Cal
McVey (1849)
Pol Perritt (1891)
Bing Miller (1894)
Kiki Cuyler (1896)
Johnny Lindell (1916)
Ted Williams (1918)
Frank Funk (1935)
Tug McGraw (1944)
Roger Erickson (1956)
Randy O’Neal (1960)
Marlon Byrd (1977)
Cliff Lee (1978)
Luis Rivas (1979)
Roberto Hernandez (1980)
Adam Wainwright (1981)
Pol Perritt (1891)
Bing Miller (1894)
Kiki Cuyler (1896)
Johnny Lindell (1916)
Ted Williams (1918)
Frank Funk (1935)
Tug McGraw (1944)
Roger Erickson (1956)
Randy O’Neal (1960)
Marlon Byrd (1977)
Cliff Lee (1978)
Luis Rivas (1979)
Roberto Hernandez (1980)
Adam Wainwright (1981)
Frank Funk served as a pitching coach for five major league
teams (not all at the same time).
Randy O’Neal was drafted by Minnesota in 1979, but did not sign.
Right-hander
Roger Farrell Erickson played for Minnesota from 1978-1982. He was
born in Springfield, Illinois, and was drafted by the Twins out of the
University of New Orleans in the third round in 1977. He had an excellent year
in AA Orlando, going 8-4 with a 1.98 ERA, and found himself in Minnesota at the
start of the 1978 season. He went 14-13 that year with a 3.96 ERA in 256
innings, but could not replicate his success the following year, falling to
3-10 with a 5.63 ERA. The next two years he had good ERAs but poor won-loss
records, and in May of 1982 he was traded to the Yankees with Butch Wynegar for
Pete Filson, John Pacella, Larry Milbourne, and cash. Erickson was decent for
the Yankees, posting ERAs in the mid-fours, but was sent to Columbus for part
of the 1983 season and traded in the off-season with Steve Balboni to Kansas
City for Duane Dewey and Mike Armstrong. He spent time in the Detroit and St.
Louis organizations, but never did make it back to the big leagues, and retired
following the 1989 season. Erickson is the nephew of former major league
pitcher Don Erickson. As a Twin, Erickson appeared in 114 games, 106 of them
starts. He was 31-47 with a 4.10 ERA in 712 innings. He was a pitching
coach in the Cardinals organization for a couple of years in the early 1990s.
At last report, Roger Erickson was operating Erickson Baseball School in
Clarksville, Georgia.
Infielder Luis Wilfredo Rivas played for the Twins from
2000-2005. Born and raised in LaGuaira, Venezuela, he signed
with the Twins as a free agent at age 16. He came through the minors one level
at a time, never hitting a lot until 2000, when he batted .318 at AAA Salt Lake
in 41 games. That earned him a September call-up, and in 2001 Rivas became the
Twins’ regular second baseman. He consistently posted batting averages in the
.250s and .260s, not drawing a lot of walks and not hitting for much power. The
Twins kept waiting for him to improve, but it did not happen, and in 2005 Rivas
was sent to AAA Rochester for part of the season and was released after the
season. He spent 2006 in the Tampa Bay organization, was with the Cleveland
organization in 2007, appearing in four major-league games, was with Pittsburgh
in 2008, and was with AAA Iowa in the Cubs organization in 2009. He
became a free agent after the 2009 season, and does not appear to have signed
with anyone, ending his major league career. Luis Rivas played 565 games
as a Twin, batting .262/.307/.383 with 30 home runs and 177 RBIs in 1884
at-bats. He apparently was shot in the leg during a robbery while he was
visiting his family in Venezuela. No information about what Luis Rivas is
doing these days was readily available.
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