October 21

Bill Lee (1909)
Bill Bevens (1916)
Whitey Ford (1928)
Johnny Goryl (1933)
Ted Uhlaender (1940)
Bill Russell (1948)
Jerry Garvin (1955)
George Bell (1959)
Franklin Stubbs (1960)
John Flaherty (1967)
Steve Holm (1979)
Zack Greinke (1983)
Casey Fien (1983)

I find it interesting that anyone who is even rumored to have used PEDs is labeled a dirty rotten cheater, but Whitey Ford, who has admitted to cheating by scuffing baseballs, is a Hall of Famer and a hero.

Infielder John Albert Goryl played for the Twins from 1962-1964 and managed them from 1980-1981. Born and raised in Cumberland, Rhode Island, he was signed by the Boston Braves in 1951. Primarily a third baseman, Goryl started out in Class D and slowly worked his way up the minor-league ladder. He was drafted by the Orioles in the 1954 minor-league draft, and by the Cubs in the 1955 minor-league draft. Following a good year in 1957 for AA Memphis, Goryl got his first shot at the big leagues through a September call-up. He spent all of 1958 with the Cubs, splitting time between third and second base and playing in about half the team's games. He was nothing special at the bat, however, and after about 2 1/2 months with the Cubs in 1959, he was sent back to the minors. In April of 1960, Goryl was traded to the Dodgers. He hit fairly well for them in two years at AAA, but never was brought to the majors. Now 28, he was left unprotected in the rule 5 draft, and was selected by the Twins in November 1961. Goryl was a little-used reserve in 1962; he got a little more playing time in 1963-64, but never had more than 150 at-bats in a season. He hit .297 with nine home runs in 1963, but dropped to .140 with no homers in 1964. He had a good year in AAA Denver in 1965, but was not called up to the majors. Goryl apparently saw the writing on the way, and turned to managing. He managed for eight seasons in the minors, seven of them in the Twins' organization, and was a coach in both the minors and the majors for several years. Goryl was named manager of the Twins in August of 1980, replacing Gene Mauch, but did not hold the job long, being replaced by Billy Gardner in May of 1981. His record as Twins manager was 34-38. As a player for the Twins, he had 290 at-bats, hitting .221/.291/.393. After leaving the Twins in 1981, Goryl joined the Cleveland Indians. At last report, he was a special advisor for player development for Cleveland, winning the Mike Coolbaugh award in 2012 for his work ethic, knowledge of the game, and mentoring of young players. Johnny Goryl was inducted into the Kinston (NC) Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. His son, also named Johnny, played for the Indians rookie league team in Arizona in 2009.

Outfielder Theodore Otto Uhlaender played for the Twins from 1965-1969. He was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois and went to high school in McAllen, Texas. He attended Baylor and was signed by the Twins as a free agent in 1961. His early minor-league career, with the exception of a good year in Class D in 1962, was nothing special. In 1965, however, Uhlaender hit .340 for AAA Denver, earning a September call-up. He hit well in Denver again in 1966, and by late June he was in the majors to stay. He was the Twins' regular center fielder from then through 1969, putting up good averages when considered in the offensive context of the time. His best year was 1968, when he hit .283 and received a tenth-place vote for MVP. Uhlaender never drew many walks, and did not hit for much power, so his batting average was the bulk of his offensive contribution. He was reputed to be a good defender as well. In December of 1969, Uhlaender was traded to Cleveland with Dean Chance, Bob Miller and Graig Nettles for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. He spent two years in the Indians outfield, one in center and one in left, and continued to hit about as well as he had before. In 1972, however, he was traded to Cincinnati and immediately fell apart, batting only .159. He spent 1973 with AAA Iowa in the White Sox organization, and played briefly in the independent Gulf States League in 1976, where he was a manager, but he never returned to the majors. As a Twin, Uhlaender hit .262/.306/.354. Uhlaender went into business for a while, but returned to baseball in 1989, and was most recently a scout for the San Francisco Giants. His daughter, Katie, competed in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics in the skeleton event. Ted Uhlaender died of a heart attack at his ranch near Atwood, Kansas on February 12, 2009.

Left-hander Theodore Jered Garvin never played for the Twins, but he was drafted by them. He was born in Oakland, went to high school in Merced, California, and was chosen by the Twins in the first round of the secondary phase of the January draft in 1974. He spent three solid seasons in the Twins farm system, winning 46 games with a combined ERA of 3.27. He got as high as AAA for seven games in 1976. The Twins left him unprotected in the expansion draft, and he was chosen by Toronto. Only 21, Garvin pitched in the Blue Jays' rotation for two years without distinction, showing a tendency toward the gopher ball. He did have an excellent pickoff move, picking off 22 runners in 1977, including four in one game. He was apparently injured for much of 1979, and when he came back, it was as a relief pitcher. Garvin pitched well in that role in 1980 and 1981, posting a combined ERA of under 3.00. His success came to an abrupt halt in 1982, as he ballooned to a 7.25 ERA and 1.83 WHIP in 32 appearances. He was sold to the Cardinals that off-season, but failed to make the team and his career was suddenly over at age 27. At last report, Jerry Garvin was in the real estate business in the Sacramento area.

Catcher Stephen Robert Holm appeared in six games for the Twins in 2011.  Born and raised in Sacramento, California, he attended Oral Roberts University and was drafted by San Francisco in the seventeenth round in 2001.  He was never a high-average hitter (his highest was .273 with AAA Fresno in 2008), but he did show a little power and draw a fair number of walks.  He does not appear to have ever been a regular, even in the minors; his high in at-bats in a season is 305 for AA Connecticut in 2007.  Still, the Giants kept him around.  He was in Class A through 2006, with the exception of 11 games in AA in 2005.  He finally moved up to AA in 2007 and, surprisingly, made the Giants out of spring training in 2008.  He stayed almost the entire season and actually did pretty well in a limited role; appearin in 49 games, he had 84 at-bats and hit .262 with nine doubles and a home run.  He was in AAA in 2009 for all but about ten days, and was in AAA again in 2010.  A free agent after that season, he signed with Minnesota for 2011.  Holm was with the Twins for a couple of weeks in April, but spent most of the season with AAA Rochester.  As a Twin, he was 2-for-17 with a double and a walk, giving him numbers of .118/.167/.176.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Colorado for 2012, but was released at the end of March.  He signed with Miami in early May, spent two months in New Orleans, but then was released in early July.  He apparently realized that was the end of the line, as he accepted a position as an assistant coach for Sacramento State two weeks later.  He was still there through 2016, but will be the pitching coach for Purdue in 2017.

Right-hander Casey Michael Fien pitched for Minnesota from 2012-2016.  He was born in Santa Rosa, California, went to high school in La Palma, California, attended Cal Poly--San Luis Obispo, and was drafted by Detroit in the twentieth round in 2006.  A reliever throughout his minor league career, he pitched well and rose rapidly, reaching AAA in 2008 and making his major league debut in July of 2009.  His major league numbers that year look awful, but it was only 11.1 innings, and the numbers are skewed by a couple of bad outings.  It apparently was enough to sour the Tigers on him, though, because they put him on waivers and he was chosen by Toronto for 2010.  The Blue Jays released him in mid-March and he signed back with Detroit.  He had a very good year in AAA for the Tigers, but made only two appearances in the majors.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Houston for 2011.  He missed part of the season with injury, did not pitch well when he came back, and was released in early August.  The Twins signed him for 2012 and brought him to the majors in early July.  He pitched very well for them, going 2-1, 2.06 with a 0.97 WHIP in 35 appearances (35 innings) and was in the Twins bullpen until early in 2016.  His hits per inning went up in 2014 and his strikeouts per inning went down, which is not good.  His strikeouts per inning again went down in 2015, although the hits per inning were about the same.  He began 2016 with the Twins, but was waived in early May and claimed by the Dodgers, where he had injury problems and did not pitch particularly well.  As a Twin he was 17-15, 1 save, 3.79 ERA, 1.11 WHIP in 237.1 innings (257 games).  He turns thirty-three today.  One would think he'll go to spring training with someone, and we'll just have to see from there.