Sunday, March 22, 2015

March 22

Jack Boyle (1866)
Ernie Quigley (1880)
Goldie Holt (1902)
Bob Elson (1904)
Marv Owen (1906)
Billy Goodman (1926)
Al Schroll (1932)
Gene Oliver (1935)
Frank Pulli (1935)
Dick Ellsworth (1940)
Ron Wojciak (1943)
Jake Brown (1948)
Eddie Bane (1952)
Bob Costas (1952)
Eric Rasmussen (1952)
Scott Bradley (1960)
Matt Sinatro (1960)
Rich Monteleone (1963)
Glenallen Hill (1965)
Sean Berry (1966)
Ramon Martinez (1968)
Cory Lidle (1972)
Mike Morse (1982)
Ike Davis (1987)

Ernie Quigley was a National League umpire for twenty-six years and then became the NL supervisor of umpires.
Goldie Holt is credited with teaching Charlie Hough to throw the knuckleball.
Bob Elson was a baseball broadcaster for over thirty years, mostly in Chicago.
Frank Pulli was a National League umpire from 1972-1999.
Ron Wojciak helped the Minnesota Golden Gophers win the College World Series in 1964 and played in the Twins’ farm system in 1965.  He passed away from lung cancer in 1966.
Jake Brown was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-third round in 1967, but he did not sign.
Scott Bradley was drafted by Minnesota in the twelfth round in 1978, but he did not sign.

Right-hander Albert Bringhurst Schroll appeared in eleven games for the Twins in 1961.  Born in New Orleans, he attended Tulane and signed with Boston as a free agent in 1951.  He remained in the Red Sox system through 1959.  He moved around a lot, playing for two teams in 1951, three teams in 1952, two teams in 1956, and five teams in 1957.  Schroll reached AAA in 1955 and did fairly well, posting a 3.87 ERA at age 23, but spent the next two years in AA, again reaching AAA in 1958 with Minneapolis.  That was also the year he made his big league debut, spending about three weeks with Boston.  He did not do anything special in either the majors or the minors, and was traded to Philadelphia after the season.  He made three appearances for the Phillies in 1959 and was sent back to Boston, going back to AAA until mid-July.  After the season, Schroll was traded again, this time to the Cubs.  He had a fine season for AAA Houston in 1960, posting a 3.04 ERA.  He began 1961 in Houston, but when he got off to a slow start he was sold to Minnesota in June.  He pitched very well in eleven starts for AAA Syracuse and was promoted to the Twins in early August.  He made eleven appearances, eight of them starts, and went 4-4, 5.22 in fifty innings.  He pitched fairly well in AAA in 1962 and in AA in 1963, but that was the end of his playing career.  After that, he worked for Sears in Alexandria, Virginia.  Al Schroll passed away in Alexandria on November 30, 1999 at the age of 67.
Left-hander Edward Norman Bane was with the Twins for parts of three seasons, 1973 and 1975-1976.  He was born in Chicago and attended Arizona State.  He was drafted by the Twins with the eleventh pick of the 1973 draft.  He started his professional career in the majors, but was not ready, going 0-5, 4.92 in 60.1 innings.  He spent all of 1974 and almost all of 1975 in the minors, posting ERAs of just over four at AAA Tacoma.  He was promoted to Minnesota in September of 1975 and pitched very well in four starts, going 3-1, 2.86, although he walked 15 in 28 innings.  He was back in Tacoma at the start of 1976, but came to the majors in late June and was once again placed in the Twins' rotation.  He did not get much done, going 4-7, 5.11 in 79.1 innings.  Bane was back in Tacoma in 1977, and after another mediocre year he became a free agent.  The White Sox signed him and again sent him to AAA, but he did no better than he had before.  Bane missed all of 1979 with an injury.  The White Sox had no more use for him, and sent him to Kansas City to try to make a comeback.  He split 1980 between the AAA teams of the Royals and the Cubs, and then his playing career came to an end.  For his career, Eddie Bane was 7-13, 4.66 in 44 appearances, 25 of them starts.  He pitched 168 major league innings.  He managed in the low minors for Cleveland in the mid 1980s.  He has also done some scouting.  He was a special assistant to the general manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1999 through 2003 and was the scouting director of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2004-2010.  Eddie Bane was a scout for the Detroit Tigers in 2011 and 2012 and is currently a special assistant for player personnel for the Boston Red Sox.  His brother, Dan Bane, is the CEO of Trader Joe's.  His son, Jamie, is a scout for the Red Sox.
Born Harold Ralph Rasmussen, right-hander Eric Ralph Rasmussen has been a coach and coordinator in the Twins' system since 1996. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin and attended the University of New Orleans.  He was drafted by St. Louis in the 32nd round in 1973.  Despite his low draft position, he made a rapid rise through the Cardinals system by pitching very well in the minors.  He made his big-league debut in late July of 1975 and stayed in the majors through 1980.  He was in the Cardinals' rotation through the end of 1975 and pitched well, but began 1976 in the bullpen, not rejoining the rotation until July.  He consistently posted ERAs in the mid-to-upper threes with St. Louis, but after a poor start in 1978 he was traded to San Diego in late May.  He split 1979 and 1980 between the bullpen and the rotation, pitching pretty well in 1979 but less well in 1980.  Surprisingly, the Padres released him late in spring training in 1981, and he went to Yucatan in the Mexican League.  He signed with St. Louis again in 1982, but again failed to make the team and this time was sold to Yucatan.  The Cardinals bought him back in mid-August, but he did not pitch particularly well.  Rasmussen started 1983 in St. Louis, but was sent down in early May after only six appearances.  He pitched very well in Louisville and was sold to Kansas City in early August.  Unfortunately, he did not do very well for the Royals, and he would never get back to the majors again.  He was in AAA for Houston in 1984, pitched for an independent team in 1985, pitched very well in AAA for Baltimore in 1986, and less well for the same team in 1987, after which his playing career came to an end.  Rasmussen joined the Twins' organization in 1996 as the pitching coach of the Ft. Myers Miracle.  He remained in Ft. Myers through 1997, moved to New Britain in 1998, then went back to Ft. Myers from 1999 through 2008.  In 2009, Eric Rasmussen became the minor league pitching coordinator for the Minnesota Twins, a position he continues to hold.  He is also the owner of equiteee.com, which markets a device designed to create a quick and correct swing that produces consistent hard contact and backspin that results in line drives.
A descendant of Robert Fulton, right-hander Cory Fulton Lidle did not play for the Twins, but spent two years in their minor-league system.  Born in Hollywood, he went to high school in Covina, California, and was signed by Minnesota as a free agent in 1990.  He did not begin playing professionally until 1991, and then spent three years in rookie ball.  He made four appearances in 1991 and pitched fairly well in relief in 1992, but the Twins released him in April of 1993.  He played for independent Pocatello in 1993 and was sold to Milwaukee after the season.  Lidle had a couple of decent years in the Brewers' system, reaching AA in 1995.  He was then traded to the Mets prior to the 1996 season.  He had a good year at AA in 1996 and was off to a strong start in AAA in 1997 when he was called up to the majors in early May.  He had a very good year in the Mets' bullpen, going 7-2, 3.53 with a 1.30 WHIP in 81.2 innings spread over 54 games.  He was left unprotected in the expansion draft, however, and was chosen by Arizona.  He suffered an elbow injured in 1998 and made only two minor league appearances.  He was waived after the season and taken by Tampa Bay.  He was apparently still injured in 1999, making only five major league and five minor league appearances.  He started very well in AAA in 2000, but did not do as well when called up to the majors in early-May, although he stayed with the Devil Rays through the end of the season.  Lidle was traded to Oakland before the 2001 season.  He had the best years of his career with the Athletics:  in two seasons, he was 21-16, 3.74 with a WHIP of 1.18.  He was traded to Toronto after the 2002 campaign and had a bad 2003, posting an ERA of 5.75.  He became a free agent, signed with Cincinnati for 2004, and was traded to Philadelphia in August.  He pitched well for the Phillies the rest of that season, but less well in 2005 and 2006.  Lidle was traded to the Yankees in late July and finished the season there.  Cory Lidle was killed in a plane crash on October 11, 2006.

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