January 9

Bill Thomas (1905)
Johnny Washington (1916)
John Kibler (1928)
Julio Navarro (1936)
Ralph Terry (1936)
Masaaki Mori (1937)
Al Clark (1948)
Joe Wallis (1952)
Ivan DeJesus (1953)
Otis Nixon (1959)
Stan Javier (1964)
Jay Powell (1972)
Ken Cloude (1975)

Bill Thomas pitched in the minors from 1924-1952. He set records for games pitched (1,016), wins (383), losses (347), innings (5,995), hits allowed (6,721), and runs allowed (3,098).

Outfielder Otis Junior Nixon was with Minnesota in 1998, near the end of his long career. A native of Columbus County, North Carolina, Nixon was chosen by the Yankees with the third pick of the 1979 draft. His minor league career showed what Nixon would become at his best--he had no power whatsoever, but hit for a high average, drew a lot of walks, and stole a lot of bases. His best year in the minors was 1982, a year which he split between AA Nashville and AAA Columbus. Combined, he hit .282, drew 108 walks, and stole 107 bases. He remained in the minors for 1983, however (with the exception of 14 big league at-bats), and that off-season was traded to Cleveland. Nixon made the Indians out of spring training in 1984, but hit only .154 and found himself back in the minors by mid-June. He was a seldom-used reserve outfielder in 1985 and 1986, was back in the minors much of 1987, and then became a free agent, signing with Montreal. The Expos finally gave him a chance to play, making him a semi-regular, but he didn't do much; he hit only .237 in three years with Montreal, although he did steal 133 bases. In April of 1991, the now 32-year-old Nixon was traded to Atlanta. His lifetime batting average at that point, in over eleven hundred at-bats, was .228. There was certainly no reason to think that he would suddenly learn to hit, but he did, batting over .290 in each of his first two seasons with the Braves. Nixon was a Brave for three seasons, stealing 160 bases in that time. A free agent after the 1993 season, he signed with the Red Sox. He had a good year in Boston in 1994, but was traded to Texas after the season in a deal involving Jose Canseco. He was with the Rangers for 1995, went to Toronto in 1996, and was traded by the Blue Jays to Los Angeles in August of 1997. A free agent again after that season, he signed with Minnesota for 1998. Now 39, Nixon did everything the Twins could have expected him to do that season, hitting .297/.361/.344 with 37 stolen bases despite missing a month with a broken jaw. He signed with Atlanta for 1999, but hit only .205, and his career was over. After hitting .228 through age 31, Nixon batted .284 from ages 32-39. His career spanned 17 seasons, and he stole 620 bases, stealing more bases in the 1990s than anyone else. He is tied for the major league record with six stolen bases in a game.  Wikipedia says that he once played for the United States cricket team, but this could not be confirmed. His brother, Donell, also played in the major leagues. Otis Nixon is currently the CEO of On-Track Promotions, which is working with several communities to provide baseball camps with a Christian emphasis throughout the southeast United States. His book, "Keeping It Real", was released in October of 2009.