February 10

Horace Wilson (1845)

Jim Keenan (1858)

Curt Welch (1862)

Billy Evans (1884)

Herb Pennock (1894)

Bill Adair (1913)

Allie Reynolds (1917)

George Sobek (1920)

Randy Jackson (1926)

Billy O'Dell (1933)

Dick Bogard (1937)

Jim Barr (1948)

Larry McWilliams (1954)

Lenny Dykstra (1963)

Lenny Webster (1965)

Jayhawk Owens (1969)

Alberto Castillo (1970)

Bobby Jones (1970)

Kevin Sefcik (1971)

Lance Berkman (1976)

Cesar Izturis (1980)

Liam Hendriks (1989)

Horace Wilson was an American professor English at Tokyo University.  He is credited with introducing baseball to Japan in either 1872 or 1873.

Billy Evans was the youngest umpire in major league history, starting his career at age 22.  He was an American League umpire from 1906-1027.  He would later become general manager of the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers, and was president of the Southern Association from 1942-1946.

Bill Adair was a long-time minor league player (1935-1956) and manager (1949-1973).  He also was the scout credited with signing Andre Dawson and Tim Raines.

Jim Barr was drafted six different times before finally signing.  Minnesota drafted him in the sixth round of the January Secondary draft in 1970, but he did not sign.

Today is also the birthday of Twins prospect Max Kepler (1993).

Catcher Leonard Irell Webster played for the Twins in 1989-1993 and had a longer career than you may realize.  He was born in New Orleans, went to high school in Lutcher, Louisiana, and then attended Grambling State University.  The Twins drafted him in the 21st round in 1985.  Webster really didn't do a whole lot in the minors--his best year was probably 1988, when he hit .288 with 11 homers in his second full year at Class A Kenosha.  He got September callups every year from 1989 through 1991, also spending a couple of weeks in June with the Twins in 1991.  He had two full seasons with Minnesota, 1992 and 1993, as the backup catcher to Brian Harper.  He had a little over 100 at-bats each season and showed the vagaries of small sample size, hitting .280 in 1992 and .198 in 1993.  Montreal acquired him from the Twins in March of 1994 in what is described as a "conditional deal."  Webster then spent a few years bouncing around:  he was the backup catcher for the Expos in 1994, the backup for Philadelphia in 1995, back to being the backup in Montreal in 1996, and then on to Baltimore for 1997.  He stayed a little while in Baltimore, reaching part-time status and getting over 300 at-bats for the only time in his career in 1998.  He was released at mid-season in 1999, however, finished out the season in Boston, and went back to Montreal for the 2000 season.  He ended his playing career after that.  As a Twin, Lenny Webster hit .254/.324/.370 in 284 at-bats.  At last report, he was an instructor with The Batter's Box Training Center of Decatur, Georgia, which "offers hitting, pitching & fielding instructions at reasonable rates".

Catcher Claude Jayhawk Owens did not play for Minnesota, but was drafted by them.  He was born in Cincinnati and went to high school there.  He then attended Middle Tennessee State before being drafted by the Twins in the second round in 1990.  He put up fairly pedestrian numbers in three years in their minor league system, which led to Owens being left unprotected in the expansion draft.  Colorado took him, and after he hit .310 in 174 at-bats in Colorado Springs in 1993 they brought him to the big leagues.  He played sparingly, however, hit .209 in only 86 at-bats, and spent most of 1994 and 1995 back in Colorado Springs.  He continued to be pretty average, but in 1996 he was called up to the majors in late April and spent the rest of the season with the Rockies as the right-handed part of a platoon with Jeff Reed.  He again failed to hit and never got back to the majors again.  Owens was in Colorado Springs all of 1997, came back to the Twins' organization for the start of 1998, hit .205 in AAA Salt Lake, finished the season in the Cincinnati organization, stayed in the Reds' chain for 1999, and then his career came to an end.  After that, he was a minor league manager and coach, mostly in the Cincinnati organization, a career that came to an end in 2007.  He was inducted into the Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Hall of Fame in 2012.  At last report, Jayhawk Owens was living in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Right-hander Liam Johnson Hendriks appeared in four games for the Twins in 2011.  He was born in Perth, Australia and signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 2007.  He pitched well in the GCL in 2007, missed all of 2008, but came back to pitch well in 2009 and ever since.  His best year as a minor league was 2010, when he went a combined 8-4, 1.74, 0.84 WHIP with 105 strikeouts in 108.2 innings for Beloit and Ft. Myers at age 21.  He began 2011 in New Britain and pitched very well, earning a promotion to Rochester.  His ERA in nine starts there was an unimpressive 4.56, but his WHIP was 1.12.  He has had very good control wherever he's been:  his highest walks per nine innings is 2.2 in 2007, and he has never been above two at any other stop.  He made four starts in Minnesota in 2011 and did not look ready, but did not totally embarrass himself, either,  going 0-2, 6.17, 1.50 WHIP with 16 strikeouts in 23.1 innings.  He spent about half of 2012 in Rochester, despite the fact that he had nothing to learn there, and half of it in Minnesota, where he struggled.  So far, Liam Hendriks is 1-10, 5.71, 1.54 WHIP in 108.2 innings.  He has made twenty major league appearances, all of them starts.  In 25 AAA starts, he is 13-7, 2.95, 1.o2 WHIP in 155.2 innings.  He turns 24 today.  It will do him no good to go to AAA, as he has clearly shown he can dominate there.  It's time for Liam Hendriks to take a step forward in the big leagues.