January 3

Barney Gilligan (1856)
Gus Suhr (1906)
Frenchy Bordagaray (1910)
Sid Hudson (1915)
Eddie Einhorn (1936)
Bob Gebhard (1943)
Dick Colpaert (1944)
Larry Barnett (1945)
Gary Lavelle (1949)
Jim Lett (1951)
Mark Riggins (1957)
Darren Daulton (1962)
Luis Rivera (1964)
Luis Sojo (1965)
A. J. Burnett (1977)
Michael Restovich (1979)

Right-handed reliever Robert Henry Gebhard appeared in 30 games for the Twins over two years in 1971-1972. A native of Lamberton, Minnesota, Gebhard went to high school in Lamberton and then attended the University of Iowa. He was chosen by the Twins in the 44th round of the draft in 1965. A starter early in his minor league career, he pitched very well in 1965, but not so well in 1966. He was shifted to the bullpen after that, and reeled off four pretty good years, two in Class A, one in AA, and one in AAA. He did some starting in Portland in 1971, and did less well, but was still called up to the Twins for the final two months of the season. Gebhard battled injuries in 1972, and did not pitch well when he could pitch. He was back in AAA in 1973, continued to not pitch well, and was released after the season. Montreal signed Gebhard, put him back into the bullpen full time, and he responded with a couple of very good seasons at AAA Memphis. He made one final appearance with Montreal, in 1974, but retired after not getting back to the big leagues in 1975. As a Twin, Bob Gebhard was 1-3, 6.00 in 41 innings of relief. Gebhard has remained in baseball after his playing career ended, first as a coach and then as a member of the front office. He was an assistant general manager for the Twins from 1988 through 1991, and then became the first general manager of the Colorado Rockies, a position he held through 1999. He has also worked for St. Louis Cardinals and until 2009 was the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He suffered a mild heart attack in February of 2010, but appears to have made a full recovery. Bob Gebhard is currently a vice president and special assistant to the general manager for the Diamondbacks.

Right-hander Richard Charles Colpaert did not play for the Twins, but was briefly in their farm system, at least on paper. He was born in Fraser, Michigan, and signed with Baltimore as a free agent in 1961. He had a good year in 1962 as a reliever for Class D Appleton, then was selected by Pittsburgh in the first-year player draft. He spent the next ten years in the Pirates’ organization, putting up good ERAs every year but getting little chance for advancement. He reached AA in 1962 and stayed there through 1968. He made 245 appearances in AA, going 24-24 with a 3.41 ERA in 412 innings. Finally, in 1969, Colpaert was promoted to AAA, again posting good numbers but not getting moved up. His sole time in the big leagues was about three weeks in late July-early August of 1970, when he made eight relief appearances for the Pirates. He was 1-0, 5.91, 1.59 WHIP in 10.2 innings. After the 1972 season, he was sold to Kansas City, but was left unprotected and chosen in the Rule 5 draft by Cleveland. He had a poor year in AAA in 1973 and was traded to Minnesota with Bill Butler after the season for Mike Brooks and Jim Strickland. Before the 1974 season, however, the Twins sent him to Boston “in an unknown transaction.” It was known to the people involved, at least, because Colpaert started 1974 in AAA for the Red Sox. After 12 ineffective relief appearances, however, he was released in July, ending his playing career. His minor league numbers are not mind-blowing, especially when considered in the context of the 1960s, but he seems at least as good as a lot of other players who got a lot more of a shot than he did. He was a major league scout for many years after his playing career ended, and at last report was working for the Major League Scouting Bureau.  It is unclear whether he is still there, but he is apparently alive and well, as he appeared at various baseball alumni events in 2011.

Outfielder Michael Jerome Restovich played for the Twins at various times from 2002-2004. He was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and went to high school there. Restovich was chosen by the Twins in the second round in 1997. He was tremendous in his first couple of minor-league years, which were spent in rookie and Class A ball. He was less tremendous, but still pretty good, at higher levels. He averaged over 20 homers a year in AAA from 2002-2004, a figure that is even more remarkable when you remember that he also was in the majors for a substantial part of those seasons. The Twins never gave Restovich anything approaching regular playing time in the big leagues, but he still hit .274/.364/.442 in 113 at-bats spread over three years. Despite all that, Minnesota put Restovich on waivers just before the 2005 season, and he was selected by Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays put him on waivers a week later, and he moved on to Colorado. Restovich was hitting .290 in part-time play for the Rockies when he was on the move again, this time going to Pittsburgh in mid-May. Restovich remained with the Pirates the rest of the season, his only full year in the majors, but was released once the season ended. He was with the Cubs in 2006 and Washington in 2007, getting brief appearances in the majors both years. He was signed by Philadelphia in November of 2007, but was released two weeks later. He went to Japan for 2008, then came back to the United States. Restovich played for Charlotte in the White Sox' organization in 2009 and for Albuquerque in the Dodgers’ chain in 2010, continuing to hit well.  In 2011 he played in the White Sox and Diamondbacks organizations, but did not hit well.  Still, in seven AAA seasons, he hit .278/.346/.498 with 148 home runs.  It's hard to understand why no one wanted to give him a chance to show what he could do in the majors, but no one did, and now it's probably too late. Someone may take him to spring training, and it's always possible that he'll get a shot at the majors, but it's also possible that it may be time for Michael Restovich to get on with his life.