November 11

Freddy Parent (1875)

Rabbit Maranville (1891)

Al Schacht (1892)

Pie Traynor (1898)

Hal Trosky (1912)

George Case (1915)

Ike Delock (1929)

Ron Musselman (1954)

John Hobbs (1955)

Cory Snyder (1962)

Roberto Hernandez (1964)

Damion Easley (1969)

Jason Grilli (1976)

On this Veterans' Day, we would like to thank all current and former members of the military for their service.

Right-hander Ralph Ronald Musselman did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for a couple of months in 1987.  Born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, he attended Clemson and was drafted by Seattle in the fifth round in 1977.  He had apparently been rather highly regarded, as he has been drafted twice previously.  He struggled early in his career, spending three years in class A and not having much success until his third season there, when he became mostly a relief pitcher.  He started to climb after that, getting to AAA in 1981.  After a solid year in the Salt Lake City bullpen in 1982, Musselman made his major league debut for Seattle in August and was not awful for the last month and a half of the season.  After that season, however, he was traded to Texas for Pat Putnam.  He moved back to starting for AAA Oklahoma City, but was unsuccessful.  He went back to the bullpen in 1984 and pitched better, but was sold to Toronto in early June.  He appeared in 36 games for the Blue Jays over the next two seasons and again was not awful.  He was a free agent after the 1985 season, signed with Cleveland, was released in spring training, signed back with Toronto, and was back in the minors for 1986.  He had his best year in the minors for Syracuse that season, making 20 starts and 13 relief appearances, but by then he was 31 and no longer a prospect.  A free agent again after the season, the Twins signed Musselman for 1987 and sent him to AAA Portland.  He was pretty awful there, going 3-10, 6.62 in 14 appearances, 10 of them starts.  The Twins sent him to the Orioles in mid-June as the player to be named later in a deal that netted the Twins Ricky Jones.  He did fairly well in AAA Rochester, but did not make it back to the majors and ended his playing career after the season.  As a big leaguer, he was 4-2, 3.73, 1.51 WHIP in 89.1 innings.  He appeared in 48 games, 4 of them starts.  After leaving baseball, he returned to Wilmington and went into the landscaping business.  More recently, he is pursuing a career as a realtor in the Wilmington area.  He is the father of professional golfer Lucas Glover, but divorced Glover's mother many years ago and has had little contact with Glover since.

Left-hander John Douglas Hobbs appeared in four games for the Twins in 1981.  He was born in Philadelphia, went to Lynchburg College, one of two big leaguers the school has produced (Lefty Thomas).  He was drafted by Seattle in the seventh round in 1978.  He spent six seasons in the minors, and frankly, it’s hard to see why, as he never had much success above low Class A.  He did strike out a lot of guys, though.  After nearly two high-A seasons in which he went 18-16, 4.91, 1.74 WHIP, he was promoted to AA for the first time in 1980.  His combined numbers for the 1980 season were 9-14, 4.39, 1.50 WHIP, and he was unsurprisingly left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft.  The Twins saw that he struck out 124 batters in 160 innings, and saw that they were desperate for pitchers, so they drafted him.  He was in AAA Orlando most of the year and went 11-7, although with a 4.08 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP.  That was good enough for the Twins to bring him up to the majors and give him four appearances.  In 5.2 innings, he went 0-0, 3.18, 1.94 WHIP, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 6 walks.  Those are his career numbers, as he never got back to the big leagues.  He spent two more undistinguished seasons in Orlando, then his playing career came to an end after the 1983 campaign.  No information about John Hobbs since that time was readily available.