March 19

Jose Mendez (1887)

Bill Wambsganss (1894)

Gee Walker (1908)

Bob Davids (1926)

Richie Ashburn (1927)

Al Solerno (1931)

Paul Powell (1948)

Tim Corcoran (1953)

Mike Norris (1955)

Ivan Calderon (1962)

Jason LaRue (1974)

David Ross (1977)

Clayton Kershaw (1988)

Jose Mendez was a star in Cuba and in the Negro Leagues, pitching from 1906-1925.

Bob Davids was one of the founders of the Society for American Baseball Research.

Al Solerno was an American League umpire from 1961-1968.  His firing was one of the things that led to the formation of the umpires union.

Outfielder Paul Ray Powell was with the Twins for about six weeks in 1971.  He was born in San Angelo, Texas and attended Arizona State.  He played both baseball and football at ASU, playing as a defensive back and as a place kicker (in 1968, he led the NCAA in scoring by kick).  He was chosen by Minnesota with the seventh pick of the 1969 draft.  He hit .291 in AAA Evansville in 1970 and started 1971 as a reserve outfielder on the big club.  He appeared in twenty games, making six starts, seven appearances as a pinch runner, two appearances as a pinch hitter, and was used as a defensive replacement five times.  He went 5-for-31 with one home run and was sent to the minors.  He had a poor year in AAA and after the season was traded to the Dodgers for Bobby Darwin.  Powell bounced back to hit .301 in AAA Albuquerque in 1972, and started 1973 with the Dodgers.  He didn't last long, however, playing in only two games and getting only one at-bat before being sent back to AAA.  Powell was in Albuquerque through 1975, getting ten more big league at bats in his last season.  His career came to an end after the 1975 season.  After leaving baseball, Paul Ray Powell entered the real estate business, and appears to have been rather successful.  At last report, he was a broker with Realty Executives, a real estate company with offices all over the country.

First baseman/outfielder Timothy Michael Corcoran played for the Twins for a month in 1981.  Born in Glendale, California, he attended Cal State--Los Angeles and signed with Detroit as a free agent in 1974.  He hit for a high average throughout the minors, hitting over .300 three times in four years.  He made his big-league debut in mid-May of 1977 as a reserve outfielder and continued to hit well, posting a .282 average in 103 at-bats.  1978 was Corcoran's first full year in the majors, as he platooned with John Wockenfuss in right field.  He hit for a decent average, but for no power whatsoever, and after getting off to a slow start in 1979, he was back at AAA.  He hit .338 there, which got him another shot at the majors in 1980.  He got another full year in the big leagues as a reserve first baseman/corner outfielder and did pretty well, hitting .288 with an OPS of .784 in 153 at-bats.  He was back in AAA in 1981 until he was traded to the Twins in September as the player to be named later in a deal that sent Ron Jackson to Detroit.  Corcoran played for the Twins the rest of the 1981 season, platooning at first base with Mickey Hatcher.  He hit .176/.259/.235 in 51 at-bats and was released prior to the 1982 campaign.  He signed with Philadelphia and again hit very well in AAA, averaging .300 over the next two years.  This got him two years in the majors with the Phillies as a reserve first baseman and outfielder.  He hit .341 in 208 at-bats in 1984, but hit .214 in 182 at-bats in 1985.  He was released after the season, signed with the Mets for 1986, got seven at-bats, and was released in June.  He was back in the minors with the Phillies in both 1987 and 1988, and then his playing career came to an end.  He was inducted into the Cal State--L. A. Hall of Fame in 1985.  No information about Tim Corcoran's life after his playing career ended was readily available.