Fred Clarke (1872)
Bob Skinner (1931)
Jack Lamabe (1936)
Chuck Scrivener (1947)
Dave Winfield (1951)
Dennis Eckersley (1954)
Jim Joyce (1955)
Daryl Sconiers (1958)
Darrin Fletcher (1966)
Junior Felix (1967)
Wil Cordero (1971)
Eric Munson (1977)
Bob Skinner (1931)
Jack Lamabe (1936)
Chuck Scrivener (1947)
Dave Winfield (1951)
Dennis Eckersley (1954)
Jim Joyce (1955)
Daryl Sconiers (1958)
Darrin Fletcher (1966)
Junior Felix (1967)
Wil Cordero (1971)
Eric Munson (1977)
Infielder Chuck Scrivener was drafted by the Twins in the
seventeenth round in 1966, but did not sign.
Jim Joyce has been a major league umpire since 1989.
Hall of Fame outfielder
David Mark Winfield played for the Twins from 1993-1994, near the end of his
long career. Born and raised in St. Paul, Winfield attended the University of
Minnesota. At 6′ 6′, Winfield starred in basketball as well as baseball in
college, and was involved in the famous brawl between Minnesota and Ohio State
in 1972. He was drafted by San Diego with the fourth pick of the 1973 draft. He
was actually drafted by four teams: the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Stars
basketball teams both drafted him, as did the Minnesota Vikings football team,
although he did not play football in college. Winfield is one of a handful of
players to never play a game in the minors; he was placed on the Padres
immediately in 1973. It was a good move, as he hit .277 that year with an OPS
of .714. Winfield became a star in San Diego, making the all-star team four
times and twice finishing in the top ten in MVP balloting. He finished third in
MVP voting in 1979 despite playing for a team that only won 68 games. He led
the league in OPS+, RBIs, and intentional walks that year. After the 1980
season, he became a free agent and signed with the Yankees, for whom he played
through May of 1990. Winfield had a tremendous career as a Yankee, but received
a lot of criticism for not being Reggie Jackson. As a Yankee, Winfield made the
all-star team eight times, was in the top twelve in MVP balloting six times,
won five silver sluggers and five gold gloves, and had an OPS+ of 134. He
missed the 1989 season due to a back injury, and after a slow start in 1990 he
was traded on May 11 to California for Mike Witt. In his late thirties,
Winfield had started to decline, but was still a very good batter for the Angels,
winning comeback player of the year in 1990. He became a free agent and moved
on to Toronto in 1992, where he helped the Blue Jays win a world championship.
He came home to sign with the Twins before the 1993 season and played for them
for two years. In his early forties, Winfield was clearly no longer what he had
been, but he still hit .264/.324/.436 with 31 homers and 110 RBIs for the
Twins, with an OPS+ of 100. Shortly after the 1994 players’ strike, Winfield
was sold to Cleveland in an attempt to get him into the postseason one more
time should the strike be resolved. It wasn’t, but Winfield signed with the
Indians in 1995. Age finally caught up with him, however, as he hit only .191
at age 43. Dave Winfield was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001. He has
founded the David M. Winfield Foundation for underprivileged youth and at last
report was a special assistant to the executive director of the Major League
Baseball Players Association.
Corner infielder/catcher Eric Walter Munson did not play for the
Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2005. Born and raised in San
Diego, he attended USC and was selected by Detroit with the third pick of the
1999 draft. He showed power immediately in the minors, hitting double digit
home runs in every minor league season and hitting over 20 homers in 2001 and
2002. He also drew a solid number of walks. On the down side, his batting
averages were in the .250s and .260s, and he struck out a lot, fanning over a
hundred times twice and ninety-six times another season. He came up to the
majors briefly in 2000, playing in three games in July, and got September
call-ups in 2001 and 2002. His only full seasons in the majors were 2003 and
2004, when he was a part-time third baseman. He hit 37 home runs in 634 at-bats
in those two years, but his batting average was only .226. That was not
considered good enough, and Munson was allowed to become a free agent after the
2004 season. Minnesota signed him but released him in late March. He has moved
around quite a bit since. Munson signed with Tampa Bay for 2005 but spent most
of the year with AAA Durham, getting only 18 at-bats in the majors. He moved on
to the Houston organization in 2006 and went back and forth between Houston and
AAA Round Rock for two years, getting a total of 273 at-bats with the Astros.
The Astros waived him after the 2007 campaign and he was chosen by Milwaukee.
He was apparently injured much of the year, as he played in only 27 games in
AAA. After the 2008 season he was on the move again, signing with Oakland. He
was in AAA Sacramento almost the entire season, but got one more at-bat in the
majors in September. He signed with San Diego for 2010, but hit poorly with AAA
Portland and was released in early July. He finished the season playing for the
independent Newark Bears. He apparently remained in the Atlantic League
in 2011, playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish, but he did not have a good
season. He was not ready to give up, but no one was willing to give him
another chance and his playing career ended. He received a bachelor's
degree in athletic training from North Dakota State, was an assistant coach for
USC in 2012, and became the minor league rehabilitation coordinator for the Los
Angeles Angels in 2013.
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