Bones Ely (1863)
Ed Wells (1900)
Dusty Boggess (1904)
Rosey Gilhousen (1913)
Herb Score (1933)
Roger Nelson (1944)
George Mitterwald (1945)
Don Money (1947)
Thurman Munson (1947)
Bobby Marcano (1951)
Bill Hohn (1955)
Tim Laudner (1958)
Heathcliff Slocumb (1966)
Donaldo Mendez (1978)
Virgil Vasquez (1982)
Mark Lowe (1983)
Ed Wells (1900)
Dusty Boggess (1904)
Rosey Gilhousen (1913)
Herb Score (1933)
Roger Nelson (1944)
George Mitterwald (1945)
Don Money (1947)
Thurman Munson (1947)
Bobby Marcano (1951)
Bill Hohn (1955)
Tim Laudner (1958)
Heathcliff Slocumb (1966)
Donaldo Mendez (1978)
Virgil Vasquez (1982)
Mark Lowe (1983)
Dusty
Boggess was a National League umpire from 1944-62.
Rosey
Gilhousen was a long-time scout who is credit for signing George Brett and Dan
Quisenberry.
Bobby
Marcano was an all-star in Japan.
Bill Hohn
was a major league umpire since 1989-99 and 2002-10.
Catcher George Eugene Mitterwald played for the Twins in 1966
and from 1968-1973. He was born in Berkeley, California, went to high
school in Hayward, California, and attended Chabot College in Hayward. He
signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1965. He had an excellent year
at Class A St. Cloud in 1965, then settled in as a rather mediocre minor league
hitter. He got a September call-up in 1966 and another in 1968 before
coming to the majors to stay. He was the backup to Johnny Roseboro in
1969, then became the mostly regular catcher. He remained in that role
from 1970-1971, but in 1972 Mitterwald had a poor year even by his standards,
and shared the job with Glenn Borgmann, Phil Roof, and Rick Dempsey. He
regained the starting job in 1973 and had his best year as a Twin, hitting .259
with 16 home runs. The Twins apparently decided that was as good as it
was ever going to get and traded him that Mitterwald to the Cubs that
off-season for Randy Hundley. As a Twin, George Mitterwald hit
.239/.304/.373 in 1,578 at-bats. He was then a part-time catcher for the
Cubs for the next four years. Mitterwald became a free agent after the
1977 campaign and signed with Seattle. He played poorly in AAA for the
Mariners and his playing career came to an end. He then went into
coaching and managing, serving as the bullpen coach for Oakland (1979-1982), as
the manager of Modesto (1983-1985) and Orlando (1986-1987), and as bench coach
for the Yankees (1988). He managed in the independent Northern League
from 1996-1998. He was inducted into the Chabot College Hall of Fame in
2000. No information about what George Mitterwald has been doing since
then was readily available.
Catcher
Timothy Jon Laudner was a catcher for the Twins throughout the 1980s. He
was born in Mason City, Iowa, went to high school in Minneapolis, and attended
the University of Missouri. He was drafted by Minnesota in the third
round of the 1979 draft. Laudner had indifferent minor league numbers for
two season, then hit .284 with 42 homers with Orlando in 1981. That got
him a call-up in late August, and when Butch Wynegar was traded in May of 1982
Laudner became the regular catcher. Unfortunately, the 42-home-run season
turned out to be a fluke; he never hit more than 16 in any other season, majors
or minors. Because he never showed power and his average never really developed,
either, Laudner was never the full-time catcher after 1982, sharing the job
with Dave Engle (1983-84), Mark Salas (1985-1986), Sal Butera (1987), Tom Nieto
(1987-1988), and Brian Harper (1988-1989). Despite that, Laudner made the
all-star team in 1988. He was hitting .290 at the end of June that year,
but fell to .251 by year’s end. Laudner never played for another
organization, retiring after the 1989 campaign. He hit .225/.292/.391
with 77 homers in 2,038 at-bats. After his playing career ended, he worked
in the heating and air conditioning industry for a while, then got back into
baseball. Tim Laudner currently is as an instructor and part-owner of Big
League Baseball Camp in Minnetonka and also works as a part-time analyst for
Fox Sports North.
Shortstop
Donaldo Alfonso Mendez did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system
for a couple of months in 2006. Born and raised in Barquisimeto,
Venezuela, he signed with Houston as a free agent in 1995. He stayed in
the low minors and did not hit anything until 2000, when he batted .270 and
stole 39 bases for Class A Michigan. His OPS was still only .683, but
that was enough for San Diego to take him in the rule 5 draft and keep him in
the majors all season. A reserve shortstop, he appeared in 46 games, got
118 at-bats, and hit .153. Not surprisingly, he was back in the minors in
2002. He never really did learn to hit; his lifetime average in the
minors was .239, a figure that falls to .228 when you take out his years in
independent leagues. He stayed with the Padres through 2003, getting
another month in the majors in his final year with them. He moved on to
Pittsburgh in 2004 and San Francisco in 2005. He was hitting .272 with
Newark in the Atlantic League when the Twins signed him on July 6, 2006.
He went to Rochester and actually put up very good numbers in limited playing
time: in 19 games, he batted 29 times and hit .270/.300/.621 with three
homers. The Twins were not fooled, and allowed him to become a free agent
after the season. He played in independent leagues through 2008, then
ended his playing career. At last report, Donaldo Mendez was working for
the Gonzalez Sports Academy in San Diego.
Right-hander
Virgil Matthew Vasquez has not played for the Twins, but was in their farm system
from 2013-2014. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, California, he was
drafted by Detroit in the seventh round in 2003. He was somewhat up and
down in his minor league career, but seemed to break through in 2007, going
12-5 in AAA with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He appeared in five
big-league games for the Tigers that year, and while he did not do well in
them, he still appeared to be on his way. Instead, he went
backward. He had a poor year in AAA in 2008, was placed on waivers, and
was selected by Boston. Before the 2009 season started, he was waived
twice more, being selected by San Diego and then by Pittsburgh. The good
news, of course, is that there was always someone who wanted him. He did
fairly well in AAA for the Pirates and got back to the big leagues for nearly
half the season. He spent over a month in the Pittsburgh rotation, but
again did not do well. After the 2009 season he was traded to Tampa Bay
for a player to be named later. He was okay, but nothing more, in AAA for
the Rays and became a free agent after the season. He signed
with the Angels for 2011, but was released in April and spent 2011 in the
Atlantic League, with a couple of starts in Australia. He was back in the
Atlantic League in 2012, then signed with Minnesota for 2013. He pitched
for Rochester and was not horrible but was not particularly good, either.
In 2014 he spent most of the year in New Britain, but he was a
thirty-two-year-old pitching in AA. He pitched in Mexico that winter and
pitched in Australia last winter, but he was a pitching coach for the GCL Twins
in 2015 and apparently will have that job again in 2016. We're all for
someone continuing to play as long as he enjoys it and someone will let him do
it, but it appears that if Virgil Vasquez has a future in baseball, it will be
coaching, not playing.
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