September 8

Val Picinich (1896)
Buck Leonard (1907)
Jim Bagby (1916)
Steve Hargan (1942)
Ken Forsch (1946)
Don Aase (1954)
Mike Dyer (1966)
Gil Meche (1978)
Rob Delaney (1984)
Logan Schafer (1986)

First baseman Buck Leonard was a star in the Negro Leagues.  He was a teammate of Josh Gibson on the Homestead Grays, and was considered the Lou Gehrig to Gibson's Babe Ruth.

Right-hander Michael Lawrence Dyer appeared in sixteen games for the Twins in 1989. He was born in Upland, California, attended Citrus College in Glendora, California, and was drafted in the fourth round by the Twins in the 1986 draft. He did very well in his first two years in the minors, winning 16 games with Class A Kenosha in 1987, but his ERA crept up at higher levels. It was over four for the first time with AAA Portland in 1989, but he came up to the Twins in late June and stayed the rest of the season as the fifth starter. He pitched in 16 games with the Twins that year, 12 of them starts. Dyer was 4-7 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP in 71 innings for the Twins that season. He was apparently injured after that, as he pitched only 2.1 minor league innings in 1990 and did not pitch at all in 1991. He was back in 1992, but did not pitch well in Portland and became a six-year free agent after the season. Dyer then began bouncing around the minors, pitching in the Indians and Cubs organizations in 1993 and the Pirates organization in 1994. Surprisingly, he did well as the closer at AAA Buffalo, and was called up to the Pirates that season. He then spent two full seasons in the big leagues, pitching for the Pirates in 1995 and the Expos in 1996 and doing reasonably well in both spots. Dyer signed with the Rockies in the 1996-97 off season, but did not make the team. He then signed with the Braves and was in AAA Richmond for 1997. He also pitched briefly in independent ball in 2000, then his playing career ended for good. No further information about Mike Dyer was readily available.

Right-handed reliever Robert James Delaney made one appearance for the Twins in 2010. He was born in Westwood, New Jersey, attended St. John’s, and was signed by Minnesota as a free agent in 2006. A reliever all the way, Delaney never started a game in either the majors or the minors. He struggled his first year, then put together consecutive awesome years in the low minors. He went 3-0, 1.03 with 35 saves with a 0.86 WHIP in a 2007 split between Beloit and Ft. Myers, and followed that by going 3-3, 1.23 with 18 saves and a WHIP of 0.83 in a 2008 split between Ft. Myers and New Britain. He was not as good in a year and a half in Rochester, going 14-12, 4.65 with 11 saves and a WHIP of 1.28 in 127.2 AAA innings spread over 97 games. He was with the Twins briefly in 2010 and appeared in one game, allowing a home run to the first batter he faced and allowing one more hit plus a walk, but no more runs, in one inning of work.  He was placed on waivers after the season and selected by Tampa Bay.  He had an outstanding season for AAA Durham in 2011, but turned that into only four more big league appearances, pitching well in two of them.  A free agent again after the season, he signed with Miami for 2012.  He again had a fine year in AAA, but was not called up to the majors.  A free agent once more, he signed with Baltimore for 2013 but was traded to the Angels in late April for Chris Snyder.  He did not do well, went on the disabled list in mid-June, and did not return.  He became a free agent after the season and went unsigned, bringing his playing career to an end.  He was a coach for the Sag Harbor Whalers in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League in 2014.  At last report, Rob Delaney was helping coach high school baseball in Wayne, New Jersey.

Outfielder Logan Edward Schafer came to the Twins in 2016.  He was born in San Jose, went to high school in Los Gatos, California, attended both Cal Poly--San Luis Obispo and Cuesta College (also in San Luis Obispo--two other Twins attended that school, Rusty Kuntz and Doug Bernier, meaning that three of the five big leaguers that school has produced have played for the Twins), and was drafted by Milwaukee in the third round in 2008.  He did well in high-A in 2009 but was apparently injured for almost all of 2010, playing in only seven games.  He came back to have a fine season in 2011, batting .315 with an OPS of .824 in AA and AAA combined, and reached the majors as a September callup.  He did not do quite as well in AAA in 2012 but still had a solid season and again was a September callup.  He spent all of 2013 in the majors but could not break into an outfield of Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez, and Nori Aoka, frequently being used as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner.  He did not thrive in that role, batting only .211.  2014 was more of the same, as he batted just .181 as a part-time player and ended up spending about six weeks in AAA.  It was the same story in 2015, after which he became a free agent.  He signed with Washington for 2016, was released in late March, started 2016 in the Atlantic League, and signed with the Twins in early June.  They sent him to Rochester, where he wasn't terrible but wasn't all that good, either.  The Twins brought him up in late August, and at this writing he is batting .316/.350/.421 in 19 at-bats.  He turns thirty today.  On the one hand, you could argue that, given his minor league numbers, he might have been able to do something if he'd gotten a chance at the right time.  On the other hand you could argue that, given his big league numbers, he's fortunate to have spent as much time there as he has.  It seems likely that Logan Schafer will be playing somewhere in 2017.