January 16

Jimmy Macullar (1855)
Art Whitney (1858)
Jimmy Collins (1870)
Ferdie Schupp (1891)
Buck Jordan (1907)
Dizzy Dean (1910)
Jim Owens (1934)
Ron Herbel (1938)
Joe Bonikowski (1941)
Tsuneo Horiuchi (1948)
Dave Stapleton (1954)
Steve Balboni (1957)
Marty Castillo (1957)
Dave Jauss (1957)
Jack McDowell (1966)
Ron Villone (1970)
Jack Cust (1979)
Albert Pujols (1980)
Matt Maloney (1984)
Jeff Manship (1985)

Jimmy Macullar holds the career record for most games by a left-handed-throwing shortstop (325). Oddly, he batted right-handed.

Marty Castillo was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-first round in 1975, but did not sign.

Right-hander Ronald Samuel Herbel did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 1972. He was born in Denver, went to high school in Brighton, Colorado, attended the University of Northern Colorado, and was signed as a free agent by San Francisco in 1958. He struggled early in his minor league career but hit his stride in 1960, going 15-4, 3.50 for AA Rio Grande Valley and following it up in 1961 with 16-5, 3.57 for AAA Tacoma. He was walking a lot of batters, though, so he did not get the call to the majors right away. In 1962 he got his control together, dropping his walks per nine innings to 2.0, and when he continued to do that in 1963 he finally got a September call-up. He was up to stay, starting 1964 with the Giants. He both started and relieved a significant number of games in his first four seasons, not producing eye-popping numbers but not pitching badly, either. He made a permanent switch to the bullpen in 1968. After the 1969 campaign, the Giants traded Herbel to San Diego, and he was traded again this time to the Mets, before the 1970 season ended. He led the league in appearances that year with 76, the only time he led the league in something. The Mets traded him to Atlanta before the 1971 season. He did not pitch well for the Braves, and was released after the season. He signed with Minnesota for 1972 and spent the year in AAA Tacoma. He both started and relieved, going 6-9, 4.41 with a 1.49 WHIP in 151 innings. His playing career ended after that. He holds the distinction of having the lowest career batting average for any player with more than a hundred at-bats (6-for-206—his slash line is .029/.065/.039). He remained in Tacoma after his career ended. He passed away in Tacoma on January 20, 2000.

Right-hander Joseph Peter Bonikowski pitched for Minnesota in 1962. He was born in Philadelphia and attended high school there. Bonikowski signed as a free agent with Washington in 1959. He had three solid minor league seasons, first in Class D, then in Class B, then in AAA. A starter in the minors, he began the 1962 season in the Twins' bullpen, but joined the rotation in mid-May, getting a complete game victory in his first major league start. He pitched very well for about a month, but throwing back-to-back complete games in early June seemed to take something out of him. He had a series of fair-to-poor starts, was removed from the rotation in early July, and sent to the minors in late July, coming back in September. He never returned to the majors after that, and never had a good minor league year again, finally retiring after the 1965 season. One wonders if he might have been a victim of over-use: in addition to throwing three complete games within a month as a 22-year old, he threw 159 innings at age 18 at Class D Sanford, 242 innings at age 19 at Class B Wilson, and 180 innings at age 20 at AAA Syracuse. As a Twin, Joe Bonikowski made 30 appearances, 13 of them starts. He was 5-7, 3.88 with a 1.33 WHIP. While it is unclear what happened to him after his playing days, it appears that he returned to Philadelphia and then retired to southern Florida.

Left-hander Matthew Michael Maloney appeared in nine games for the Twins in 2012.  He was born in Sandusky, Ohio, went to high school in Huron, Ohio, attended the University of Mississippi, and was drafted by Philadelphia in the third round in 2005.  He was a starter throughout his minior league career.  He had a couple of good seasons in the low minors for the Phillies and was doing fairly well in AA in 2007 when he was traded to Cincinnati for ex-Twin Kyle Lohse.  He pitched well enough in AAA for the Reds in 2008 and very well there in 2009.  He made his major league debut in 2009, making three starts in June.  He pitched well in the first one, but not so well in the other two and was sent back to AAA, coming back to the majors at the end of August.  He had another very good AAA season in 2010 and made seven very good major league starts that season, going 3-2, 3.05, 1.21 WHIP.  So far, that's as good as it's gotten for Maloney.  He started 2011 in the Reds bullpen and made four appearances there, one disastrous but the other three pretty good.  He then made a poor start and was sent to AAA, where he again pitched well and earned a September call-up.  His major league numbers that year are 0-3, 9.16, but thirteen of the nineteen runs came in two appearances.  He was placed on waivers after the season and claimed by Minnesota, and even though he was 28 it did not seem unreasonable to think he could help.  It didn't work out that way.  Maloney made nine appearances for the Twins and went 1-0, 8.18 in eleven innings, although again, half of the ten earned runs he allowed came in one really bad outing.  He was sent to the minors in early May, pitched poorly in eight appearances, then missed the rest of the season with injury.  He was allowed to become a free agent after the season and is currently unsigned.  He's 29 today and has no sustained record of major league success, but in six seasons of AAA he's 39-27, 3.83, 1.23 WHIP in 540.1 innings.  If he's healthy, it seems like somebody would want to take a chance on him.

Right-hander Jeffrey Michael Manship has made 41 appearances for Minnesota since 2009. He was born in San Antonio, attended high school there, went to Notre Dame, and was drafted by the Twins in the 14th round in 2006. He has never spent a full year with one team: 2006 was split between the GCL Twins and Ft. Myers, 2007 between Beloit and Ft. Myers, 2008 between Ft. Myers and New Britain, 2009 among New Britain, Rochester, and Minnesota, and 2010-2011 between Rochester and Minnesota, although all but five of his 2011 appearances were in Rochester. He has pitched fairly well throughout his minor league career other than 2010, but was injured much of 2011.  He pitched fairly well in AAA in 2012 and came up to the majors in late May, but did poorly pitching out of the bullpen and was sent back to AAA in mid-August.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Colorado.  As a Twin, Jeff Manship was 3-2, 6.20, 1.62 WHIP in 85.2 innings (41 appearances, six starts). He turns 28 today and time is running out. If he’s going to have much more of a career, he'd better get going now.