Tommy
McCarthy (1863)
Jack Clements (1864)
Joe Schultz (1893)
Cotton Nash (1942)
Mike Port (1945)
Shigeru Takada (1945)
Mike Adams (1948)
Jerry Augustine (1952)
Barry Bonds (1964)
Joe Oliver (1965)
Jim Wolf (1969)
Brent Stentz (1975)
Jack Clements (1864)
Joe Schultz (1893)
Cotton Nash (1942)
Mike Port (1945)
Shigeru Takada (1945)
Mike Adams (1948)
Jerry Augustine (1952)
Barry Bonds (1964)
Joe Oliver (1965)
Jim Wolf (1969)
Brent Stentz (1975)
Outfielder
Joe Schultz, who played in parts of eleven major league seasons, is the father
of the Joe Schultz made famous by Jim Bouton in Ball Four. He is also a
cousin to big-leaguers Hanz and Frank Lobert.
Mike
Port is a long-time major league baseball executive, serving as the general
manager of the California Angels from 1984-1991.
Shigeru
Takada was a star in Japan from 1968-1980. He also was a manager, general
manager, and television commentator.
Jim
Wolf has been a major league umpire since 1999.
Pitcher
Brent Stentz did not play in the majors, but was in the Twins’ minor league
system from 1997-2001. In 1998, he set an Eastern League record with 43
saves.
First
baseman Charles Francis ”Cotton” Nash had 13 at-bats for the Twins from
1969-1970. A tall man (6’6″), he was born in Jersey City, went to high
school in Port Charles, Louisiana, and attended the University of Kentucky,
where he starred in basketball as well as baseball. He was nicknamed
“Cotton” as a child because of his bright blond hair. He was
signed by the Angels as a free agent in 1964. He spent 1964 at Class A
San Jose, hitting .292 with 11 homers. He also played in the NBA, playing
a total of 357 minutes for the Lakers and the San Francisco Warriors in the
1964-65 season. He had a solid year in AA in 1965, hitting .294 with 20
homers, but flopped when promoted to AAA in 1966. The Angels gave up on
him, trading him in early May of 1967 for a fading Moose Skowron. He
bounced back that season, hitting .274 with 28 homers in AAA, and got a
September call-up, going 0-for-3. He also gave pro basketball another
shot that off-season, playing 786 minutes for the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels (he
later regretted trying to juggle the two sports, wishing he had stuck to
baseball). He had a bad year in 1968, and in April of 1969 was traded to
Pittsburgh for pitcher Ed Hobaugh. The trade was voided on July 8
because Hobaugh quit, and the players involved were returned to their
original clubs. The White Sox really didn’t want Nash, though, and traded
him to Minnesota on July 15 for a player to be named later (Jerry Crider, who
wasn’t sent to the White Sox until May of 1970). He got September
call-ups in 1969 and 1970, but his timing was bad: the Twins had Harmon
Killebrew and Rich Reese, so they had no use for another first baseman.
Nash had his best year in AAA in 1971, hitting .290 with 37 homers for
Portland, but Bill Rigney had taken a dislike to him and refused to call him to
the majors. Nash moved on to the Texas organization for 1972, but after a
down year in AAA his playing career was over. As a Twin, he went 3-for-13
with two walks and two RBIs. He appeared in three minor league games as a
pitcher, giving up one hit and three walks, but no runs. Billy Martin had
toyed with the idea of making Nash a pitcher in 1969, but the idea ended
when Martin was fired. Nash was a minor league batting instructor for
the Angels in 1967 and managed in their organization in 1978, but then
left baseball for good. He returned to Kentucky, settling in Lexington,
and became a real estate salesman. Eventually, he owned his own real
estate and investment company. At last report, Cotton Nash was living in
retirement in Lexington, Kentucky. The University of Kentucky retired his
number, and he is a member of both the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and
the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. His son, J. Richey Nash, played minor
league baseball for three years and is currently an actor and writer.
Outfielder
Robert Michael ”Mike” Adams had 72 at-bats for the Twins from
1972-1973. The son of big league infielder Bobby Adams and the nephew of
big league first baseman Dick Adams, he was born in Cincinnati, went to
high school in Anaheim, and was drafted by Detroit with the second pick of the
January Secondary draft in 1967. He had a couple of undistinguished years
in the Tigers’ organization and missed the 1969 season due to military
service. He did well on his return, however, hitting .278 with 18 home
runs for Class A Rocky Mount in 1970. After that season, however, he was
traded to Minnesota with a player to be named later (Art Clifford) for Bill
Zepp. He hit over .300 in consecutive AAA seasons for the Twins, and when
he also hit 21 homers in 1972 he got a September call-up. Adams was with
the Twins for the entire 1973 season but was generally used as a pinch-hitter
or pinch-runner. He appeared in 55 games but had only 66 at-bats.
Not surprisingly, he did not hit well, although he did draw 17 walks. He
had another solid year in AAA in 1974, but the Twins preferred to stick
with such superstars as Jim Holt, Bobby Darwin, and Steve Brye, and refused to
give Adams a chance. After the season, Adams was traded to the Cubs for
Tom Lundstedt. As a Twin, he hit .222/.378/.375 in 72 at-bats. He
continued to hit well in the minors, but continued to not get a chance in the
majors: despite hitting over .300 with power every year at AAA, he got
only 31 at-bats with the Cubs in 1976-1977. He was sold to Oakland
just prior to the 1978 campaign but got only 15 at-bats in about a month with
the big club. Adams retired after that season. In seven AAA
seasons, Mike Adams hit .309/.433/.507. It’s hard to understand why no
one would put him in a major league lineup to see what he could do, but no one
did. No information about Mike Adams’ life since his playing career ended
was readily available.
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