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.

May 3

George Gore (1857)

Garry Herrmann (1859)

Eppa Rixey (1891)

Red Ruffing (1905)

Goose Tatum (1921)

Chuck Hinton (1934)

Chris Cannizzaro (1938)

Davey Lopes (1945)

Dan Iassogna (1969)

Darren Dreifort (1972)

Ryan Dempster (1977)

Homer Bailey (1986)

Ben Revere (1988)

Mike Morin (1991)

Trey Cabbage (1997)

Edwar Colina (1997)

Garry Herrmann was the president of the Cincinnati Reds from 1903-1920 and was chair of the National Commission from its creation in 1903 until the commissioner's office was created in 1920.  It is puzzling that he is not in the Hall of Fame.

Better known as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Goose Tatum played in the Negro Leagues for several years in the 1940s.

Dan Iassogna has been a major league umpire since 1999.

Right-hander David Dewitt Bailey made two starts for the Twins in 2020.  He was nicknamed "Homer" after his great-grandfather.  Born and raised in La Grange, Texas, he was drafted by Cincinnati in the first round with the seventh pick in 2004.  His first two minor league seasons were pretty average, but he had an outstanding 2006 split between high-A and AA at age 20.  He pitched well in AAA in 2007, but was not particularly good in nine major league starts.  Still, he was just 21.  He went back and forth between AAA and the majors for two more seasons before reaching the majors mostly to stay in 2010.  He was okay, but nothing more, through 2011, but then put together three really solid seasons for the Reds, going 33-27, 3.61.  In August of 2014, however, he was diagnosed with "forearm fatigue" and missed the rest of the season.  It turned out to be a torn UCL, and Tommy John surgery was required.  We've gotten used to pitchers coming back strong from that surgery, but it didn't happen that way for him.  He stayed in the Reds organization through 2018, but dealt with a variety of injuries and was not very good when he could pitch.  The Reds traded him to the Dodgers after the 2018 season, but they released him the next day.  He signed with the Royals for 2019 and was average, but no more, and was traded to Oakland in mid-July.  He continued to be average for the Athletics and became a free agent after the season.  He signed with Minnesota for 2020.  Due to injuries he made only two starts for the Twins pitching eight innings.  He did well enough in them, going 1-0, 3.38, 1.13 WHIP.  The Twins released him near the end of the season to make room for Edwar Colina, with whom he shares a birthday.  He signed with Oakland in June of 2021 but pitched poorly in AAA.  At last report, Homer Bailey was raising cattle on a ranch near his home town of La Grange, Texas.

Outfielder Ben Daniel Revere played for the Twins from 2010-2012.  He was born in Atlanta, went to high school in Lexington, Kentucky, and was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2007.  He mostly rose one level at a time, playing in rookie ball in 2007, Class A in 2008, advanced A in 2009, AA in 2010, and AAA in 2011 before being called up to the big club because of injuries. He hit over .300 each minor league season, with a high of .379 in Beloit in 2008.  He hit ten triples in each of his first two seasons in the minors, but only hit four in each of the next two seasons.  He had little power and did not draw a lot of walks in the minors (his high was 40 in 2009).  He does have speed, stealing around forty bases a year in the minors.  He wasn’t terrible with Minnesota in 2011, but he wasn’t very good, either, hitting .267/.310/.309.  He started 2012 in Minnesota as a fourth outfielder, but was sent back to Rochester for about a month, then came back and was a regular most of the season.  After the 2012 season, he was traded to Philadelphia for Trevor May and Vance Worley.  As a Twin, he hit .278/.319/.323 with 74 stolen bases in 254 games.  Installed as the regular center fielder for the Phillies, he was hitting .305 in mid-July of 2013 when an injury ended his season.  He was back as the regular center fielder in 2014 and hit .306. He was doing about the same in 2015 when he was traded to Toronto at the end of July.  At the end of the season he was traded to Washington.  At that time, we said, "As long as he continues to bat close to .300, he is likely to continue to have a regular job in the big leagues.  If he stops doing that, though, he may fade rather quickly."  Well, in 2016 he stopped doing it, and sure enough, he no longer had a regular job in the big leagues:  he batted .217 and was mainly a defensive replacement and pinch runner by the end of the season.    He was a free agent after the season and signed with the Angels and bounced back some as a part-time player.  He signed with Cincinnati for 2018, was released in spring training, was signed by the Angels again, went to AAA, and was released again in late July.  He signed with Texas for 2019, was released in late March, signed with Toronto in late April, and was released again in mid-May, bringing his playing career to an end.  He was a fine defensive player and had plenty of speed, but as someone once said about the five tools, none of the others matter much if you can't hit.  He was the batting coach of the Lexington Legends in the Atlantic League in 2021.  He was a coach for the Braves in the Florida Complex League from 2023-2024.  At last report, Ben Revere was an instructor with Ascent Athlete in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania.

Right-hander Michael William Morin spent about two months with the Twins in 2019.  He was born in Andover, Minnesota, went to high school in Overland Park, Kansas, attended the University of North Carolina, and was drafted by the Angels in the thirteenth round in 2012.  A reliever all the way, he pitched well in the low minors and reached the majors at the end of April of 2014.  He had a fine season for the Angels that year, but struggled in 2015, going back to the minors for a couple of months.  In 2016 he spent almost the entire season in the majors, but his numbers again were not very good.  It looks like he either was really on or really off in those years--he wasn't uniformly terrible, but he'd occasionally have a really, really bad outing that made his overall numbers look awful.  He was back in AAA in 2017 and did well there, but struggled in six appearances with the Angels and they finally gave up on him, letting him go to Kansas City on waivers in September.  The Royals waived him after the season and he moved on to Seattle, again pitching well in AAA but not well in three appearances in the majors.  The Twins signed him as a free agent in 2019.  He pitched well in Rochester, came up to the Twins in early May, and for the most part pitched extremely well, with only a couple of games where he was really off.  As a Twin he was 0-0, 3.18, 0.97 WHIP.  The Phillies let him go as a free agent and he signed with Milwaukee for 2020.  The Brewers waived him in late July, however, and he was claimed by Miami, for whom he appeared in three games.  He did well, but he was taken off the roster after the season.  He did not pitch in 2021, but appeared in twelve games for Kane County in the American Association in 2022.  He signed a minor league contract with the White Sox for 2023, but was released before spring training and went on to pitch in the Mexican League.  He signed with the Braves at mid-season but pitched poorly in AAA.  He pitched in winter ball, and tried out for a team in Japan in 2024, but was not signed.  That brought his playing career to an end.  There are more people named "Mike Morin" involved in sports than you might think, but no information about what our Mike Morin is doing now was readily available.

Outfielder/first baseman Trey Aaron Cabbage did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system from 2015-2021.  He as born in Knoxville, Tennessee, went to high school in Rutledge, Tennessee, and was drafted by Minnesota in the fourth round in 2015.  He was in rookie ball in 2015 and 2016 and in Class A from 2017-2019, really not doing much to show that he would ever hit.  He missed the 2020 COVID season, but when he came back in 2021 his batting was significantly improved.  He batted .264/.346/.535 with twenty-seven homers in a season split between A and AA.  He became a free agent after that season, however, and was signed by the Angels.  He had an outstanding AAA season in 2023 and reached the majors for about five weeks.  He did not hit much in that trial, however, and was traded to Houston after the season.  He split 2024 between AAA and the majors, having a solid AAA season but not doing well as a major leaguer.  He went to Japan in 2025 and has played well for Yomiuri since then.  His numbers in the majors are .209/.245/.331 in 139 at-bats.  He turns twenty-nine today.  If he wants to come back and play in the United States, it seems likely that someone would give him a chance.

Right-hander Edwar Osnel de la Cruz Colina pitched one-third of an inning for the Twins in 2020.  He was born in Caracas, Venezuela and signed with the Twins as a free agent in 2015.  He reached Class A in 2018 and did very well.  He split 2019 between high-A and AA and continued to pitch well, although he did poorly in two AAA appearances.  He made his major league debut on September 25, 2020.  He had a rough outing, giving up a home run, a walk, two singles, another walk, and another single before finally recording an out and coming out of the game.  His record, therefore, is 0-0, 81.00, with a WHIP of 18.  Sadly, it looks like those may turn out to be his career numbers.  He would've been in AAA in 2020 if there had been a AAA in 2020.  That's presumably where he would have started 2021, but instead he injured his elbow and missed the entire season.  The Twins waived him after the season and he signed with Texas.  He missed all of 2022 as well, and had a poor season in AAA in 2023.  He became a free agent after the season and did not play in 2024.  He played winter ball, though, and has played in the Mexican League since 2025 without a lot of success.  He turns twenty-nine today.  We wish him well, but it seems unlikely that we will see him in the majors again.

May 2

Eddie Collins (1887)

Bing Crosby (1904)

George Giles (1909)

Joe Falls (1928)

Eddie Bressoud (1932)

Gates Brown (1939)

Clay Carroll (1941)

Keith Moreland (1954)

Felix Jose (1965)

Paul Emmel (1968)

Jerrod Saltalamacchia (1986)

Neftali Feliz (1988)

Erasmo Ramirez (1990)

Jonathan Villar (1991)

Entertainer Bing Crosby was part-owner and a vice president of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1947 into the 1960s.

Joe Falls was a long-time sportswriter in Detroit and had a weekly column in The Sporting News for many years.

Paul Emmel was a major league umpire from 1999-2024.

May 1

Frank Foreman (1863)

George McQuillan (1885)

Victor Starffin (1916)

Johnny Berardino (1917)

Al Zarilla (1919)

Von Joshua (1948)

Rudy Meoli (1951)

Roy Lee Jackson (1954)

Charlie O’Brien (1960)

Jose Lind (1964)

Armando Reynoso (1966)

Marcus Stroman (1991)

Born in Russia, Victor Starffin was Japanese baseball’s first 300-game winner.

Infielder Johnny Berardino played in the major leagues for eleven years and appeared in 912 games, but is best known as Dr. Steve Hardy on General Hospital, a role he played from 1963-1996.

Infielder Rudolph Bartholomew Meoli did not play for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for a couple of months in 1979.  He was born in Troy, New York, went to high school in Covina, California, and was drafted by California in the fourth round in 1969.  He hit .351 in rookie ball, but after that his averages, while solid enough, are not that impressive, especially when combined with the fact that he had little power.  He did, however, draw quite a few walks, giving him very good OBPs.  He moved steadily up the ladder, reaching AA in 1971 (a year when he got a September call-up) and AAA in 1972.  He was in the majors for all of 1973, a year in which he was they Angels’ “most regular” shortstop, starting 87 games.  He did not hit, batting only .223, and spent much of 1974 in the minors, coming back to California at the end of July.  He got another full year in the majors in 1975 as a utility player, batting .214 in 126 at-bats.  The Angels gave up on him at that point, and he started moving around.  California traded him to San Diego after the 1975 season, but he was traded again, this time to Cincinnati, before the 1976 season started.  He was in AAA Indianapolis for two seasons, then was sold to the Cubs before the 1978 campaign.  He started the season as a utility infielder for the Cubs, but hit even worse than previously and was sent back to AAA in early July.  The Cubs released him after the season and he signed with Philadelphia for 1979.  He got back to the big leagues for about six weeks, but again did nothing offensively and was sold to Minnesota in late June.  He was in AAA the rest of the season, batting .265/.360/.365 in 189 at-bats.  He was released by the Twins prior to the 1980 season, signed with San Francisco, but was released at the end of spring training and his playing career ended.  There was obviously something teams liked about him, because he kept getting chances, but he hit .212/.289/.267 in 626 major league at-bats spread over six seasons.  He seems to be fondly remembered in his original home town of Troy.  At last report, Rudy Meoli was living in Nampa, Idaho, where he enjoys his hobbies of fishing and golfing.

Right-hander Roy Lee Jackson made 28 appearances for the Twins in 1986.  Born and raised in Opelika, Alabama, he attended Tuskegee University and signed with the Mets as a free agent in 1975.  He was a starter early in his minor league career and pitched well, reaching AAA in 1977.  He pitched well in AAA for four consecutive years, consistently posting ERAs in the mid-threes, but got only brief chances in the majors until 1980, when he began shifting to the bullpen.  He was with the Mets for the second half of the season that year and was pretty average.  After the season, Jackson was traded to Toronto.  He was a pretty valuable man in the Blue Jays’ bullpen for four seasons.  His best year was probably 1982, when he was 8-8, 3.06 with a 1.11 WHIP in 97 innings.  Jackson was still pitching well for Toronto in 1984, but was released late in spring training in 1985.  He did not sign for a month and then went to AAA with Baltimore.  The Orioles traded him to San Diego in late June.  He pitched well for the Padres, but was released again late in spring training of 1986.  The Twins signed him the same day.  He made 28 appearances as a Twin and actually pitched fairly well, posting a 3.86 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 58.1 innings.  Still, the Twins let him become a free agent, and he signed with Milwaukee for 1987.  Jackson made four appearances at AAA for the Brewers, did poorly, and his playing career came to a sudden end.  He believes that the sudden end to his career was because he was vocal about his Christian religious beliefs.  The charge is hard to prove, of course,  but he sure seemed to get released a lot for a pitcher who wasn’t that bad.  He is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.  The Museum of East Alabama, located in “historic downtown Opelika”, has “a large selection of memorabilia from Roy Lee’s Career”, so if you’re ever in historic downtown Opelika, be sure to stop by.  Roy Lee Jackson is currently living in his home town of Opelika, where he is the pastor of the New Creation Service Center, a non-denominational church.

April 30

Dave Eggler (1849)

Charley Jones (1850)

Jack Sheridan (1862)

Jumbo Brown (1907)

Chet Laabs (1912)

Ernie Tyler (1924)

Ken Retzer (1934)

Ray Miller (1945)

Phil Garner (1949)

Tracy Ringolsby (1951)

Jeff Reboulet (1964)

Ryan O'Rourke (1988)

Edouard Julien (1999)

Jack Sheridan was the first home plate umpire to crouch behind the catcher in the style that umpires do today.

Ernie Tyler was the umpires’ assistant for Baltimore Orioles home games from 1960 through 2010.  He went from opening day of 1960 through July 27, 2007 without missing a game, a streak of 3,769 games.  He missed two games that weekend to go to Cooperstown for the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. into the Hall of Fame.

Ray Miller was the manager of the Twins in 1985 and 1986, replacing Billy Gardner and being replaced by Tom Kelly.

Tracy Ringolsby has been a baseball writer since 1976 and was given the Spink Award in 2005.

Catcher Kenneth Leo Retzer did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system in 1965.  He was born in Wood River, Illinois and signed with Cleveland as a free agent in 1954.  He began in Class D and rose very slowly.  He hit for good averages most years, but with very little power.  He reached Class A in 1956, but then missed 1957 due to military service.  When he came back in 1958, he was once again in Class A.  He got to AAA in 1959, went to the Philadelphia organization in mid-season of 1960, and was in the White Sox’ chain in 1961.  He appears, however, to have remained the property of the Indians all that time, as he was traded in early September of 1961 by Cleveland to Washington.  He was in the majors the rest of the season, batting .340 in 57 at-bats.  He stayed with the Senators through 1963 and was their main catcher for those years, although he only caught 80-100 games each season.  His average dropped each season and he was considered to be a poor defensive catcher, so when he got off to a poor start in 1964 he was sent to the minors in early May.  After the 1964 season Washington traded Retzer to Minnesota for Joe McCabe.  He spent 1965 at AAA Denver, hitting .270/.361/.357.  He went to spring training with the Twins in 1966, but was traded to Houston shortly before the season started for Walt Bond.  He remained in AAA for the rest of his career, playing in the Houston organization in 1966 and in the Baltimore and Cleveland systems in 1967.  For his career, Ken Retzer hit .264/.316/.367 in 690 at-bats.  He did a number of things after baseball, including owning a restaurant in San Diego, being an instructor at a fitness center, and being a juvenile home attendant in Edwardsville, Illinois.  He eventually moved to the Phoenix area, was active in the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, and was reputed to be a very nice man.  Ken Retzer passed away at his home on May 17, 2020.

Infielder Jeffrey Allen Reboulet played for the Twins from 1992-1996, taking over the utility infielder role from Al Newman.  He was born in Dayton, Ohio, went to LSU, and was drafted by Minnesota in the tenth round in 1986.  He was a shortstop for most of his minor league career.  His highest minor league average was .287 in Class A in 1986; he never topped .260 in a full minor league season after that.  He also had no power:  his highest home run total in the minors was four.  Still, he came up to the majors in May of 1992 and stayed for ten years.  He was always a reserve:  the Twins used him primarily at shortstop, but he also played quite a bit of second and third as well as outfield.  In his years with the Twins, he played every position except pitcher.  His best year as a Twin was 1995, when he hit .292 in 216 at-bats.  As a Twin, Jeff Reboulet hit .248/.335/.342 in 450 games with just over a thousand at-bats.  He became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with Baltimore, where he stayed for three years.  After his worst year in the majors, when he hit .162 in 154 at-bats in 1999, he was sent to Kansas City.  He had one year as a Royal, then moved to the Dodgers for two years.  He was sent back to the minors for a month in 2002 and was released late in spring training of 2003, signing with Pittsburgh in April.  Reboulet began 2003 in AAA, but came up to the majors in mid-May and got the most at-bats he’d ever had in a season, 261.  He was pretty much the same hitter he’d always been, however, and after that season his playing career came to an end.  After his retirement, Jeff Reboulet went back to Dayton and is the owner of Masters Pro Sports & Entertainment, a financial services company that assists professional athletes with their finances.  He is also the president of REB Sports Academy of Kettering, Ohio, an indoor sports training facility, and is a consultant with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Left-handed reliever Ryan Patrick O'Rourke pitched for the Twins in 2015 and 2016.  He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, went to high school in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, attended Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, and was drafted by Minnesota in the thirteenth round in 2010.  He both started and relieved in his first couple of years as a pro but has been a reliever since 2012.  His minor league record had been less than stellar, and he appears to have been used as a left-handed specialist even in the minors.  He spent the second half of 2015 with the Twins and pitched well for the first month, but ended up with an ERA of 6.14 and a WHIP of 1.41.  He did, however, get 24 strikeouts in 22 innings (28 games).  He split 2016 between Rochester and Minnesota, doing very well for the Red Wings and fairly well for the Twins.  Unfortunately, he then missed the 2017 season with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.  He missed most of 2018 as well, pitching just 14.1 innings.  He signed with the Mets for 2019.  At that time, we said,  "We wish him well, but the odds certainly seem to be against him making it back to the big leagues."  Well, whatever the odds were, he beat them, because he made two appearances for the Mets in 2019 and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings.  He didn't pitch very well in AAA, though, and was released in early August.  The Twins picked him up and he finished the season pitching for Rochester.  He became a free agent after the season and played winter ball that year, but then retired.  Ryan O'Rourke was an assistant baseball coach and director of player development with Holy Cross University for a few years.  At last report, he was an associate with Horvath & Tremblay, a real estate brokerage in Boston.

Second baseman Edouard Julien played for the Twins from 2023-2025.  He was born in Quebec, Canada, attended Auburn University, and was drafted by the Twins in the eighteenth round in 2019.  He did not play in the COVID year of 2020, but progressed quickly through the Twins' minor league system, reaching high-A in 2021, AA in 2022, and first AAA and then the majors in 2023, coming up to stay in mid-June.  He had a fine season, batting .263 with 16 home runs and an OPS of .839.  After that, however, things kind of fell apart for him.  He had a poor 2024, going back to AAA for about six weeks.  2025 was similar, as he hit well in a half season in AAA but not in the other half in Minnesota.  The Twins then gave up on him, trading him along with Pierson Ohl to Colorado for Jace Kaminska.  He has done better with the Rockies, but still nothing to get excited about.  He turns twenty-seven today.  He's not a good defender, so he's going to have to come through at the plate if he's going to contribute to a major league team.  Time will tell whether he can do that consistently.

April 29

Frank Hankinson (1856)

Ernie Johnson (1888)

Mickey McDermott (1929)

Steve Ridzik (1929)

Ed Charles (1933)

Luis Aparicio (1934)

Akira Ohgi (1935)

Tom House (1947)

Rick Burleson (1951)

Bob McClure (1952)

Ron Washington (1952)

Steve Crawford (1958)

John Vander Wal (1966)

Sterling Hitchcock (1971)

Rafael Betancourt (1975)

Tony Armas (1978)

Akiri Ohgi was a long-time manager in Japan, winning nearly a thousand games.

Rick Burleson was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1969, but did not sign.

Infielder Ronald Washington was with the Twins from 1981-1986.  Born and raised in New Orleans, Washington signed with Kansas City as a free agent in 1970.  He was in the Royals’ system for six years, only one of them higher than Class A, and did nothing of any particular note apart from play several positions; he was used as a catcher, outfielder, shortstop, and second baseman.  Washington was traded to the Dodgers after the 1976 season.  He thrived in AAA Albuquerque, hitting .348 in about a year there.  He got a September callup in 1977, but was apparently injured much of 1978.  He was in the Mets’ organization in 1979, and was traded to Minnesota in late March of 1980 for Wayne Caughey.  In 1981, Washington hit .289 with 15 homers in AAA Toledo and got a September call-up.  He was the semi-regular shorstop for the Twins in 1982-1984, sharing the position with Lenny Faedo and Houston Jimenez, among others.  He hit for a decent average, but rarely walked and had little power.  He also was not considered a particularly good defensive shortstop.  Washington was put into more of a utility role in 1985, spent time in the minors in 1986, and was released in late March of 1987.  As a Twin, Ron Washington hit .265/.294/.373 in 1,258 at-bats.  Baltimore picked him up and sent him to AAA Rochester, bringing him back to the majors for the second half of the season.  He moved on to Cleveland for 1988, getting one more full season in the majors as a reserve shortstop.  He moved on to AAA for Houston for 1989, getting about three weeks in the majors, then to Texas’ AAA team for 1990 before ending his playing career.  Ron Washington remained in baseball after that, serving as a minor league coach and manager for the Mets from 1991-1995, and coaching at the major league level for Oakland from 1996-2006. He was the manager of the Texas Rangers from 2007-2014, reaching the World Series in 2010 and 2011, but resigned when it was revealed he'd had an extra-marital affair.  He was a coach for the Oakland Athletics from 2015-16 and was the third base coach for the Atlanta Braves from 2017-2023.  He was the manager of the Los Angeles Angels in 2024-2025, but missed much of the 2025 season due to health issues and was let go after the season.  He is the infield coach for the San Francisco Giants in 2026.