Sunday, March 1, 2015

March 1

*Dickey Pearce (1836)
Paul Hines (1855)
Farmer Vaughn (1864)
*Pepper Martin (1904)
Harry Caray (1914)
Bing Devine (1916)
Othello Renfroe (1923)
*Al Rosen (1924)
Larry Brown (1940)
Vern Fuller (1944)
*Steve Mingori (1944)
Jeff Holly (1953)
Dick Bremer (1956)
Johnny Ray (1957)
Mark Gardner (1962)
Rich Rodriguez (1963)
Tony Castillo (1963)
Omar Daal (1972)
Ramon Castro (1976)
*Terrence Long (1976)
Ken Harvey (1978)


*born February 29
Bing Devine worked in baseball front offices from 1939-1978, spending most of that time in the Cardinals organization.  He was the St. Louis general manager from 1957-1964 and 1968-1978, serving as the general manager of the Mets from 1965-1967.
Othello Renfroe played in the Negro Leagues for several years.  He eventually became a broadcaster, sportswriter, scout, and public address announcer.  He was also the first African-American official scorer in major league baseball.
A lifelong Minnesotan, Dick Bremer has been a Twins broadcaster from 1983 to the present with the exception of 1986.
Left-hander Jeffrey Owen Holly pitched for the Twins for parts of three seasons from 1977-1979.  He was born in San Pedro, California and attended high school in Redondo Beach, California.  He was drafted by the White Sox in the 17th round in 1971.  Holly was used both as a starter and reliever in the minors.  His best year in the minors was 1974, when he posted an ERA of 3.34 and a WHIP of 1.29 as a 21-year-old at AA Knoxville.  Holly was apparently injured in 1975; he pitched only 38 ineffective innings.  The White Sox released him in early April of 1976, and he went unsigned until the end of May, when he was picked up by Minnesota.  He had a fine year that season at AA Orlando, and had a good ERA (although with a high WHIP) at AAA in 1977 when he was called up to the Twins.  He had two stints in Minnesota that year, totalling about three months, and went 2-3, 6.89 in 18 appearances, five of them starts.  Moved to the bullpen full time in 1978, Holly had a tremendous half-season at Orlando, going 6-0, 0.77 in 25 games.  Called up to the Twins in early July, he pitched pretty well, going 1-1, 3.57 with a 1.30 WHIP in 35 innings.  Holly started 1979 with the Twins, but was sent down within a month, having pitched 6.1 ineffective innings.  He had a good year in AAA Toledo, but did not get called back to the majors.  That off-season, Holly was traded to Detroit for Fernando Arroyo but did not make the team and his career ended.  His big league numbers, all with the Twins, were 3-4, 5.60 in 90 innings.  He made 39 appearances, six of them starts.  At last report, Jeff Holly was coaching youth baseball and was an instructor for Joe Delia's X-Pros Sports Performance Pro Training in his home town (Holly's, not Joe Delia's, although for all I know it may be Joe Delia's home town, too) of Redondo Beach, California.
First baseman Kenneth Eugene Harvey did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 2007.  He was born in Los Angeles and went to high school in Beverly Hills.  Harvey then attended the University of Nebraska and was drafted by Kansas City in the fifth round in 1999.  He hit tremendously well in his first few years in the minors, batting .397 in 1999 at Class A Spokane, .335 in 2000 at Class A Wilmington, and .350 in 2001 in a year split between Wilmington and AA Wichita.  Promoted to AAA Omaha in 2002, his averaged dropped to .277, but he hit 2o homers and 30 doubles.  That was good enough to get him promoted to Kansas City, where he was a regular for two years, playing both first base and designated hitter.  He hit for a decent average, but never developed the power the Royals had hoped.  His best year was 2004, when he hit .287 with 13 homers and 20 doubles and made the all-star team.  It wasn't good enough for Kansas City--Harvey started 2005 in the majors, but was sent down in early May after only 45 at-bats.  He again put up big numbers in Omaha, but then was injured and missed all of 2006.  The Royals released him after the season, and he was signed by Minnesota.  He again was injured almost the entire season, getting only 37 minor league at-bats.  A free agent again after 2007, he started playing in independent leagues, playing in the Northern League and the Atlantic League through 2009.  His playing career came to an end after that.  In 2013, Ken Harvey returned to the University of Nebraska to get a degree in communications and has been assistant baseball coach there since the 2014 season.

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