April 20

Tommy Dowd (1869)

Charlie Hemphill (1876)

Charlie Smith (1880)

Mike Mowrey (1884)

Dave Bancroft (1891)

Roy Hofheinz (1912)

Preston Gomez (1923)

Tom Hutton (1946)

Milt Wilcox (1950)

Doug Clarey (1954)

Floyd Chiffer (1956)

Don Mattingly (1961)

Greg Brummett (1967)

Dan Smith (1969)

Todd Hollandsworth (1973)

Judge Roy Hofheinz was the leader of a group that brought an expansion team to Houston.

Dan Smith was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 1987, but did not sign.

Second baseman Douglas William Clarey was drafted by the Twins, although he never played for them.  Born in Los Angeles, Minnesota selected Clarey in the sixth round of the 1972 draft.  He was in the Twins’ organization for three years, never rising higher than Class A and never hitting more than .237.  After the 1974 season, Clarey was chosen by St. Louis in the minor league draft.  He didn’t hit much in the Cardinals’ organization, either, but in 1976 he was brought up to the majors twice, totalling a little over three weeks.  He made his major league debut on his birthday, one of thirty-six players to have done so.  He never started a game, going 1-for-4 in nine games as a reserve.  His hit, though, was a game-winning pinch-hit sixteenth-inning homer.  Late in spring training of 1977, he was traded to the Mets for Benny Ayala.  He split that season between the Mets and Brewers organizations, and in 1978 he was in AA for Baltimore.  He hit 19 home runs that season and was still only 24, but apparently that did not make much of an impression on anyone, because his playing career came to an end after that season.  At last report, Doug Clarey was living in Los Angeles.  He went into real estate for a while, then opened a gourmet pizza restaurant , Cheech's Pizza, which is located less than three miles from Dodger Stadium.

Right-hander Floyd John Chiffer did not play for the Twins, but he was in their minor league system in 1985.  He was born in Glen Cove, New York, went to high school in Lakewood, California, attended UCLA, and was drafted by San Diego in the fifth round in 1978.  He was a starter his first season in the minors, then switched to the bullpen.  He struggled until 1980, when he went 4-5, 2.18, 1.11 WHIP with nine saves in 62 innings (39 appearances) for AA Amarillo.  He followed that up with a strong 1981 in AAA Hawaii and was in the big leagues the following season.  He had a solid 1982, going 4-3, 2.95, 1.35 WHIP with four saves in 79.1 innings (51 appearances).  He started 1983 in the majors and does not seem to have been pitching that badly, but he apparently got into the doghouse, because he was sent back to AAA in mid-May, not returning until September.  He got about two more months in the majors in 1984, then was traded to Minnesota for Ray Smith after the season.  He went 9-7, 2.49 with a 1.28 WHIP in Rochester, pitching 79.2 innings (51 appearances), but despite the fact that the Twins were using people like Curt Wardle and Rick Lysander in their bullpen, he never got a call to the majors.  He started 1986 in AAA for Montreal but soon went to the Braves’ organization, where he stayed through 1987.  His playing career ended after that season.  For his major league career, he was 5-5, 4.02, 1.48 WHIP in 130 innings (81 appearances).  After that, Floyd Chiffer went into the pharmaceuticals industry as a salesman.  At last report, he was the Southwest District sales manager for Merck Opthalmics and lived in the Los Angeles area.

Right-hander Gregory Scott Brummett made five starts for the Twins in 1993.  He was born in Wichita and attended Wichita State, where his team won the College World Series and he was named tournament MVP in 1989.  San Francisco drafted him in the eleventh round in 1989.  He pitched well in the low minors and in 1993 was jumped from Class A to AAA.  He pitched well in AAA, too, and had two stints with the Giants that year, totalling a little over a month.  On September 1 of that season, Brummett became the player who was named later in a trade that also brought Andres Duncan and Aaron Fultz to Minnesota for Jim DeShaies.  The Twins gave Brummett five September starts, in which he went 2-1, 5.74 with a WHIP of 1.65.  He began 1994 in AAA Salt Lake, but did not pitch very well and moved on to Boston’s AAA team at mid-season.  He pitched for Tyler in the independent Texas-Louisiana League in 1996 and also played in the Mexican League that season, but then his playing career came to an end.  Greg Brummett was inducted into the Wichita State Hall of Fame in 1995 and was inducted into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.  After his playing career ended he went into coaching, spending four years as the pitching coach of North Carolina-Charlotte and one year coaching at the Air Force Academy.  At last report, Greg Brummett was head baseball coach at Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kansas.