November 1

Joe Battin (1852)

Bid McPhee (1859)

Larry French (1907)

Pat Mullin (1917)

Vic Power (1927)

Jim Kennedy (1946)

Miguel Dilone (1954)

Gary Redus (1956)

Fernando Valenzuela (1960)

Eddie Williams (1964)

Bob Wells (1966)

Ryan Glynn (1974)

Cleatus Davidson (1976)

Coco Crisp (1979)

Steven Tolleson (1983)

This is also the birthday of Twins’ farmhand Alex Wimmers (1988).

First baseman Victor Pellot Power played for the Twins from 1962-1964. He appears to have been a much better player than many people remember today. Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, his given name was Victor Pellot, a name he used when playing winter ball. Power played for some independent minor league teams from 1949-1951. Playing for an independent team carried no stigma at that time; farm systems were not fully developed yet, and it was common for teams with no formal major league affiliation to play in organized minor leagues. The Yankees bought his contract rights prior to the 1952 season, and he played for their AAA team in Kansas City for two years. He was nearly the first person of color to play for the Yankees, but instead, he was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics, made the team out of spring training in 1954, and never returned to the minors. Power later said that the Yankees traded him because he dated white women. He was with the Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics through June of 1958. He hit over .300 twice and received MVP consideration three times in those years. He also provided double digit home runs in each season after 1954. He was traded to Cleveland at mid-season of 1958 in a trade that involved Roger Maris. Power continued to provide a .300 batting average and double-digit home run power. He made two more all-star teams as an Indian, recieving MVP consideration three more times and winning four Gold Gloves. Just before the 1962 season, Cleveland traded Power and Dick Stigman to Minnesota for Pedro Ramos. Power never hit .300 again, but he hit in the upper .200s as a Twin, again hitting double-digit home runs, again had a year in which he received MVP consideration, and won two more Gold Gloves. In June of 1964, the Twins sent him to the Angels as part of a three-team deal that also involved Cleveland: the Twins traded away Power and Lenny Green and received Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall. Now 36, Power was near the end of his career. He was traded to Philadelphia in September, was bought back by the Angels for the 1965 season, and then retired. As a Twin, Power hit .278/.305/.398. A tremendous fielder, he played much farther off the base than other first basemen of his time. He told the infielders to throw the ball at the base, and he would get there in time to catch it, often on a dead run. Power has a number of odd records: one of five batters to hit both a leadoff and a walkoff homer in the same game; one of eleven players to steal home twice in the same game; most consecutive games with an assist as a first baseman (16); tied for most unassisted double plays in a game (2). After leaving baseball, he returned to Puerto Rico and spent his time coaching and working with youth. He had a dry sense of humor, which he used to deflect the racism he encountered. Once, when told by a waitress "We don't serve colored people," he replied, "That's OK, I don't eat colored people. I just want rice and beans." Vic Power passed away in Bayamon, Puerto Rico on November 29, 2005.

Infielder James Earl Kennedy did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 1971. The brother of major league infielder Junior Kennedy, he was born in Tulsa and signed as a free agent with the Yankees in 1966. He did not hit as a Yankee; his highest average in four years in their system was .244. Unsurprisingly, he was left unprotected after the 1969 season; surprisingly, he was chosen by St. Louis. The apparently worked something out, because Kennedy spent most of that season in his hometown of AAA Tulsa. The home cooking must have helped, because he had his best season, batting .275. He also made his major league debut that season, getting 24 big league at-bats in about a month. He hit only .125, however, and was sent back down. After the 1970 season, Kennedy was traded to Minnesota with Sal Campisi for Charlie Wissler and Herman Hill. The Twins sent him to AAA Portland where he had the highest batting average of his career, .288. That was as good as it would get for him, however, and it was not good enough to get him back to the majors. He moved on to play in AAA for the Mets in 1972 and for the Yankees in 1973, then his career was over. No current information about Jim Kennedy was readily available.

Corner infielder Edward Laquan Williams did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 1999. He was born in Shreveport, went to high school in San Diego, and was drafted by the Mets with the fourth pick of the 1983 draft. He did not do much for the Mets in the minors, however, and they traded him to Cincinnati just a year later. In 1985, as a 20-year-old in Class A Cedar Rapids, he hit .261 with twenty homers. Cleveland was impressed enough to take him in that year’s rule 5 draft, and he started 1986 in the majors. He was there until late May but played in only five games. Something was then worked out to send him to the minors, but he never did get things going that season. In 1987, however, he bounced back to hit .291 with 22 homers for AAA Buffalo, earning a September call-up. In 1988 he hit .301 for AAA Colorado Springs, although with only 12 home runs, and got another September call-up. While the records are sketchy, he appears to have struck out a lot in the minors, which may have made teams reluctant to give him more of a chance. Cleveland traded him to the White Sox for 1989. He was in Chicago for the first half of the season and did okay, hitting .274 with ten homers, but was still sent down around the all-star break. A free agent after the 1989 season, he signed with San Diego and was back in AAA for most of the season, getting only a month in the majors. He was then sold to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and played in Japan for two years. He came back to the United States in 1992 with Atlanta, but was released in mid-May and was out of baseball the rest of the season. He signed with Milwaukee for 1993 but was released in mid-April and was again out of baseball the rest of the season. He did not give up, however, signing with San Diego for 1994, and in mid-June, after a four-year absence, Eddie Williams was back in the major leagues. He responded by hitting .331 with 11 homers in 175 at-bats as a part-time first baseman. He did not sustain that in 1995, but in his first full season in the majors he hit .260 with twelve homers as a part-time player. He became a free agent after the season and signed with Detroit but had a bad year, batting only .200 as a part-time DH. He signed with the Dodgers for 1997, spending most of the year in the minors but finishing it in Pittsburgh, where he was traded in early August. He went back to San Diego for 1998, spending about a month in the majors before getting released again in mid-September. He did not give up, however, and signed with Minnesota for 1999. He had a solid year in AAA Salt Lake, hitting .316 with 17 homers, but as bad as the Twins were that year they did not call him up. He then played for three seasons in independent leagues before his playing career ended after the 2002 season. He was never a star or even a regular, but he managed to play professional baseball for twenty years, making the majors for at least part of ten of them. He then spent a couple of years as a batting coach in Class A, but that seems to have ended after the 2004 season. At last report, Eddie Williams was living in the Los Angeles area.  His son, Trey, was drafted in the eleventh round by St. Louis but has opted to play for Junior College of the Canyons in California in 2013.

Right-hander Robert Lee Wells played for the Twins from 1999-2002. He came to the Twins to end a career that was surprisingly lengthy considering how he pitched. Born and raised in Yakima, Washington, Wells attended Spokane Falls Community College and signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1988. He began as a starting pitcher, but became primarily a reliever at Class A in 1991. He had some good years as a reliever, but advanced slowly, not seeing the last of Class A until 1993. He made his major league debut with the Phillies in May of 1994 and pitched well in six appearances, but was sent back to the minors and then placed on waivers in August. Seattle selected him, and Wells finally reached the majors to stay in 1995. He was never very good for the Mariners; his lowest ERA with them was 5.30. Still, he was with Seattle for four years until he was finally released in November of 1998. The Twins signed Wells as a free agent the following January, and he pitched four more years for them. He actually did pretty well the first couple of seasons, posting ERAs in the mid-threes and WHIPs around 1.2. In 2001 and 2002, however, he posted ERAs over 5.00. He was released after the season, and his career was over. As a Twin, Bob Wells appeared in 265 games, posting an ERA of 4.47 and an ERA+ of 109 in just over 300 innings. There appear to be more people in the world named "Bob Wells" than one can shake a stick at, although why one would desire to shake a stick at them in the first place is not entirely clear. No information about the whereabouts of this Bob Wells was readily available.

Right-hander Ryan David Glynn did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2006. Born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, he attended VMI and was drafted by Texas in the fourth round in 1995. He started slowly but hit his stride in 1998, when he went 9-6, 3.44 with a 1.30 WHIP at AA Tulsa. He reached the majors in mid-May of 1999 and was soon in the starting rotation but flopped, posting a 7.24 ERA in 13 games before being returned to the minors. He was back in the minors at the start of 2000, but after a good half-season in AAA he came back to Texas. He stayed in the rotation the rest of the year and started 2001 there but continued to struggle, going back to the minors in early June of 2001. He became a free agent after the season and started moving around: he signed with Milwaukee for 2002, was released in early June, signed with Florida a week later, became a free agent after the season, signed with Atlanta for 2003, was released in late June, and was out of baseball the rest of the season. He did not make the majors in either of those years. He signed back with Atlanta for 2004, was released again in late May, signed with Toronto a few days later, and after sixteen strong starts at Syracuse found himself back in the majors as a September call-up. He started 2005 back in the minors, however, and was sold to Oakland in mid-May. He got back to the majors for a month, making three starts but pitching in AAA most of the year. Minnesota signed him for 2006, but released him after one start for AAA Rochester. He then went to Japan, pitching two years for the Nippon Ham Fighters and one year for Yokohama. He came back to the United States in 2010, pitching for the independent Newark Bears. He apparently pitched in China in 2011.  There is no word whether he continued pitching in 2012, or what he might have been doing if he didn't.

Infielder Cleatus Lavon Davidson appeared in twelve games for the Twins in 1999. He was born in Bartow, Florida, went to high school in Lake Wales, Florida, and was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 1994. He never hit a lot in the minors, but he was fast, stealing 123 bases from 1997-1999. He got a couple of call-ups to the Twins, both in 1999. Davidson appeared in 12 games for the Twins, batting .136 (3-for-22) with 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Other than those two call-ups, Davidson never rose above AA with the Twins. After the 2000 season, they let him go; he was in the Padres' system in 2001 and played in the Yankees and Cardinals organizations in 2002. He then played in independent leagues, last playing for Long Beach of the Golden Baseball League in 2008. No further information about Cleatus Davidson was readily available.

Infielder Steven Wayne Tolleson did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for five seasons. The son of major league infielder Wayne Tolleson, he was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina and was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round in 2005. He posted some solid minor league batting averages, had decent doubles power, and drew a good number of walks. His best season in the Twins’s system was 2008, when he hit .300 with 28 doubles and nine homers, giving him an OPS of .848. He mostly played second base, but also had a pretty fair number of games at shortstop. He reached AAA in 2009 and hit .270, but was placed on waivers on February 1 of 2010 and was selected by Oakland. He had a tremendous season in AAA Sacramento, hitting .332 with an OPS of .915. He appeared briefly with the Athletics in late April, then came up in mid-August and stayed the rest of the season. He got 49 at-bats, hitting .286 with a home run and four RBIs. In 2011, however, he was back in AAA, and was traded to San Diego in late May for a player to be named later.  He played all over the diamond, seeing time at second, short, third, and left field, and had a solid enough season, but did not get another shot at the majors.   A free agent after the 2011 season, he signed with Baltimore.  He hit for a decent average in AAA, but with little power.  He got two months in the majors as a reserve infielder, hitting .183/.227/.310 in 76 at-bats.  He turns 29 today.  It’s possible that he'll catch someone's eye and still have a decent career as a reserve infielder, but it seems more likely that Steve Tolleson's career may already have peaked.