August 25

Dick Rudolph (1887)
Darrell Johnson (1928)
Choo Choo Coleman (1937)
Dooley Womack (1939)
Rollie Fingers (1946)
Dave Heaverlo (1950)
Stan Perzanowski (1950)
Pete Redfern (1954)
Oddibe McDowell (1962)
Albert Belle (1966)
Doug Glanville (1970)
Gary Matthews (1974)
Justin Upton (1987)

The less successful cousin of ex-Twin Ron Perranoski, right-hander Stanley Perzanowski pitched for the Twins in 1978.  He was born in East Chicago, Indiana, went to high school in Hammond, Indiana, and was drafted in the 16th round by the White Sox in 1968. He was apparently rather thin: he is listed as 6′ 2″, 170 pounds. He pitched well in the minors, and made his major-league debut in June of 1971 with Chicago. He did not do well, however, and he spent 1972, 1973, and most of 1974 (other than another brief major league trial) at AAA Iowa. In spring training of 1975, Perzanowski was traded to the Texas Rangers. He again was in AAA most of the year, but pitched well in 12 games (eight starts for the Rangers, going 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA. He got off to a poor start in 1976, however, and was traded to Cleveland in May, pitching for their AAA team the rest of the season. At the end of 1977 spring training, Perzanowski was traded to California, and was immediately sent to their AAA team. He pitched poorly in his sixth year of AAA, and was released in August. The Twins signed him near the end of spring training in 1978, and after pitching well in Toledo, he was called up to the Twins. It did not go well in Minnesota; in 13 games, seven of them starts, he went 2-7, 5.24, 1.50 WHIP (he did pitch one complete game). He began 1979 in Toledo again, but started poorly and released. Perzanowski pitched over a thousand innings in AAA, but only 142.2 in the majors. In 1997, he was inducted into the Hammond (IN) High School Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was named as the catcher on the all-tournament team at the Amateur Softball Association’s Men’s 50 and over Class AA slow-pitch national tournament, playing for the Indiana Old Stars.  At last report, Stan Perzanowski was still living in Indiana.

Right-hander Peter Irvine Redfern pitched for the Twins from 1976-1982.  He was born in Glendale, California, went to high school in Sylmar, California, and was drafted by the Twins out of the University of Southern California with the first pick of the secondary phase of the 1976 draft. Redfern made four starts with AAA Tacoma that year, and was with the big club the rest of the season, going 8-8 with an ERA of 3.51 in 23 starts. He was unable to repeat his success the next year, posting an ERA of 5.18, and spent most of 1978 with AAA Toledo. He came back to the Twins the next year and had a good season, going 7-3 mostly in relief, with an ERA of 3.49 in 40 games. He was decent the next couple of years, mainly as a starter, but fell apart in 1982, going 5-11 with an ERA of 6.58. The Twins released him toward the end of spring training in 1983. He pitched briefly in AAA for the Dodgers, but did poorly and called it a career at the age of 28. In his big league career, all of which came with the Twins, he was 42-48 with a 4.54 ERA in 714 innings. He made 111 starts in 170 appearances, and was the starting pitcher in the Twins’ first game at the Metrodome. Sadly, he was paralyzed in a diving accident in October of 1983, and remains confined to a wheelchair. Redfern remains interested in baseball, however, and has coached American Legion, high school, and small college teams.  At last report, Pete Redfern was living in his home town of Sylmar, California.  His son, Chad, has pitched in the low minors in the Atlanta and Tampa Bay organizations.