February 28

Terry Turner (1881)

Jud Wilson (1897)

Bob Howsam (1918)

George Maloney (1928)

Frank Malzone (1930)

Bill Haller (1935)

Marty Perez (1946)

Mark Wiley (1948)

Tom Gamboa (1948)

Jim Wohlford (1951)

Mike Milchin (1968)

Trent Oeltjen (1983)

Aaron Thompson (1987)

Aroldis Chapman (1988)

 Jud Wilson played in the Negro Leagues from 1922-1945 and had a lifetime batting average of .351.

Bob Howsam was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and helped put together the Big Red Machine.

George Maloney was an American League umpire from 1969-1983.

Bill Haller is the older brother of Tom Haller and was an American League umpire from 1963-1982.

Right-hander Mark Eugene Wiley appeared in fifteen games for the Twins in 1975.  He was born in National City, California, went to high school in La Mesa, California, and attended Cal Poly-Pomona.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 1970.  He pitched very well in the lower minors but struggled when promoted to higher levels.  Wiley had been a starter in the minors, but was moved to the bullpen in 1974.  He both started and relieved in 1975 and had a big year, going 9-1, 2.15 in 92 innings.  Wiley came up to the Twins in mid-June and did not do well, going 1-3, 6.05 in 38.2 innings.  He went back to starting in Tacoma in 1976 and had a fairly good year, but the Twins released him in March of 1977.  San Diego signed him and sent him to AAA Hawaii, where he had a couple of unspectacular seasons.  He made four appearances with the Padres in 1978, and two for Toronto that same year (he was traded there in September).  He was in the minors for the Blue Jays in 1979 and was released in March of 1980.  While pitched for the Orioles' AAA affiliate in Rochester that year, and then his playing career came to an end.  Wiley went into managing and coaching.  He has been the pitching coach for Baltimore (1987, 2001-2004), Cleveland (1988-1991, 1995-1998), Kansas City (1999), and Florida (2005, 2008-2009).  After the 2009 season, Mark Wiley became a special assistant to the front office and a scout, positions he held through 2012.  In 2013, he moved to Colorado, where he will be the Director of Pitching Operations for the Rockies.

Left-hander Michael Wayne Milchin was with the Twins for about three months in 1996.  He was born in Knoxville and attended Clemson.  Milchin was drafted by St. Louis in the second round in 1989.  He pitched well at the lower levels of the minors, but struggled when he reached AAA in 1991.  His third year of AAA, 1993, was not too bad, but by then the Cardinals had given up on him and placed him on waivers.  Milchin was claimed by the Dodgers.  He missed all of 1994 due to reconstructive elbow surgery, and was rather mediocre at AAA Albuquerque in 1995.  He became a minor league free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota for 1996.  He was adequate, but no more, in the Salt Lake bullpen, but was still called up to the Twins in mid-May.  Milchin made 26 appearances for Minnesota, all in relief, and went 2-1, 8.31 with a 1.99 WHIP in 21.2 innings.  He was waived in early August and taken by Baltimore, for whom he finished the season.  He was let go after that and his career was over.  Since then he became a player agent, and at last report was the managing partner of SFX Baseball Group.  His clients include Kahlil Greene and Gordon Beckham.  At last report, he was living in Windermere, Florida.

Outfielder Trent Carl Wayne Oeltjen did not play for Minnesota, but he was in their farm system for several years.  He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and was signed by the Twins as a free agent in 2001.  He posted some solid batting averages in the minors, but with little power and not a lot of walks.  When he reached AAA, the batting average went away, too:  he hit only .238 at Rochester in 2007, and the Twins allowed him to become a minor league free agent.  Arizona signed him, and the move was good for Oeltjen.  He hit over .300 in consecutive years at Albuquerque and has also improved his power numbers a little.  Oeltjen was called up to the majors in early August in 2009.  In 70 at-bats, he hit .243/.250/.457.  He was again allowed to become a free agent after the season, and signed a minor league contract with Milwaukee for 2010.  He hit .301 in AAA for the Brewers, but was still released in early July.  He signed with the Dodgers a few days later and finished the season in Albuquerque, where he hit .347 and earned a September call-up.  He began 2011 in Albuquerque, but came up to the Dodgers in mid-June after hitting .339 there.  He appeared in 61 games, the most of his career, but all but thirteen of those appearances were as a substitute.  Not surprisingly, his numbers suffered, as he hit only .197 in 71 at-bats.  He had another good year in AAA in 2012, batting .294 with an OPS of .831, but did not get called back to the Dodgers.  In 625 games of AAA, he has hit .303/.363/.485, but he has never really gotten a chance in the majors.  He's 30 today, so the odds are against him ever getting that chance, but he might surprise some people if he ever does.

Left-hander Aaron Mitchell Thompson has not played for the Twins yet, but played in their minor league system in 2012.  He was born in Beaumont, Texas, went to high school in Houston, and was drafted by Florida in the first round in 2005.  He pitched well in rookie ball and in Class A, but has had no real success above that.  His best season above Class A was probably 2009, when we went a combined 5-12, 3.93 for the AA teams of Florida and Washington.  He struck out 102 in 146.2 innings, but posted a WHIP of 1.41.  He was traded to the Nationals' system at the trade deadline of 2009 for Nick Johnson.  He stayed there through the end of 2010, when he was claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh.  Despite having made only six career appearances in AAA (five starts), he was called up in late August of 2011 and appeared in four games, his only major league time to date.  He did about as well as one would expect, allowing six runs on thirteen hits and six walks in 7.2 innings for an ERA of 7.04.  The Twins signed him as a free agent in December of 2011.  He spent 2012 in New Britain but didn't get much accomplished, going 3-8, 5.23, 1.59 WHIP.  He's 26 today, so there may be a chance that he'll improve enough to get back to the majors, but he's shown no signs of it yet.