March 9

Billy Southworth (1893)
Myril Hoag (1908)
Phil Seghi (1909)
Joe Paparella (1909)
Arky Vaughan (1912)
Jackie Jensen (1927)
Ron Kline (1932)
Jim Landis (1934)
Bert Campaneris (1942)
John Curtis (1948)
Darrel Chaney (1948)
Wendell Kim (1950)
Terry Mulholland (1963)
Benito Santiago (1965)
Vince Horsman (1967)
Aaron Boone (1973)
C. J. Nitkowski (1973)

American League umpire Joe Paparella holds the record for most games umpired in a season, 176 in 1962.

Right-hander Ronald Lee Kline had a solid year for the Twins in 1967.  A native of Callery, Pennsylvania, Kline signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 1950.  He pitched very well in the low minors and reached the Pirates in 1952, jumping from Class B.  He appears not to have been ready--in 27 games, 11 starts, he went o-7, 5.49.  Kline then missed the next two years due to the Korean War.  Upon his return in 1955, he stayed in the big leagues, pitching for Pittsburgh from 1955 through 1959.  Used mostly as a starter, Kline was durable and consistent, pitching around 200 innings per year and posting WHIPs just over 1.3o.  He slipped a little in 1959, however, and was traded to St. Louis after the season.  After a poor 1960 for the Cardinals, Kline was sold to the Angels in April of 1961.  He continued to pitch poorly, was placed on waivers, and was claimed by Detroit in August.  He was moved to the bullpen in 1962 and did somewhat better, but not great, and was sold to Washington in March of 1963.  Kline saved his career in Washington.  He became the closer for the Senators and posted an ERA under three in four consecutive seasons.  He was 26-25 with 83 saves in that span, leading the league with 29 saves in 1965.  He was still pitching well in 1966, but after that season he was traded to Minnesota for Bernie Allen and Camilo Pascual.  The Twins had Al Worthington to close, so Kline became a setup man and had another fine year in 1967, going 7-1, 3.77 with a WHIP of 1.20.  He was on the move again after the season, though, traded to Pittsburgh for Bob Oliver.  He had an excellent 1968, going 12-5, 1.68 with a WHIP of 1.11.  That was his last good year, though.  Off to a poor start in 1969, Kline was traded to San Francisco in June, sold to Boston in July, and released by the Red Sox after the season.  He signed with Atlanta for 1970, but was released in June.  The Angels picked him up and he had a fine rest of the season in AAA Hawaii, but then his career was over.  After his retirement, Ron Kline returned to his home town of Callery, Pennsylvania, eventually serving as mayor.  Ron Kline passed away at his home in Callery on June 22, 2002. 

Left-hander Terence John Mulholland pitched for the Twins in 2004 and 2005.  A Uniontown, Pennsylvania native, he attended Marietta College and was drafted by the Giants in the first round in 1984.  He pitched well in the low minors, but struggled when promoted to AAA in 1986.  Despite that, he was bounced back and forth between AAA and San Francisco in 1986.  He spent all of 1987 in AAA, still not pitching particularly well.  Mulholland went back to bouncing between AAA and the Giants in 1988 and 1989 until he was traded to Philadelphia in June of 1989.  He established himself as a Phillie; he became a rotation starter there and was a good one, posting an ERA under four for four consecutive years, 1990 through 1993.  He pitched a no-hitter in 1990, led the league in complete games (12) in 1992, and made the all-star team in 1993.  He was traded to the Yankees in February of 1994 and immediately collapsed.  He went 6-7, 6.49, became a free agent after the season, and signed with the Giants for 1995.  After another poor year he became a free agent again and went back to the Phillies, but was traded to Seattle at the end of July, 1996.  Mulholland pitched somewhat better that year, but continued to be on the move in 1997, signing with the Cubs at the start of the season but being selected off waivers by the Giants in August.  Mulholland went back to the Cubs for 1998, went to the bullpen, and suddenly was a good pitcher again, going 6-5, 2.89 in 112 innings.  He could not sustain his success, was traded to Atlanta in July of 1999, pitched poorly for the Braves in 2000, and was a free agent again.  He was with the Pirates and Dodgers in 2001 and with the Dodgers and Indians in 2002.  He stayed with Cleveland for 2003, but was pretty mediocre.  A free agent again after that campaign, Mulholland signed with Seattle again for 2004, but was sold to the Twins near the end of spring training.  He stuck with Minnesota for two years, the longest he had been with the same team in over a decade.  He did not pitch particularly well out of the Minnesota bullpen in the first half of the season, but the Twins were desperate for a fifth starter, so he went into the rotation in early July.  He was not great in that role, either, but managed to go 4-5 with an ERA just under five.  Late in the season he was paired with catcher Pat Borders, making them the oldest battery in major league history.  Moved back to the bullpen for 2005, he actually did somewhat better.  Still, he became a free agent after the season and signed with Arizona for 2006.  He began the season in the majors, but was quickly sent back to AAA, and was released in June ending his career.  It was a pretty good career, though, lasting twenty seasons and including two World Series teams.  At last report, Terry Mulholland was a part-owner of the Dirty Dogg Saloon in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Left-hander Vincent Stanley Joseph Horsman made six appearances for the Twins in 1995.  He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and went to high school in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.  He signed with Toronto as a free agent in 1984.  He was mostly used in relief, although the one time he was used as a starter, 1987 at Class A Myrtle Beach, he went 7-7, 3.82 with a 1.22 WHIP.  Returned to the bullpen after that, Horsman continued to pitch pretty well.  After going 4-1, 2.34 in 80.2 innings in AA Knoxville in 1991, Horsman got a September call up.  Surprisingly, he was waived after that season and was claimed by Oakland.  He was with the Athletics for all of 1992, his only full season in the majors, and did quite well as a Loogy, going 2-1, 2.49 in 43.1 innings spread over 58 games.  Horsman started 1993 in the minors, but was called up in mid-June and placed in the same role.  He did not do as well, posting a 5.40 ERA in 25 innings spread over 40 appearances.  He split 1994 between Oakland and AAA, again used as a Loogy.  He was released after the season and signed with Minnesota just before the 1995 campaign.  He was in the majors for about two weeks that season, pitching nine innings over six games and giving up seven earned runs on twelve hits.  His best outing as a Twin came on May 7, when he pitched three scoreless innings in a seventeen inning loss to Cleveland.  He did not pitch particularly well in AAA, and was released in August.  Horsman pitched in AAA for Toronto in 1996, pitched in Taiwan in 1997, and pitched in AAA for Baltimore in 1998, and then his playing career was over.  Horsman was a batting practice pitcher for the Orioles from 1999 through 2004 and pitched for Dartmouth in the Baseball Canada Senior Championship in 2005.  Vince Horsman is currently the pitching coach for the Lansing Lugnuts, a Class A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Left-hander Christopher John Nitkowski did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2005.  He was born in Suffern, New York, went to high school in Ramsey, New Jersey, attended St. John’s, and was drafted by Cincinnati with the ninth pick of the draft in 1994.  He made 14 solid starts in AA that year, eight more the next, then went up to AAA.  He did not do particularly well there, but was jumped to the majors anyway.  He struggled through nine appearances, seven of them starts, then was traded to Detroit.  He pitched poorly for the Tigers as well and was back in AAA in 1996, although he was in the majors for about two months in the second half of the season.  He was traded to Houston after that year, put in a full year in AAA, and did fairly well.  He made the Astros as a reliever in 1998 and had his first (some might say his only) good year in the majors, going 3-3, 3.77 with 3 saves and a 1.21 WHIP.  He was traded back to Detroit for 1999.  He was decent for the Tigers that season, but it was pretty much down hill after that, as he only once posted an ERA below four and a half and never had a WHIP below 1.5.  His last full year in the majors was 2001, a year when he was traded to the Mets in September.  He signed with Houston for 2002, was released on March 25, re-signed three days later, released again on June 6, signed that same day with St. Louis, was released on July 21, and signed with Texas, where he finished the season.  He stayed in the Rangers’ organization for 2003, was with Atlanta and the Yankees in 2004, and signed with Minnesota for 2005.  The Twins released him on March 31 and he spent the summer in the Detroit and Washington organizations.  He was in the majors for part of each of those seasons.  He signed with Pittsburgh for 2006 and spent the entire year in AAA.  He then spent two seasons in Japan before moving to Korea for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.  He apparently did not play in 2011, but played in the Dominican Republic this winter.  He has not retired from baseball, but it appears that he may soon be retired by baseball.  His major league career numbers are unimpressive, to say the least:  18-32, 5.37, 1.63 WHIP.  Still he was in the majors for parts of ten seasons, appeared in 336 games, and pitched 479 major league innings, which a lot of people would be happy to be able to say.  He also has what appears to be a fairly interesting blog, cjbaseball.com.