in the sixteenth round in 2017, but did not sign.

First baseman Ronnie Damien Jackson played for the Twins from 1979-1981.  Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, he was drafted by California in the second round in 1971.  He was primarily a third baseman in the minors.  He had good but unspectacular minor league seasons with the exception of 1974, when he hit .328 with 11 home runs at AA El Paso.  He made his major league debut as a September callup in 1975 and started 1976 with the Angels.  He began as a bench player, but by mid-May Jackson was the regular third baseman.  He did not hit, however, and was down to part-time status in 1977.  He played more first base than third in 1978 and had a pretty good year, batting .297 in 387 at-bats.  After the season, Jackson was traded with Danny Goodwin to Minnesota for Dan Ford.  He was the Twins’ regular first baseman in 1979 and was fairly decent, hitting .271 with 14 home runs.  He was the mostly regular in 1980 as well, but slipped a little and fell to part-time status in 1981 before being traded to Detroit in August for a player to be named later (Tim Corcoran).  Jackson became a free agent after the season and did not sign until mid-April of 1982, going back to the Angels.  He hit .331 in only 142 at-bats for California in 1982, but slid back after that.  California released him in August of 1984 and he finished the season with Baltimore.  Jackson played in AAA for St. Louis in 1985 and briefly in AAA for the White Sox in 1988.  He played for a couple of years in the Seniors League, but then his playing career ended.  He was consistently employed until 2009 as a batting coach, either in the majors or in the minors.  He has made a series of instructional videos under the general title “Ron Jackson’s Hitting Factory.”  At last report, he was the owner of Gap to Gap, a website which offers various batting instructional videos and aids.  He also serves as a guest instructor at various baseball academies and coached Birmingham's Willie Mays Youth Baseball team to the 2014 championship of the Junior RBI Classic.  He has also started the Ron "Papa Jack" Baseball Foundation in Birmingham.

First baseman Thomas Raymond Chism did not play for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for a brief time in 1980.  He was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, attended Brandywine Junior College, went to Widener University (the only major league player to have gone to that school), and was drafted by Baltimore in the fourth round in 1974.  He did quite well in the minors, hitting .300 more often than not and posting an OPS over .800 every year.  He got a September call-up in 1979, appearing in six games and going 0-for-3.  Unfortunately for Chism, the Orioles had a first baseman named Eddie Murray, so there was no room for Chism. After the season, the Orioles traded him to Minnesota for Dan Graham.  That seemed to be a turning point in his career; he never made the majors again, and his averages in the minors fell into the .250s.  He apparently did not get along with Twins management very well, moved on to the Detroit organization after 34 AAA games for the Twins, and finished the year back in the Orioles’ chain.  He stayed there for 1981, but at that point he could see that he was unlikely to get much of a chance.  He was a player-coach in 1981 and became a full-time minor-league coach in 1982 .  He remained in the Orioles organization through 1985 as a coach and scout.  He received a World Championship ring from them in 1983, a ring that was later stolen.  The thief was caught, but the ring was never recovered.  At last report, Tom Chism was living in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania, where he worked as a security guard for the Crozer-Chester Medical Center for twenty-years until a back injury forced him to retire.  His son, T. J. Chism, was a pitcher in the Mets’ organization, reaching AA, and played in the Atlantic League in 2015.

Left-hander Jeffrey Allan "Buddy" Boshers played for the Twins for parts of 2016-17.  Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, he attended Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama (a school which produced Jorge Posada and Gary Redus) and was drafted by the Angels in the fourth round in 2008.  He was a starter through 2009, but became primarily a relief pitcher in 2010.  He struggled early in his career, not reaching AA until 2012.  He began 2013 in AA, but was promoted to AAA in June.  He made sixteen appearances in AAA, doing okay but nothing special, when for no apparent reason he was promoted to the majors in mid-August.  He spent the rest of the season there and was apparently used as a LOOGY, as he made 25 appearances but pitched only 15.1 innings.  He did okay, sort of, posting a 4.70 ERA and a 1.37.  He actually did significantly better against right-handed batters than he did against lefties, although it's obviously a small sample size.  He split 2014 between AA and AAA, became a free agent, signed with Colorado for 2015, was released in late March, did well in the Atlantic League that season, and signed with the Twins for 2016.  He started 2016 in Rochester but came up to the Twins in late May and did fairly well for them.  He started 2017 in Rochester as well, but again came up to the Twins in late May and did well at first, but faded in the second half.  The Twins waived him after the season and he was claimed by Houston.  He was in AAA for the Astros, was waived in August, and finished the year in AAA for Pittsburgh.  He signed with Cincinnati for 2019, was released in March, and signed with Toronto in May.  He made it back to the majors for the last couple of months of the season and wasn't awful.  He became a free agent after the season and did not play in 2020.  He played in the Dominican Winter League that off-season, but that brought his playing career to an end.  As a Twin, Buddy Boshers was 3-0, 4.56, 1.25 WHIP in 86.1 innings (100 games).  At last report, Buddy Boshers was coaching youth baseball in the Huntsville area.

Outfielder Oswaldo Celestino Arcia played for the Twins from 2013-2016.  He was born in Anaco, Anzoategui, Venezuela and signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 2007.  He did okay his first couple of years, but really broke through with Elizabethton in 2010, hitting .375/.424/.672.  He was jumped to Fort Myers for 2011 and did not really stand out, but he did not do badly, either.  He took another substantial step forward in 2012, hitting .320/.388/.539 in a season divided between Fort Myers and New Britain.  He began 2013 in Rochester, but was brought to Minnesota early in the season.  He struck out a lot, which was a problem in the minors as well, but he still did okay, especially for a twenty-two year old. In 2014 he continued to strike out a lot, but also hit twenty homers and had an OPS of .752.  He was off to a decent start in 2015 when he was injured in early May.  He never got it going after that, having a poor year in Rochester.  He had quite an interesting 2016:  he started the season in Minnesota, was traded to Tampa Bay in June for a player to be named later or cash, was waived in late August and claimed by Miami, was waived again four days later and claimed by San Diego.  As a Twin, he batted .240/.303/.429.  He was released after the 2016 season and signed with Arizona for 2017.  He had a tremendous year in AAA, posting an OPS of 1.049, but did not get back to the majors.  He became a free agent after the season.  It's hard for me to think that no major league team wanted to give him a chance after a AAA season like that, but apparently no one did, because he played for the Nippon Ham Fighters in 2018 and played in Mexico in 2019.  He has continued to play winter ball since then and has been back playing in Mexico since 2023.  He hit really well there for two seasons, but he fell off in 2025 and did not do well in winter ball, either.  He's turns thirty-five today.  We suspect his playing career may be over, and we certainly wish him well in the future.  His brother, Orlando, was a major league shortstop for several seasons and is playing in AAA for the Twins in 2026.

May 8

Dan Brouthers (1858)

Edd Roush (1893)

Turkey Stearnes (1901)

Mike Cuellar (1937)

Steve Braun (1948)

Dennis Leonard (1961)

Orestes Destrade (1962)

Todd Greene (1971)

John Maine (1981)

Adrian Gonzalez (1982)

Wily Peralta (1989)

Sean Gilmartin (1990)

We could not find out why Edd Roush's first name was spelled with two d's.  We did find out, however, that he had a twin brother whose name was Fred, not Fredd.

Outfielder Turkey Stearns was a star in the Negro Leagues from 1923-1940, posting a slugging percentage of .619.

Mike Cuellar pitched in AAA in the Twins’ organization in 1961.  He does not seem to have belonged to the Twins, however.  It may be that he was temporarily loaned to them, a practice which was not uncommon in the 1960s.

Left-handed hitter Stephen Russell Braun played for the Twins from 1971-1976.  He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, went to high school in Pennington, New Jersey, and was drafted by the Twins in the tenth round in 1966.  He was in rookie ball for two years, doing nothing special, and then missed two years to military service.  He came back to hit .279 at Class A Lynchberg in 1970 and started 1971 with the Twins.  He was used mostly as a pinch hitter at first, but gradually worked his way into a more-or-less regular role.  Braun is not the type of player normally thought of as a “utility player”, but he played mutliple positions with the Twins, spending time in both the infield and the outfield.  He was primarily used as an infielder in 1971-1973, used mostly at third but also starting games at second and short as well as a few in the outfield.  He was primarily a left fielder in 1974-1975, but played some third and first.  In 1976 he was mostly used at DH, but again saw time in the outfield and at third base.  At all of these positions, he was a solid batter, regularly posting batting averages in the .280s and OBPs of .360 or higher.  His best year as a Twin was probably 1975, when Braun hit .302 with 11 home runs and 66 walks.  He was still a productive player in 1976, but the Twins left him unprotected in the expansion draft and he was chosen by Seattle.  Perhaps the Twins knew something, because even though he was not yet thirty, 1977 was Braun’s last year as a regular.  Used at left field and DH, he was a disappointment to the Mariners and was traded to Kansas City in June of 1978.  He then embarked on a relatively long career in which he was used primarily as a pinch-hitter.  Braun was with the Royals until he was released in June of 1980.  He finished that season with Toronto, then signed with St. Louis, where he played the final five years of his career.  He never got as many as 100 at-bats in any of his last six seasons, but he remained relatively consistent, batting in the .270s in each season from 1982-1984.  As a Twin, Steve Braun hit .284/.376/.381 in nearly 2500 at-bats.  He remained in baseball after his playing career ended, including some time as the hitting coach for the Cardinals.  More recently, he was batting coach for the Trenton Thunder from 1999-2004.  At last report, he was living in retirement in Florida.

Left-hander Sean Patrick Gilmartin did not play for the Twins but was in their minor league system in 2014.  He was born in Thousand Oaks, California, went to high school in Encino, attended Florida State, and was drafted by Atlanta in the first round in 2011.  He pitched pretty well up through AA, but stumbled when reaching AAA  for seven starts in 2012.  He continued to struggle in AAA in 2013 and after the season was traded to Minnesota for Ryan Doumit.  He spent half of 2014 in AA and half in AAA, doing better in AA and not all that badly in AAA.  The Twins left him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and he was chosen by the Mets.  He had been a starter his entire career up to this point, but the Mets put him in the bullpen and he did quite well there.  He was in the majors all of 2015 and was 3-2, 2.67, 1.19 WHIP in 57.1 innings (50 appearances).  Despite that, he started 2016 in AAA and was up and down all year, having three stints with the Mets but appearing in only fourteen games.  His numbers look terrible, but two bad outings skew them--take those out, and his ERA is 2.40 instead of 7.13.  He made two appearances for the Mets in 2017, one good and one bad.  The Mets waived him in mid-June and he was claimed by St. Louis.  He almost immediately injured his elbow, making only eight appearances in AAA for the Cardinals.  He remained in AAA for St. Louis in 2018, did not do well, and was released in early July.  He signed with Baltimore, got called up in mid-August, and did well in twelve appearances.  He was back in AAA in 2019, and while he did well there he got only one major league appearance for the Orioles.  A free agent, he signed with Tampa Bay for 2020 and appeared in two games for them, not doing very well.  He became a free agent after the season and signed back with the Twins in late June of 2021.  He pitched very poorly, became a free agent, and went unsigned, ending his playing career.  He is married to former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.  His brother, Michael, played minor league ball from 2009-2013, reaching AA, and played independent ball from 2014-2016.  At last report, Sean Gilmartin was the pitching coach for Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

May 7

Mickey Doolin (1880)

Tom Zachary (1896)

Dick Williams (1929)

Claude Raymond (1937)

Steve Whitaker (1943)

Manny Hernandez (1961)

Brook Fordyce (1970)

James Loney (1984)

Sam Dyson (1988)

Keon Broxton (1990)

Emilio Pagan (1991)

Right-hander Manuel Antonio (Montas) Hernandez did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for most of 1989.  He was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic, and signed with Houston as a free agent in 1978.  He was very young, of course, and as a result he was in rookie ball for two years and Class A for three more.  He pitched well in every year except 1982.  He jumped to AAA Tucson in 1984 and stayed there most of the next five seasons, getting some cups of coffee in Houston in 1986 and 1987.  His numbers in AAA were neither good nor terrible, but he never really seemed to improve while he was there.  He made fifteen appearances with the Astros, seven of them starts, and went 2-7, 4.56 in 49.1 innings.  He became a free agent after the 1988 season and signed with Minnesota for 1989.  He did all right in Portland, going 9-8, 3.91 with a 1.15 WHIP.  He was sold to the Mets on August 1 and got back to the majors for one inning, retiring all three batters he faced.  That was his swan song in the majors.  He remained in the Mets’ organization in 1990, split 1991 between the Mets and Brewers organization, and then his playing career was over.  At last report, Manny Hernandez had returned to the Dominican Republic.

Right-hander Samuel Isaac Dyson appeared in twelve games for the Twins in 2019.  Born and raised in Tampa, he attended the University of South Carolina and was drafted by Toronto in the fourth round in 2010.  He had Tommy John surgery, so he did not make his professional debut until 2012.  He pitched well in AA and even made two appearances in the majors in July.  He was waived after the season, however, and was claimed by Miami.  He did well in a 2013 season split between AA and AAA, started 2014 in AAA, came to majors in mid-June and stayed there ever since.  He was a starter in 2013, the only season of his professional career in which he started.  He did well for the Marlins, but was traded to Texas at the July deadline in 2015.  He continued to pitch well through 2016, but got off to a very poor start in 2017 and was traded to San Francisco.  He pitched much better and was a solid reliever for the Giants through the July trade deadline in 2019.  At that point, he was traded to Minnesota for Prelander Berroa, Kai-Wei Teng, and Jaylin Davis.  It seemed like a good idea, but unfortunately for the Twins, he was injured and they didn't know that.  After a couple of disastrous games he went on the disabled list, and he pitched better after that.  He became a free agent after the season and did not sign with anyone for 2020.  He was suspended for all of the 2021 season for violations of MLB's domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy.  He signed with Tijuana in the Mexican League for 2022 and had a very good season.  That, however, brought his playing career to an end. As a Twin he was 1-0, 7.15, 1.77 WHIP in 11.1 innings (12 games).  No information about what Sam Dyson is doing now was readily available.

Outfielder Keon Darell Broxton did not played for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 2021.  Born and raised in Lakeland, Florida, he attended Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Florida, and was drafted by Arizona in the third round in 2009.  He reached AA in 2013, but was unimpressive at the plate and was sold to Pittsburgh prior to the 2014 season.  He batted very well in AA, had a decent half-season at AAA in 2015, and got a September call-up that year.  He was traded to Milwaukee before the 2016 season.  He went back-and-forth between AAA and the majors through 2018, although he played almost a full season in the majors in 2017.  He played good defense but did not hit, and was traded to the Mets prior to the 2019 season.  The Mets sent him to Baltimore in late May, and he was selected off waivers by Baltimore in late July.  It was his first full major league season, but he again did not hit for any of those teams and became a free agent after the season.  Milwaukee signed him back for 2020, but he never made it past the alternate site and was again a free agent after the season.  The Twins signed him for 2021 and sent him to AAA St. Paul where, predictably, he did not hit.  The Twins released him in mid-August, and he finished out the season in AAA for Milwaukee.  He played for Monclova in the Mexican League in 2022 and had a very good season.  He spent most of 2023 with Kansas City in the American Association and did pretty well.  That, however, brought his playing career to an end.  In over a thousand major league plate appearances he has a line of .209/.297/.388.  He could play defense, however, and he could also steal some bases.  In the old days, he'd have been a valuable man as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement.  In the present days, however, he simply didn't hit enough.  At last report, Keon Broxton was a coach for Canes Baseball, "one of the top showcase organizations in the country", in Tampa.

Right-handed reliever Emilio Enrique Pagan pitched for the Twins from 2022-2023.  He was born in Simpsonville, South Carolina, the second major leaguer to come from that town (Red Barbary, 1943).  He went to high school in Greenville, South Carolina, attended Belmont Abbey College and Gardner-Webb University, and was drafted by Seattle in the tenth round in 2013.  He pitched very well throughout his minor league career, reaching AAA in 2016 and making his major league debut with the Mariners in May of 2017.  He spent roughly half the season in the majors that year and has pretty much remained in the majors ever since.  He was traded to Oakland for 2018, was traded to Tampa Bay for 2019, was traded to San Diego for 2020, and was traded to Minnesota with Chris Paddack and a player to be named later (Brayan Medina) for Taylor Rogers, Brent Rooker, and cash.  The Twins handed him the closer role and he handed it back, recording just nine saves with six blown saves and posting an ERA of 4.43.  He actually had a very good year in 2023, going 5-2, 2.99, 0.95 WHIP.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Cincinnati.  He did not have a particularly good season in 2024, but came back to have an outstanding season in 2025.  He is off to a poor start in 2026, although a few bad outings have skewed the numbers. He turns thirty-five today.  He's been up and down in his career, but the ups have been very good.  It seems likely that Emilio Pagan will be in the major leagues for at least a couple more years yet.

May 6

Bonesetter Reese (1855)

Walton Cruise (1890)

Mike McCormick (1917)

Willie Mays (1931)

Russ Gibson (1939)

Bill Hands (1940)

Masanori Murakami (1944)

Steve Staggs (1951)

Larry Andersen (1953)

Al Williams (1954)

Gerardo Parra (1987)

Jose Alvarez (1989)

Jose Altuve (1990)

John “Bonesetter” Reese worked with many baseball players and other famous people in the first part of the twentieth century.  Today we might call him a physical therapist, although he did not have a formal degree.  “Bonesetting” is a Welsh term for the treatment of muscle and tendon strains.

Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese-born player in the major leagues.

Infielder Steve Staggs was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 1970, but did not sign.

Right-hander William Alfred Hands pitched for the Twins for most of two seasons in 1973 and 1974.  He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, went to high school in Rutherford, New Jersey, and signed with San Francisco as a free agent in 1959.  Hands struggled early in his minor league career, and as a result he spent a full year in Class D, Class C, Class B, and Class A.  After a fine season in 1962 at Class A, however, he was jumped to AAA Tacoma.  He struggled his first year there, but did well in 1964 and even better in 1965.  Hands made four apperances with the Giants in 1965, then was traded to the Cubs with another future Twin, Randy Hundley, for Don Landrum and Lindy McDaniel.  He did not do well in his first season with the Cubs, and in 1967 he was used primarily out of the bullpen.  He had a good year there, and was placed in the Cubs rotation in 1968, where he stayed for five seasons.  His best year as a Cub was probably 1969, when he went 20-14, 2.49 with a 1.14 WHIP in 300 innings.  He continued to be a solid member of the rotation through 1972.  After that season, Hands was traded to Minnesota with Bob Maneely and Joe Decker for Dave LaRoche.  Hands pitched fairly well for the Twins in 1973, but his won-lost record did not reflect it, and when he got off to a slow start in 1974 he was pulled from the rotation and sent to the bullpen.  He pitched very well there, posting an ERA of 2.93 and a WHIP of 1.09 in 61.1 innings as a reliever.  The Twins gave him four starts in August and he still did well, going 2-1, 3.44, but after a bad start on September 1 they surprisingly placed him on waivers.  The Rangers snapped him up and put him in their rotation, where he pitched well through 1975.  He was traded to the Mets early in spring training of 1976, but opted to retire instead.  After retiring from baseball, he moved to Orient, Long Island where he purchased a service station and started a retail oil business, both of which proved successful.  Bill Hands passed away on March 9, 2017 in Orlando, Florida.

Right-hander Albert Hamilton (DeSouza) Williams pitched for the Twins from 1980-1984.  He was born in Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua and signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 1975.  He pitched in the Pirates’ organization for a year and a half without particular distinction and was released in July of 1976.  He then returned to Nicaragua, where he fought in the Nicaraguan Revolution.  He did not play in organized baseball for three years.  He sneaked out of the country, as the Nicaraguan government would not grant him a visa, and in January of 1980, Williams signed with Minnesota.  He made fifteen starts in Toledo, going 9-3, 2.10 with a WHIP of 0.95, and was called up to the majors.  He was used both as a reliever and a starter and did well, going 6-2, 3.51.  He was in the starting rotation beginning in 1981 and stayed there through 1983, not doing great but not doing terribly, either.  He started 1984 in the rotation as well, but got off to a bad start and was sent back to AAA Toledo in early May.  He came back a month later and did somewhat better, but got injured in early July and missed the next two months, coming back in September.  The Twins released Williams after the season.  He signed with the Yankees, had a mediocre season in AAA Columbus, and then his playing career came to an end.  At last report, Al Williams had returned to his native Nicaragua.

May 5

Chief Bender (1884)

Bob Cerv (1926)

Bing Russell (1926)

Red Robbins (1928)

Jose Pagan (1935)

Tommy Helms (1941)

John Donaldson (1943)

Larry Hisle (1947)

Joe Angel (1948)

Ron Oester (1956)

Charles Nagy (1967)

Hideki Irabu (1969)

Mike Redmond (1971)

Better known for his role as Deputy Clem Foster on “Bonanza”, outfielder Bing Russell played minor league baseball from 1948-1949.  He is the father of actor (and minor league player) Kurt Russell and the grandfather of major league player Matt Franco.

Spencer “Red” Robbins was a minor league player for fourteen years.  He then spent many years in the Twins’ organization, most of them as a scout (1963-1986).

Joe Angel was a broadcaster for the Twins from 1984-1986.

Today we also salute Coby Mayo, Eddie Mayo, Jackie Mayo, and Mayo Smith.  Sadly, there has never been a major league ballplayer named "Cinco".  However, baseball-reference.com says that Johnny Cueto's nickname is Cinco.

Infielder John David Donaldson did not play for the Twins, but began his professional career in their minor league system.  Born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, he signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1963.  He played for Class A Orlando that year, hitting .251, and was chosen by the Kansas City Athletics in the first year player draft.  He hit .315 at Class A in 1964, and was promoted to AAA the next year.  He struggled at first, but he hit .298 in Vancouver in 1966, earning his first promotion to the majors in late August.  He started out 1967 batting .339 in Vancouver and was promoted to Kansas City in early June.  He was the regular second baseman the rest of the way and hit fairly well, but when the team moved to Oakland the next year he apparently left his bat behind.  Donaldson slumped to .220, lost his starting job, and was traded in June of 1969 to the Seattle Pilots.  He did not do much better there, started 1970 in the minors, and was traded to Oakland in May.  He was seldom used and spent all of 1971 at AAA, being traded to Detroit in May.  He was traded to Baltimore in February of 1972 and sold to San Diego of April that year.  Donaldson did not get back to the majors until 1974.  He was sent back to Oakland before the 1974 season and started the year with the Athletics, but was sent back down in early May and did not play in the majors again until the last game of the season, when he was allowed to make a farewell appearance before ending his playing career.  After baseball, John Donaldson returned to Charlotte, where owned a painting business and worked for a trucking company before retiring in 2014.  He was still living in retirement in Charlotte at last report.

Outfielder Larry Eugene Hisle played for the Twins from 1973-1977.  Born and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio, Hisle was drafted by Philadelphia in the second round in 1965.  He began his career with Huron, South Dakota, in the Northern League, where he hit .433 in 60 at-bats in 1966.  Moved up to Class A Clearwater in 1967, he hit .302 with 23 homers.  He was jumped to the majors in 1968 and stayed for two weeks, going 4-for-11, but the Phillies wanted him to play every day and sent him to AAA San Diego, where he continued to hit.  Hisle was the regular center fielder for the Phillies in 1969 at age 22 and hit .266 with 20 homers, finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting.  In 1970, however, he slumped to .205, and when he did no better at the beginning of 1971 he was sent to the minors in late May.  He again bashed the ball in the minors, and was only 24, but was traded to the Dodgers after the 1971 season.  Hisle hit .325 with 23 homers for AAA Albuquerque in 1972, but not only did the Dodgers not promote him, they traded him to St. Louis after the season.  He never played with the Cardinals, however, as they sent him to Minnesota with John Cumberland for Wayne Granger in November.  Hisle won a starting outfield job for the Twins in 1973 and held it for five years.  He played primarily left field for the Twins, but saw a fair amount of action in center and also played right on occasion.  He had some fine years for the Twins, playing regularly except for 1975, when he missed a couple of months with injuries.  His best year as a Twin was his last one, 1977, when he hit .302 with 28 homers and a league-leading 119 RBIs.  He made his first all-star team that year and finished 12th in MVP voting.  Hisle became a free agent after the season and signed with Milwaukee.  He had an equally strong season with the Brewers in 1978, hitting .290 with 34 homers and 115 RBIs.  He made his second all-star team that year and was third in MVP balloting.  In April of 1979, however, he suffered a torn rotator cuff and was able to play only sporadically after that.  Hisle kept trying to come back, but finally ended his career after the 1982 season, having had only 274 at-bats in the last four seasons.  As a Twin, Larry Hisle hit .286/.354/.457 in 662 games.  Hisle stayed in baseball, and was the hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1992-1995.  He is currently employed by the Milwaukee Brewers, for whom he is the Manager of Youth Outreach.  He is also the president of Major League Mentoring, a youth mentoring program in Milwaukee.  He appears to be working very hard in both positions.

Catcher Michael Patrick Redmond was with the Twins from 2005-2009.  He was born in Seattle, went to high school in Spokane, Washington, and attended Gonzaga University.  He signed with Florida as a free agent in 1992.  He showed no power in the minors, never hitting more than four home runs in a season.  His averages were decent but not outstanding, ranging from the .250s to the .280s.  He reached AA in 1995, AAA in 1997, and made his debut in the majors at the end of May, 1998.  He was always a part-time player, never getting more than 256 at-bats with the Marlins.  Redmond did well in that role, however, hitting over .300 four times.  He stayed with Florida for seven seasons before becoming a free agent after the 2005 campaign.  Redmond signed with the Twins and remained a part-time player, although he set a career high in at-bats in 2007 with 272.  He again did a good job in a part-time role, hitting over .300 twice more.  As a Twin, Mike Redmond hit .297/.339/.359 in 863 at-bats.  He dropped to .237 in 2009, however, and was allowed to become a free agent again.  Redmond signed with Cleveland, again as a part-time catcher, but was released in mid-July, ending his playing career.  He was the manager of the Miami Marlins from 2013 to May of 2015.  The team did not have much success in his tenure, but it is unclear how much that had to do with Redmond's ability as a manager.  He was elected to the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor in 2016.  He appears to have been out of baseball in 2016, but Mike Redmond was the bench coach for the Colorado Rockies from 2017-2025.  He was let go in May of 2025 and does not appear to have taken another baseball job at this writing.

May 4

Jack Tobin (1892)

John Tsitouris (1936)

Rene Lachemann (1945)

Ken Oberkfell (1956)

Rick Leach (1957)

Tim Tschida (1960)

Eddie Perez (1968)

Joe Borowski (1971)

Miguel Cairo (1974)

Ben Grieve (1976)

Jason Michaels (1976)

Ryan Jorgensen (1979)

Matt Tolbert (1982)

Kevin Slowey (1984)

 St. Paul native Tim Tschida was a major league umpire from 1986-2012.

Catcher Ryan Wayne Jorgensen played a total of three innings for the Twins in 2008.  He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, went to high school in Kingwood, Texas, and attended LSU.  He was then drafted by the Cubs in the seventh round in 2000.  He really never had a productive offensive season in the minors above Class A; his best was 2004, when he hit .259 with eight homers for AAA Albuquerque.  The Cubs traded him to Florida in March or 2002 in a trade that involved Dontrelle Willis, Antonio Alfonseca, and Matt Clement.  Jorgensen does not seem to have been a regular catcher even in the minors; once he got above Class A, he never got as many as 250 at-bats in a minor league season.  He was with the Marlins for about two weeks, presumably when one of their catchers was injured.  He got four at-bats in four games and was 0-for-4.  Jorgensen was traded to Cincinnati in March of 2006 and got another two weeks or so in the majors with the Reds in 2007, going 3-for-15.  He became a free agent after the 2007 campaign and signed with Minnesota.  He hit .247 in Rochester and got a September call-up, going 0-for-1 in two games.  He signed with Cincinnati for 2009, but decided to retire instead.  One source indicated that he had become an air traffic controller, but that appears to be a different Ryan Jorgensen.  At last report, it appeared that our Ryan Jorgensen is now living in the Miami area.

Infielder Christopher Matthew Tolbert was with the Twins from 2008-2011.  He was born in McComb, Mississippi, went to high school in Centreville, Mississippi, and attended the University of Mississippi.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the sixteenth round in 2004.  He has generally hit for a decent average in the minors, but with little power and only an average number of walks.  He has hit over .300 in the minors twice:  in rookie ball in 2004, when he hit .308, and in a half-season at Ft. Myers in 2006, when he hit .303 in 155 at-bats.  After hitting .293 at Rochester in 2007, Tolbert spent most of 2008 with Minnesota, although he was injured part of the time.  He hit .283 that season in 113 at-bats.  He was with the Twins for a little over half of 2009, but hit only .232 in 198 at-bats.  He began 2010 with AAA Rochester, but was called up in mid-May and spent most of the rest of the season in Minnesota.  He was with the big club almost all of 2011 as a futility infielder, batting .198 with an OPS of .518.   A free agent after 2011, he signed with the Cubs and did not have a particularly good year playing for AAA Iowa in 2012.  He signed with the Phillies for 2013 but was injured most of the season.  He was again in the Phillies organization for 2014 but retired in July.  He finished out the season as a coach in the Phillies organization at short-season Williamsport but was not retained for 2015.  As a Twin, Matt Tolbert hit .230/.288/.319 in 605 at-bats.  He hustled and he played a lot of positions, which enabled him to have a longer playing career than he would've had just based on talent.  No information about what Matt Tolbert has done since the 2015 season was readily available.

Right-hander Kevin Michael Slowey pitched for the Twins from 2007-2011.  He was born in Conroe, Texas, attended high school in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, and attended Winthrop University.  He was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 2005.  He was tremendous in the minors:  his highest season-long ERA was 2.12 and his highest WHIP was 0.96.  Slowey pitched only 7.2 innings of rookie ball in 2005 before being moved up to Beloit, where he posted an ERA of 2.24 and a WHIP of 0.78 in 64.1 innings.  He made 14 starts at Ft. Myers in 2006 and was almost unhittable, going 4-2, 1.01 with a 0.68 WHIP before being promoted to New Britain.  He was 10-5, 1.89 in 20 starts in Rochester in 2007.  Slowey made his major league debut that year, going 4-1, 4.73 in 13 games, eleven of them starts.  He was fairly good in 2008, but missed half of 2009 with a wrist injury.  He was in the starting rotation in 2010, and did okay, going 13-6, 4.45, 1.29 WHIP in 28 starts.  He was injured much of 2011 and was ineffective when he did pitch.  Somewhere along the way, he apparently did something that got him on the wrong side of Twins television broadcaster Dick Bremer, who continued to hold a grudge against him for several years.  After the 2011 season, Slowey was traded to Colorado for a player to be named later (Daniel Turpen).  He did not play for the Rockies, however, as he was traded to Cleveland about six weeks later.  He was injured much of the season and did not pitch particularly well in eight AAA starts. A free agent after the season, he signed with Miami, made their rotation, pitched very well in his first seven starts, but not so well after that.  He went to the bullpen in June and ended his season early due to injury in mid-July.  He started 2014 in the Miami bullpen, made a couple of starts in April, and did not do well in either role.  He was released in June and was out of baseball until the off-season, when he signed with Philadelphia.  He was then released in late March.  As a Twin, he was 39-29, 4.66 with a WHIP of 1.30.  He appeared in 100 games, 90 of them starts, and pitched 532.2 innings.  In June of 2015, Slowey formally announced his retirement and became a special assistant to the executive director of the major league baseball players' association, currently serving as the managing director of player services.