Charlie Ebbets (1859)
Solly Hofman (1882)
Pete Richert (1939)
Jim Bibby (1944)
Darrell Brown (1955)
Terry Felton (1957)
Jesse Barfield (1959)
R. A. Dickey (1974)
Karim Garcia (1975)
Scott Randall (1975)
Dana Eveland (1983)
Jose Mijares (1984)
Solly Hofman (1882)
Pete Richert (1939)
Jim Bibby (1944)
Darrell Brown (1955)
Terry Felton (1957)
Jesse Barfield (1959)
R. A. Dickey (1974)
Karim Garcia (1975)
Scott Randall (1975)
Dana Eveland (1983)
Jose Mijares (1984)
Charlie Ebbets was the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers from
1898-1925. Ebbets Field was named after him.
Outfielder Darrell Wayne
Brown played for the Twins in 1982 and 1983. He was born in Oklahoma City, went
to high school in Los Angeles, and attended California State--Los Angeles. He
was drafted by the Tigers in the third round in 1977. He had been drafted three
times previously: by Houston (1st round, January 1975), San Francisco (1st
round [secondary phase], June 1975), and Milwaukee (1st round [secondary
phase], June 1976). Brown hit for a mediocre average with no power in the
minors, but he was fast and a good defender. He got a cup of coffee with
Detroit in 1981 and then was traded to Oakland. He spent most of 1982 in AAA,
appeared in 8 games for the Athletics, and then was released. The Twins signed
him and made him a semi-regular outfielder for 1983-84. He actually hit a
little better in the majors than his minor-league record would have suggested,
posting batting averages in the .270s, though with few walks and little power.
Brown was released by the Twins in 1985 spring training. He went to the
Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco, Seattle, and Texas organizations over the
next two years, but never made it back to the big leagues. He made a comeback
of sorts in the mid-90s, playing two years of independent ball, but then was
gone for good. As a Twin, Darrell Brown hit .277/.303/.322. He was inducted
into the Cal State—Los Angeles Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988. He
apparently has done some scouting for major league teams, but it could not be
determined whether he is still doing so now.
Right-hander Terry Lane Felton pitched for the Twins from
1979-1982. He was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, went to high school in Baker,
Louisiana, and was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 1976. He spent
most of four seasons, 1978-1981, in AAA Toledo, pitching in a total of seven
games for the Twins over that span. He was with the Twins for all of 1982,
making 48 appearances, six of them starts. He gave up substantially less than a
hit per inning, but suffered from wildness and a tendency to give up the home
run ball. Felton was 0-13 in 1982, which, coupled with an 0-3 in 1980, made him
0-16, the highest number of losses without a win ever to start a big-league
career. Sadly, it would also be the highest number of losses without a win to
finish a big-league career; Felton was returned to the minors in 1983 and never
made it back to the big leagues. The record is as much bad luck as poor
pitching. The Twins had an awful team in 1982, losing 102 games, and Felton
became emblematic of that awfulness, but he was hardly the worst pitcher on the
team. In fact, Felton had three saves that year. He had a poor year in 1983
with AAA Toledo, however, and after another poor year for the Dodgers' AA team
in 1984 he was out of baseball. At last report, Terry Felton was a captain in
the Baton Rouge, Louisiana sheriff's department.
Right-hander Robert Alan Dickey played for the Twins in 2009.
Born and raised in Nashville, he attended the University of Tennessee. Dickey
was drafted by the Rangers in the first round in 1996, but played for the U. S.
Olympic team before signing in September. He advanced to AAA by 1999, but
stalled there, spending over three years at Oklahoma (with the exception of a
brief call-up in 2001) before getting to the big leagues in 2003. Dickey
alternated between starting and relieving and was not particularly successful
at either. Still, he was with Texas almost all of 2003 and 2004. He went back
to the minors for most of 2005 and 2006; it was during this period that he
began to work on the knuckleball. Dickey became a free agent after the 2006 season.
He moved on to the Brewers' organization for 2007, but did not play in the big
leagues with them. A free agent again after that season, he signed with the
Twins as a free agent on November 29, but was taken by Seattle in the Rule 5
draft a week later. He was offered back to the Twins at the end of spring
training of 2008, but was instead traded to the Mariners for Jair Fernandez. He
spent most of 2008 with Seattle, but did not pitch well and was released. Once
again signing with the Twins, he spent much of 2009 with them, but was sent to
the minors in early August and later was removed from the forty-man roster. As
a Twin, R. A. Dickey was 1-1 with a 4.62 ERA in 35 appearances, all but one in
relief. Six years ago, this biography closed with “As a 35-year-old
knuckleballer, it seems likely that the R. A. Dickey story is not quite over
yet.” That sure turned out to be true. He signed with the Mets and went 11-9,
2.84, 1.19 WHIP in 2010. He was seventh in the league in ERA and was in
contention for Comeback Player of the Year, an award he might have won
except for the fact that he’d never really been anywhere in the first
place before that season. He turned in another fine season for the Mets
in 2011, going 8-13, 3.28, 1.23 WHIP. In 2012 he turned in the best
season of his career, going 20-6, 2.73, 1.05 WHIP, leading the league in
innings and strikeouts, and winning the Cy Young Award. A free agent
after the season, he signed with Toronto and could not duplicate his success,
but still pitched well and continued to do so through 2015. He had a down
year in 2016 but still was not terrible. He turns forty-two today.
One wonders how long he can or will be allowed to continue, but Hoyt
Wilhelm pitched until he was forty-nine, so who knows? Maybe R. A. Dickey
still has a few more years left in him.
Right-hander Scott Philip Randall did not play for the Twins,
but was in their minor league system twice. He was born in Fullerton,
California, went to high school in Goleta, California, attended Santa Barbara
City College, and was drafted by Colorado in the eleventh round in 1995. He was
decent in the minors until he was promoted to AAA for nine starts in 1999,
where he was pretty bad. After that season he was traded to Minnesota for Chris
Latham. He made fourteen starts for AAA Salt Lake, did not do much, was placed
on waivers, and was chosen by Texas. The Rangers released him in late March of
2001 and after a month he signed back with Colorado. He again flopped at AAA
and was allowed to become a free agent after the season, signing with Minnesota
for 2002. He made five starts at New Britain and fifteen at AAA Edmonton and
had what was easily his best year, going a combined 14-0, 3.30, 1.20 WHIP.
Surprisingly, that did not get him anywhere, and he was allowed to become a
free agent again. Cincinnati signed him for 2003 and sent him to AAA, where he
went back to being what he had been. Despite that, he was brought up to the
majors in late August and stayed the rest of the season, going 2-5, 6.51 in
fifteen appearances, two of them starts. He was back in AAA in 2004, then was
released in early July. He signed with Montreal and was traded to Kansas City
four days later, for whom he finished the season in AAA. In 2005 he signed with
Colorado one more time, but it was his last hurrah; he was released on July 8
and his playing career came to an end. For whatever reason, 2002 was the only
good season he had above AA. At last report, Scott Randall was living in the
Colorado Springs area and was the owner of Pressed4Time, a dry cleaning and
laundry service.
Left-handed reliever Jose Manuel Mijares pitched for the Twins
from 2008-2011. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela and signed by the Twins as a
free agent in 2002. He was used primarily as a reliever throughout his
minor-league career. He has generally averaged more than a strikeout per
inning, but has never pitched as many as seventy innings in a season. Called up
to the Twins in September of 2008, he stayed there in 2009 with the exception
of five games at Rochester. He appeared ready to take a prominent bullpen role
for the Twins in 2010, but was injured much of the season and when healthy was
generally used as a LOOGY, appearing in 47 games but working only 32.2
innings. He was given that prominent bullpen role at the start of the
2011 campaign but promptly gave it back, going 0-2, 4.59, 1.69 WHIP with 30
walks in 49 innings (58 appearances). He became a free agent after the
2011 season and signed with Kansas City. He pitched well as a LOOGY
there, but was placed on waivers and claimed by San Francisco, where he
continued to thrive in the LOOGY role and picked up a World Series ring.
In 2013, however, he pitched poorly, going 0-3, 4.22, 1.78 WHIP. A
free agent after the season, he signed with Boston for 2014 but was released in
spring training and does not appear to have pitched anywhere in 2014. He
signed with Cincinnati for 2015 but was again released in spring training and
then was suspended for fifty games for violating baseball's drug policy.
As a Twin, Mijares pitched 153.2 innings in 186 major league games. He
had an ERA of 3.16 and a WHIP of 1.32. He has pitched in winter ball, but
has not pitched anywhere else since his release. It appears that the
playing career of Jose Mijares is over, and no information about what he is
doing was readily available.
No comments:
Post a Comment