Al
Orth (1872)
Nap Lajoie (1874)
Lefty Leifield (1883)
Max Bishop (1899)
Merv Shea (1900)
Gene Bearden (1920)
Bill Mazeroski (1936)
Karl Kuehl (1937)
Tom Hallion (1956)
Candy Maldonado (1960)
Jeff Brantley (1963)
Jimmy Haynes (1972)
Rod Barajas (1975)
Randy Choate (1975)
Jason Hart (1977)
Chris Young (1983)
Nap Lajoie (1874)
Lefty Leifield (1883)
Max Bishop (1899)
Merv Shea (1900)
Gene Bearden (1920)
Bill Mazeroski (1936)
Karl Kuehl (1937)
Tom Hallion (1956)
Candy Maldonado (1960)
Jeff Brantley (1963)
Jimmy Haynes (1972)
Rod Barajas (1975)
Randy Choate (1975)
Jason Hart (1977)
Chris Young (1983)
Karl Kuehl was a coach for the Twins from 1977-1982.
He was a minor league manager for several seasons and also managed the
Montreal Expos in 1976. His minor league managing career started in 1959,
when he managed the Salem Senators in the Northwest League at age 21.
Tom Hallion has been a major league umpire from 1986-1999 and
2005-present.
Left-handed
reliever Randol Doyle Choate never actually played in a regular season game
with the Twins, but he was in spring training with them in 2007. Born and
raised in San Antonio, he attended Florida State and was drafted by the Yankees
in the fifth round in 1977. He spent three years at Class A, but jumped to AAA
in 2000 and rode the New York-Columbus shuttle from 2000-2003, appearing in 82
games for the Yankees over four seasons. The Yankees traded Choate to Montreal
after the 2003 season, and the Expos traded him to Arizona at the end of 2004
spring training. He then started bouncing between Arizona and AAA Tucson,
appearing in 114 games for the Diamondbacks from 2004-2007. After the 2006
season, Arizona released Choate and the Twins signed him, but Minnesota
released him at the end of spring training and the Diamondbacks signed him
again. Released by Arizona after 2007, he spent 2008 with AAA Nashville in the
Milwaukee organization. Randy Choate signed with Tampa Bay for 2009. He was
strictly a LOOGY for the Rays: over two seasons he appeared in 146 games but
logged just 81 innings. He did well for them in that role, but was a free agent
after the season and signed with Florida. He pitched very well for the
Marlins for a year and a half, then was traded to the Dodgers in late July.
After the season, he was a free agent again and signed with the Cardinals
for 2013. He again had a fine year in his role. His numbers did not
look particularly good in 2014, but he gave up half of his runs for the season
in just two bad appearances. Back with the Cardinals in 2015, he slipped
a little, but was still a competent LOOGY. He signed with Toronto for
2016, was released in late March, signed with the Dodgers in mid-June, but has
not done well in AAA. He has played in parts of fifteen major league
seasons, but did not get a full season until 2010. He’s been a tremendous
LOOGY, but he's forty-one today. He might get another chance next year,
but it seems more likely that Randy Choate's career will come to an end after
this season.
Outfielder Jason Wyatt Hart did not play for the Twins, but he
was in their minor league system for a couple of months. He was born in Walnut
Creek, California, went to high school in Fair Grove, Missouri, attended
Missouri State University, and was drafted by Oakland in the fifth round in
1998. He had a couple of tremendous years in the low minors, hitting .326 with
30 homers at AA Midland in 2000. He stumbled when he reached AAA, however,
hitting about .250 with around twenty homers a year over three seasons. Only
one of those seasons was spent in the Athletics organization, as he was traded
to Texas after the 2001 season in a multi-player deal. He was a September
call-up for the Rangers in 2002, going 4-for-15 with 3 doubles in ten games. He
was injured all of 2004, but there was no significant difference in his numbers
when he came back in 2005. A free agent after the season, the Twins signed him
for 2006 and sent him to Rochester. He hit .225/.267/.425 there in 80 at-bats,
hitting four home runs and four doubles. On June 1, the Twins sent Hart back to
Texas. He finished the season in AAA for them and then his playing career was
over. He was the batting coach for the Rangers’ Arizona League affiliate in
2009, for the Hickory Crawdads, the Rangers’ Class A affiliate in the South
Atlantic League in 2010-2011, and for the Frisco RoughRiders, the Rangers’ AA
affiliate in the Texas League, in 2012-2016.
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