Frank Bancroft (1846)
Tommy Clarke (1888)
Billy Jurges (1908)
Tony Bartirome (1932)
Ron Jackson (1953)
Tom Chism (1954)
Tony Gwynn (1960)
Aaron Harang (1978)
Prince Fielder (1984)
Chase Headley (1984)
Buddy Boshers (1988)
Oswaldo Arcia (1991)
Tommy Clarke (1888)
Billy Jurges (1908)
Tony Bartirome (1932)
Ron Jackson (1953)
Tom Chism (1954)
Tony Gwynn (1960)
Aaron Harang (1978)
Prince Fielder (1984)
Chase Headley (1984)
Buddy Boshers (1988)
Oswaldo Arcia (1991)
Frank Bancroft managed seven
teams in nine different seasons over the period of 1880-1902.
Infielder
Tony Bartirome is better known as an athletic trainer, working for Pittsburgh
from 1967-1985 and for Atlanta from 1986-1988.
First baseman Ronnie Damien Jackson played for the Twins from
1979-1981. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, he was drafted by
California in the second round in 1971. He was primarily a third baseman
in the minors. He had good but unspectacular minor league seasons with
the exception of 1974, when he hit .328 with 11 home runs at AA El Paso.
He made his major league debut as a September callup in 1975 and started
1976 with the Angels. He began as a bench player, but by mid-May Jackson
was the regular third baseman. He did not hit, however, and was down to
part-time status in 1977. He played more first base than third in 1978
and had a pretty good year, batting .297 in 387 at-bats. After the
season, Jackson was traded with Danny Goodwin to Minnesota for Dan Ford.
He was the Twins’ regular first baseman in 1979 and was fairly decent, hitting
.271 with 14 home runs. He was the mostly regular in 1980 as well, but
slipped a little and fell to part-time status in 1981 before being traded to
Detroit in August for a player to be named later (Tim Corcoran). Jackson
became a free agent after the season and did not sign until mid-April of 1982,
going back to the Angels. He hit .331 in only 142 at-bats for California
in 1982, but slid back after that. California released him in August of
1984 and he finished the season with Baltimore. Jackson played in AAA for
St. Louis in 1985 and briefly in AAA for the White Sox in 1988. He played
for a couple of years in the Seniors League, but then his playing career ended.
He was consistently employed until 2009 as a batting coach, either in the
majors or in the minors. He has made a series of instructional videos
under the general title “Ron Jackson’s Hitting Factory.” At last report,
he was the owner of Gap to Gap, a website which offers various batting
instructional videos and aids. He also serves as a guest instructor at
various baseball academies and coached Birmingham's Willie Mays Youth Baseball
team to the 2014 championship of the Junior RBI Classic.
First
baseman Thomas Raymond Chism did not play for the Twins, but he was in their
farm system for a brief time in 1980. He was born in Chester,
Pennsylvania, attended Brandywine Junior College, went to Widener University
(the only major league player to have gone to that school), and was drafted by
Baltimore in the fourth round in 1974. He did quite well in the minors,
hitting .300 more often than not and posting an OPS over .800 every year.
He got a September call-up in 1979, appearing in six games and going 0-for-3.
Unfortunately for Chism, the Orioles had a first baseman named Eddie
Murray, so there was no room for Chism. After the season, the Orioles traded
him to Minnesota for Dan Graham. That seemed to be a turning point in his
career; he never made the majors again, and his averages in the minors fell
into the .250s. He apparently did not get along with Twins management
very well, moved on to the Detroit organization after 34 AAA games for the
Twins, and finished the year back in the Orioles’ chain. He stayed there
for 1981, but at that point he could see that he was unlikely to get much of a
chance. He was a player-coach in 1981 and became a full-time minor-league coach
in 1982. He remained in the Orioles organization through 1985 as a coach
and scout. He received a World Championship ring from them in 1983, a
ring that was later stolen. The thief was caught, but the ring was never
recovered. At last report, Tom Chism was living in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania,
where he worked as a security guard for the Crozer-Chester Medical Center for
twenty-years until a back injury forced him to retire. His son, T. J.
Chism, was a pitcher in the Mets’ organization, reaching AA, and played in the
Atlantic League in 2015, but does not appear to be playing anywhere this
season.
Left-hander
Jeffrey Allan "Buddy" Boshers has not played for the Twins yet, but
is in Rochester at the start of 2016. Born and raised in Huntsville,
Alabama, he attended Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama (a school
which produced Jorge Posada and Gary Redus) and was drafted by the Angels in
the fourth round in 2008. He was a starter through 2009, but became
primarily a relief pitcher in 2010. He struggled early in his career, not
reaching AA until 2012. He began 2013 in AA, but was promoted to AAA in
June. He made sixteen appearances in AAA, doing okay but nothing special,
when for no apparent reason he was promoted to the majors in mid-August.
He spent the rest of the season there and was apparently used as a LOOGY,
as he made 25 appearances but pitched only 15.1 innings. He did okay,
sort of, posting a 4.70 ERA and a 1.37. He actually did significantly
better against right-handed batters than he did against lefties, although it's
obviously a small sample size. He split 2014 between AA and AAA, became a
free agent, signed with Colorado for 2015, was released in late March, did well
in the Atlantic League that season, and signed with the Twins for 2016.
He is off to a good start in Rochester, posting a 1.42 ERA and a 1.11
WHIP in 12.2 innings (10 games). He turns twenty-eight today. He
doesn't look like much of a prospect, but it does occasionally happen that
someone figures it out late in their career, and as we love to say, he is
left-handed. Since the Twins seem to be making roster moves pretty much
at random these days, it's possible that we'll see Buddy Boshers in a Twins
uniform at some point this season.
Outfielder
Oswaldo Celestino Arcia made his debut for the Twins in 2013. He was born
in Anaco, Anzoategui, Venezuela and signed with Minnesota as a free agent in
2007. He did okay his first couple of years, but really broke through
with Elizabethton in 2010, hitting .375/.424/.672. He was jumped to Fort
Myers for 2011 and did not really stand out, but he did not do badly, either.
He took another substantial step forward in 2012, hitting .320/.388/.539
in a season divided between Fort Myers and New Britain. He began 2013 in
Rochester, but was brought to Minnesota early in the season. He struck
out a lot, which was a problem in the minors as well, but he still did okay,
especially for a twenty-two year old. In 2014 he continued to strike out a lot,
but also hit twenty homers and had an OPS of .752. He was off to a decent
start in 2015 when he was injured in early May. He never got it going
after that, having a poor year in Rochester. He's doing well so far in
2016, although he still has a high strikeout total. He turns twenty-five
today. He'll never be a good defender, and he'll probably always strike
out a lot, so the length of his major league career will depend on his ability
to hit when he does make contact.
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