January 26

Francis Richter (1854)
Kaiser Wilhelm (1874)
Tubby Spencer (1884)
George Blaeholder (1904)
Charlie Gelbert (1906)
Bob Nieman (1927)
Ray Knoblauch (1928)
Bob Uecker (1935)
Mike Pazik (1950)
Rick Schu (1962)
Jeff Branson (1967)
Esteban German (1978)
Andres Torres (1978)
Ryan Rowland-Smith (1983)

The father of Chuck Knoblauch, Ray Knoblauch pitched in the minors from 1948-1957, going 54-51.

Left-hander Michael Joseph Pazik appeared in 13 games for Minnesota from 1975-1977.  He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, attended high school there, and then went to Holy Cross, the most recent major league player to come from that school.  Pazik was drafted by the Yankees in the 13th round in 1971.  He was used as a starter in the Yankees' minor league system and pitched pretty well, but did not get a chance in the majors with them.  In May of 1974, Pazik was traded along with cash to Minnesota for Dick Woodson.  He pitched pretty well at AAA Tacoma and came to the Twins for about a month in 1975, but got little chance to play, appearing in five games (three starts) and pitching 19.2 innings.  Pazik made the Twins out of spring training in 1976, but again appeared in only five games (all in relief) before going back to AAA.  In 1977, Pazik again made the Twins out of spring training and pitched very well in three starts, but then was seriously injured in an automobile accident which broke both his legs, and missed the rest of the season.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with the White Sox.  He pitched well in the minors, but was not brought back to the big leagues.  Pazik started 1979 still in the White Sox' organization, moved on to Pittsburgh, and then ended his career.  His entire major league career was with Minnesota:  he was 1-4, 5.79 in 46.2 innings.  After his career ended, Pazik went on to coaching and managing, and was the pitching coach for the White Sox from 1995 to 1998.  At last report, Mike Pazik was a scout for the White Sox and was living in the Washington, D. C. area.  His daughter, Kristen Pazik, is a model and is married to Ukrainian soccer player Andriy Shevchenko.

Outfielder Andres Vungo (Feliciano) Torres did not play for the Twins, but was in the minor league system in 2006.  He was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and was drafted by Detroit in the fourth round in 1998.  He started slowly and never did show any power, but hit .296 for Class A Lakeland in 2000 and .294 for AA Erie in 2001.  He started 2002 as a platoon center fielder for the Tigers, but hit only .211 in ten games and went back to AAA, coming back in September.  He was in the majors over half of 2003 as a reserve but again didn’t hit.  There was really no reason to think he would, because he was pretty average in AAA in those years as well, hitting around .260.  He again started 2004 in the majors, but played in only three games and never batted before being released in late April.  The White Sox signed him and sent him to AAA, where he had a good season, batting .295.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Texas and got off to a good start in AAA, hitting .302 before being brought up to the majors in mid-May.  He played in only eight games as a reserve outfielder, going 3-for-19, before being release in mid-June.  The Twins signed him for 2006 and sent him to Rochester, where he hit .236/.333/.353.  He spent 2007 in AAA for Detroit and was in AAA again in 2008 with the Cubs.  He hit for a good average both years, but did not get a call to the majors, and at age 30 it appeared his career might be over.  He signed with San Francisco for 2009, and was in the majors for all but a month of the season, hitting .270 as a reserve.  In 2010, at age 32, he spent his first full season in the majors, starting 124 games at all three outfield positions, 73 in center, 38 in right, and 13 in left.  He actually hit well, batting .268/.343/.479 with 16 home runs.  He did not repeat that performance in 2011, however, batting only .221 with four home runs in 348 at-bats and starting only 78 games, all in center field.  Now 34, he's going to have to get things going again if he's going to stay in the majors leagues much longer.

Left-hander Ryan Benjamin Rowland-Smith never played for Minnesota, but was in spring training with them in 2005.  Born in Sydney, Austalia, he attended high school in Newcastle, Australia.  He was signed by Seattle as a free agent in 2000.  He alternated between starting and relieving through much of his early career.  Despite generally pitching well, he had not been above Class A through the 2004 season.  Following that season, Minnesota selected him in the Rule 5 draft; however, he did not make the team, and was returned to Seattle in late March.  He struggled in his AA debut in 2005, but did much better the second time around in 2006.  He split his time from 2007-2009 between Seattle and AAA Tacoma.  He was used in relief in 2007, but was converted back to starting in 2008.  He had pitched well in the majors through 2009, going 11-7, 3.62, 1.30 WHIP in 253.1 innings.  He appeared ready to be a major league starter in 2010, and was given every opportunity to be, but in 27 appearances, 20 of them starts, he went 1-10, 6.75, 1.69 WHIP.  He was sent back to the minors for six starts and did not do much better there, going 2-4, 5.11.  He was a free agent after the season and signed with Houston for 2011.  He was released on April 1 but re-signed April 4 and spent the season in the minors, where he pitched poorly.  He is currently a free agent and is pitching in Australia this winter.  He turns 29 today.  It's hard to know what will happen, but he is left-handed and pitched well as recently as 2009.  It's not unreasonable to think that somebody will at least take him to spring training.