Henry Chadwick (1824)
John Reilly (1858)
Claude Ritchey (1873)
Jim Bagby (1889)
Sam West (1904)
Si Johnson (1906)
Andy Kosco (1941)
Dan Fife (1949)
Onix Concepcion (1957)
Randy Bush (1958)
Rey Sanchez (1965)
Brandon Puffer (1975)
John Reilly (1858)
Claude Ritchey (1873)
Jim Bagby (1889)
Sam West (1904)
Si Johnson (1906)
Andy Kosco (1941)
Dan Fife (1949)
Onix Concepcion (1957)
Randy Bush (1958)
Rey Sanchez (1965)
Brandon Puffer (1975)
Henry Chadwick is often considered the father of baseball.
He wrote the first rule book, created the box score, and was the first to
keep track of singles, doubles, triples, and home runs.
Outfielder Andrew John
Kosco played for the Twins from 1965-1967. He was born in Mom A’s original home
town of Youngstown, Ohio, went to high school in Struthers, Ohio, and was
signed by the Tigers as a free agent in 1959. Kosco’s early minor league record
is mixed, at best. He hit .273 with 22 homers for Class B Durham in 1960, and
hit .284 for Class A Knoxville in 1962. However, he hit .208 in 1963 in a year
split between the Class AA teams of the Tigers and Cubs. His sixth minor-league
season, in 1964, found Kosco back in Class A, in the Northern League. The
Tigers gave up on him and released him in early June, but he was still only 22,
so the Twins gave him a chance. He was clearly too good for the Northern
League, hitting .346 with 28 homers in 1964. Promoted to AAA Denver in 1965,
Kosco continued to bash the ball, hitting .327 with 27 homers before getting
called up to the Twins in August. He was with Minnesota all of 1966, but
received little playing time, starting only 35 games and hitting only .222. He
started 1967 in Minnesota, but got only 28 at-bats before being sent back to
Denver in early May. He had another good year there, but the Twins apparently
gave up on him and sold him to Oakland. The Athletics left him unprotected, and
Kosco was chosen by the Yankees in the rule 5 draft. He finally got regular
playing time in 1968, but hit only .240 with 15 home runs. This was a
low-offense era, so that’s better than it might sound, but it still was nothing
to get excited about, and the Yankees traded Kosco to the Dodgers after the
season. He was a mostly-regular for the Dodgers in 1969, but his numbers did
not signficantly improve, and he was reduced to part-time status in 1970. He
spent the rest of his career moving around. Kosco was traded to the Brewers for
1971, split 1972 between California and Boston, and went to the Reds in 1973.
He actually had a pretty good season for Cincinnati, hitting .280 with nine
home runs in 118 at-bats, but in 1974 he slumped to .189 and was released. He
signed with Philadelphia and spent 1975 playing for AAA Toledo, but he did not
play well there, and his career was over. As a Twin, Andy Kosco hit
.216/.243/.295 with 3 home runs and 23 RBIs in 241 at-bats spread over three years.
He studied law during the off-seasons, but after his playing days were over,
Kosco went into the insurance business and had a successful career as an
insurance salesman in his home town of Youngstown. He remains active in
attending various baseball association alumni events.
Right-hander Danny Wayne Fife played for the Twins from
1973-1974. He was born in Harrisburg, Illinois, went to high school in
Clarkston, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan. He was drafted by
the Tigers in the secondary phase of the 1971 June draft. He had a fine year in
Class A that season, and did well again in AA in 1972. The Tigers, however,
were trying to get another division championship out of an aging team, and so
traded Fife along with some cash to the Twins for Jim Perry in March of 1973.
He did not pitch particularly well for AAA Tacoma, but was still promoted to
the Twins in August. Control, which had not been that much of a problem in the
low minors, bothered him in Tacoma, and continued to bother him in Minnesota.
Fife made the Twins at the start of 1974 but did not stay long, going back to
Tacoma after pitching only 4.2 innings in four games. He had an awful season in
Tacoma that year, and in 1975 found himself back in AA Orlando. He appeared in
only eight games there, pitching better but not all that well, and then his
career was over. As a Twin, Dan Fife was pitched 56.1 innings in 14 games,
seven of them starts. He was 3-2 with a 5.43 ERA. Fife became a successful high
school baseball and basketball coach in Clarkston, Michigan and was currently
the athletic director of Clarkston Community Schools until his retirement
in 2016. His son, Dane Fife, is an assistant basketball coach at Michigan
State.
Outfielder Robert Randall Bush played for the Twins from
1982-1993. He was born in Dover, Delaware, and attended the University of New
Orleans. He was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 1979, and was never
a member of any other organization. He did little his first couple of years in
the minors, but had a breakout year in 1981, hitting .290 with 22 homers for AA
Orlando. He got off to a strong start in 1982 at AAA Toledo, and was in
Minnesota by the first of May. Bush was a semi-to-mostly regular outfielder and
DH for the Twins from 1983-1989, getting about 300 to 400 at bats every season
except 1985, when he had only 234. He would hit around .250 to .260
consistently, usually providing about 10-15 homers. Bush was reduced to more of
reserve/pinch hitting role from 1990-93. He had an excellent year in that role
in the world championship season of 1991, hitting .303 with six home runs in
165 at-bats. The vagaries of small sample size caught up with him the next
year, as he slumped to .214. Bush got off to a poor start in 1993, was released
in late June, and decided to retire. Randy Bush played in parts of 12 seasons
for the Twins, appearing in 1,219 games. He batted .251/.334/.413, with 96 home
runs and a career OPS+ of 102. Bush was the head baseball coach at his alma
matter from 2000-2004, and is currently an assistant general manager for the
Chicago Cubs, serving as interim GM before the hiring of Theo Epstein.
Right-hander Brandon Duane Puffer never reached the big leagues
with the Twins, but he was drafted by them. He was born in Downey, California,
went to high school in Mission Viejo, California, and was drafted by Minnesota
in the twenty-seventh round in 1994. The Twins apparently didn’t think much of
him; they used him in relief in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League for two
years, and despite the fact that he pitched fairly well, they released him in
May of 1996. He was in the Angels’ organization for two years, and reached
Class A, but after a good year in 1997 he was again released. Puffer was
persistent, however, and signed with the Reds. He made it to AA briefly in
1998, but was back in Class A in 1999. Despite posting an ERA under two in the
Midwest League, he was released again after the season. Puffer signed with
Colorado, was released in May of 2000, went to Somerset of the independent Atlantic
League, and signed with Houston in July. He finally put things together in the
Astros’ organization, or maybe he just got with a team that would give him a
chance. He dominated the AA Texas League in 2001, and after starting well in
AAA in 2002, Puffer was promoted to Houston in mid-April. It would be wonderful
to report that his persistence paid off in a long and successful major-league
career, but it was not to be. Puffer suffered control trouble in the majors,
something that had not been that much of a problem in the minor leagues. He
split 2003 between Houston and AAA New Orleans, but was released after the
season. Puffer signed with San Diego for 2004, and was promoted to the Padres
in mid-May, but was sold to Boston in July and spent the rest of the year in
AAA Pawtucket. Released again after the season, he moved on to AAA Fresno in
the Giants’ organization for 2005, making it back to the big leagues for three
games. Those were his last games in the big leagues. Puffer played with the
Houston, Oakland, and Texas organizations from 2006-2008, but did not made it
back to the majors. Sadly, in July of 2009, Brandon Puffer was found guilty of
burglary of a habitation with intent to commit a felony (sexual assault)
therein. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was paroled in 2011.
He appears to have gotten his life straightened out, working for the
Round Rock Express from 2012-2014. and speaking at Fellowship of Christian
Athletes camps. He was an insurance agent for IHC Financial Group in the
Austin, Texas area from 2014-2016, then returned to the Round Rock Express as
pitching coach in the 2016 season.
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