Pat Malone (1902)
Phil Rizzuto (1917)
Johnny Sain (1917)
Sal Butera (1952)
Glenn Hubbard (1957)
Geno Petralli (1959)
Oscar Munoz (1969)
David Weathers (1969)
Tony Womack (1969)
Wil Nieves (1977)
Joel Pineiro (1978)
Rocco Baldelli (1981)
Vance Worley (1987)
Phil Rizzuto (1917)
Johnny Sain (1917)
Sal Butera (1952)
Glenn Hubbard (1957)
Geno Petralli (1959)
Oscar Munoz (1969)
David Weathers (1969)
Tony Womack (1969)
Wil Nieves (1977)
Joel Pineiro (1978)
Rocco Baldelli (1981)
Vance Worley (1987)
Right-hander John Franklin
Sain did not play for the Twins, but was their pitching coach from 1965-1966.
He was born in Havana, Arkansas and signed with Detroit as a free agent in
1936. He was in Class D for four seasons, the best of which was the last when
he went 18-10, 3.27 in 1939. He was let go after that season and signed with
the Boston Braves. They sent him to Class A for two seasons, then brought him
to the majors in 1942. He was fairly mediocre that year, pitching mostly out of
the bullpen, then missed the next two years due to military service. When he
came back in 1946 he was a starter, and a great one. He won twenty games four
of the next five years, had over twenty complete games in four of the next five
years, and averaged over 273 innings in those five years. He was famously part
of the 1948 pennant winning Braves whose rotation was “Spahn and Sain, then
pray for rain,” although their third and fourth starters, Bill Voiselle and
Vern Bickford, don’t appear to have been all that bad. That 1948 season, in
which he pitched a league-leading 314.2 innings, appears to have taken
something out of him, because even though he won twenty games again in 1950 he
was never the same pitcher. He was traded to the Yankees late in 1951 and did
have some good years with them, years in which his innings were limited by
pitching in as a reliever part of the time. In 1954 he was used exclusively in
relief as their closer, although the term was not in use at the time. He
pitched 77 innings in 45 games, posted an ERA of 3.16 and a WHIP of 1.05, and
led the league with 22 saves. That was his last good year, however; when he got
off to a poor start in 1955 he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics and was
released in mid-July, ending his playing career. After his career he became a
pitching coach for Kansas City (1959), the Yankees (1961-1963), Minnesota
(1965-1966), Detroit (1967-1969), the White Sox (1971-1975), and Atlanta (1977,
1985-1986). He was known for emphasizing throwing and de-emphasizing
conditioning exercises such as running, saying “You don’t run the ball over the
plate. If running did it, they’d recruit pitchers off track teams.” His
pitchers loved him, and were often successful under him, but he frequently
clashed with managers, which is why he moved around a lot. In 1985, he was on
the same coaching staff as Leo Mazzone, who later became a renowned pitching
coach in his own right. Johnny Sain passed away on November 7, 2006 in Downers
Grove, Illinois, and was buried in his home town of Havana, Arkansas.
Catcher Salvatore Philip Butera played for the Twins from
1980-1982 and again in 1987. He was born in Richmond Hill, New York and was
signed by the Twins as a free agent in 1972. He was never a strong hitter in
the minors, and spent nearly four years in AAA. He had a good year in 1979,
however, hitting .297 at AAA Toledo, and made it to the big leagues with the
Twins the next year. Butera was a backup catcher for the Twins from 1980-82,
hitting for a fair average, drawing a decent number of walks, and providing no
power whatsoever. Near the end of 1983 spring training, the Twins traded Butera
to Detroit for Stine Poole and cash. He was in AAA Evansville for most of 1983.
He again batted .297 at AAA, but got only five at bats with Detroit. Released
after the season, he signed with Montreal. With AAA Indianapolis most of 1984,
Butera won the backup catcher job with the Expos in 1985. He batted only .200,
however, and was traded to Cincinnati after the season in a multi-player swap.
Butera was the Reds’ reserve catcher for 1986 and early 1987, but was released
in May. The Twins re-signed him three days later. Butera batted only .171 for
the Twins in 1987, but went 2-for-3 in the ALCS and got a World Series ring.
Released by the Twins in March of 1988, he signed with Toronto, which is where
he finished his career in 1989. He also played for the Orlando Juice in the
short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association. As a Twin, Sal Butera had
489 at-bats spread over four seasons. He batted .233/.303/.274, hitting one
home run (off Dave Schmidt) and driving in 40 runs. He has done some
minor-league managing and scouting, and was the bullpen coach for the Toronto
Blue Jays in 1998. Sal Butera is currently a scout for Toronto. His son, Drew
Butera, played for the Twins from 2010-2013.
Right-hander Juan Oscar Munoz appeared in ten games for the
Twins in 1995. He was born in Hialeah, Florida, went to the University of
Miami, and was drafted in the fifth round by Cleveland in 1990. Munoz was in
the Cleveland organization for two seasons, pitching well at Class A, but not
as well for AA Canton-Akron as a 21-year-old. In late March of 1992, Munoz was
traded along with Curtis Leskanic to the Twins for Paul Sorrento. He had a good
year for AA Nashville in 1993, but that was pretty much where he topped out. He
had high ERAs with AAA Salt Lake in 1994 and 1995, but he had winning records,
and it was a hitters’ league, so the Twins called him up for the last two
months of 1995. He appeared in ten games for the Twins, making three starts. He
again had a winning record, going 2-1, but had a 5.60 ERA in 35.1 innings with
a 1.61 WHIP. The Twins put Munoz on waivers after the 1995 season, and he was
taken by Baltimore. He was in AAA Rochester all of 1996, never making it back
to the big leagues, and his playing career ended after that season. He managed
Class A Bakersfield in 2003. At last report, Oscar Munoz was living in
Hialeah and was the owner of REO Asset Preservation, which provides complete
property preservation, repair and maintenance work for banks, corporate, and
government-owned properties.
Right-hander Vance Richard Worley pitched for the Twins in 2013.
Born and raised in Sacramento, he attended Cal State--Long Beach and was
drafted by Philadelphia in 2008. He did very well in Class A that season,
struggled some when promoted to AA in 2009, but did better when he repeated AA
in 2010. He made his major league debut that year, making one start in
late July and then getting a September callup, and did quite well. He
started 2011 in AAA but spent most of the season with the Phillies and had an
outstanding year, going 11-3, 3.01, 1.23 WHIP with 8.1 strikeouts per nine
innings. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting, behind Craig
Kimbrel and Freddie Freeman. He was not nearly as good in 2012, but still
wasn't awful, going 6-9, 4.20, but with an alarming 1.51 WHIP. In
December of 2012, the Phillies traded him to Minnesota with Trevor May for Ben
Revere. Worley was placed in the Twins starting rotation at the start of
the year and was dreadful, going 1-5, 7.22 with a WHIP of 1.99. Sent to
AAA in late May, he did somewhat better, but still not very well, going a
deceiving 6-3, 3.88 with a WHIP of 1.41 in nine starts before being shut down
due to injury. The Twins sold him to Pittsburgh in March of 2014.
He started in AAA but came up to the majors in mid-June, was placed in
the starting rotation, and pitched very well, once again looking like the
pitcher who impressed people with Philadelphia in 2011. He started 2015
in the Pirates' rotation but was moved to the bullpen in mid-May, doing a good
job for Pittsburgh there. He was waived after the season and was claimed
by Baltimore. Used mostly in relief, he's again done a good job there.
He turns twenty-nine today. It's hard to tell with relief pitchers,
but there's no obvious reason Vance Worley could not remain a big league
pitcher for several more seasons.
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