Ed Reulbach (1882)
Willie Mitchell (1889)
Walter Alston (1911)
Calvin Griffith (1911)
Cookie Lavagetto (1912)
Marty Marion (1917)
Cal McLish (1925)
George Foster (1948)
Dan Schatzeder (1954)
Greg Harris (1963)
Larry Walker (1966)
Reggie Sanders (1967)
Kirk Rueter (1970)
Willie Mitchell (1889)
Walter Alston (1911)
Calvin Griffith (1911)
Cookie Lavagetto (1912)
Marty Marion (1917)
Cal McLish (1925)
George Foster (1948)
Dan Schatzeder (1954)
Greg Harris (1963)
Larry Walker (1966)
Reggie Sanders (1967)
Kirk Rueter (1970)
As everyone reading this knows, Calvin Griffith was the
long-time owner of the Minnesota Twins. He had served in a variety of
positions for the Washington Senators, including batboy, minor league
player-manager, and working in the front office. His managing career
lasted from 1937-1941. He also played for Class B Charlotte from
1939-1941. No records of his playing career are available from 1939-1940,
but in 1941 he got a hit in his only at-bat.
Harry Arthur
"Cookie" Lavagetto was the first manager of the Minnesota Twins in
1961. He was born in Oakland, and attended Oakland Technical School. His first
professional season was 1933, when he hit .312 in the Pacific Coast League at
age 20. An infielder, Lavagetto got to the big leagues in 1934, playing three
seasons in Pittsburgh. He was used as a part-time player, primarily at second
base, getting about 200-300 at bats per year. After the 1936 season, he was
traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers, which is where he became a star. He was the
Dodgers' starting second baseman in 1937, then started at third for four years.
His numbers as a Dodger are good, but not all that impressive: he hit .300
once, his highest home run total was 10, and he never stole more than 15 bases.
Still, he made the all-star team every year from 1938-1941, and twice received
MVP votes. Lavagetto lost four years to World War II, as he enlisted in the
Navy. When he came back as a thirty-three-year-0ld in 1946, he was reduced to
part-time status. Released by the Dodgers in May of 1948, he went back home to
Oakland, playing three more years in the Pacific Coast League. He then went
into coaching, spending three years with Brooklyn (1951-1953) and one with
Oakland (1954) before joining Washington in 1955. He became manager in 1957 and
came to Minnesota with the club in 1961. He was let go after 59 games that
season with a record of 23-36. He became a coach for the original Mets and was
thought to be the logical choice to succeed Casey Stengel as Mets manager, but
a false diagnosis of lung cancer led him to take a coaching job with the
Giants in 1964 so he could be closer to home. He retired in 1967 and assisted
his wife in her therapy equipment business. Lavagetto is best remembered today
for a pinch-hit double he hit with two out in the ninth inning of game four of
the 1947 World Series, a hit which broke up a no-hit bid by Bill Bevens and won
the game for the Dodgers. Cookie Lavagetto passed away from a heart attack on
August 10, 1990 in Orinda, California.
Left-hander Daniel Ernest Schatzeder was with the Twins in
1987-1988. His time as a Twin was brief, but he managed to get a World Series
ring in the process. A left-hander, Schatzeder was born in Elmhurst, Illinois,
and attended the University of Denver. He was drafted by Montreal in the third
round in 1976. He pitched well in two minor league seasons, reaching the majors
in September of 1977 and coming to stay in May of 1978. He put in a couple of
solid years for the Expos as a swing man, but then was traded to Detroit in
December of 1979. After one decent and one poor year for the Tigers, Schatzeder
was traded again in December of 1981 to San Francisco. He started poorly in
1982, and was sold to Montreal. His stints with the Expos were the best years
of Schatzeder's career. He shifted more to the bullpen from 1982-1986, although
he still made 36 starts over that span. He was still pitching well for Montreal
in July of 1986 when he was traded to Philadelphia. He was with the Phillies
for nearly a year, and in June of 1987 he was traded to Minnesota for Tom
Schwarz and Danny Clay. Schatzeder did not pitch well for the Twins, but did
throw 4.1 scoreless innings in the League Championship Series. Released by the
Twins after the season, he was signed by Cleveland, but when the Indians
released him in June the Twins took him back again for the rest of the 1988
season. The second time around, he was used mostly in the starting rotation at
AAA Portland, coming back to Minnesota for ten relief appearances in September.
Schatzeder was a free agent after the season: as a Twin, he had an ERA of 5.50
in 54 innings spread over 40 appearances. After leaving the Twins, he went to
Houston, the Mets, and Kansas City; his last big-league appearance was as a
Royal in 1991. Released by Kansas City in late May of 1991, he signed with the
Mets and played at AAA for a couple of weeks, but then his career was over. Dan
Schatzeder was a physical education teacher at Waubonsie Valley High School in
Aurora, Illinois until his retirement in 2015.
The Greg Harris we are dealing with is Gregory Wade Harris, not
Greg Allen Harris, the ambidextrous pitcher whose career covered roughly the
same years. Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Greg W. Harris attended Elon
University and was drafted by San Diego in the tenth round in 1985. A starter
throughout his minor league career, he advanced a level each season. His
numbers at AA and AAA were not all that impressive, but he got a September
callup in 1988 and was in the Padres bullpen in 1989 and 1990. He did a fine
job for San Diego in those years as a setup man, and pitched well for them in 1991
as well when he made twenty starts. Harris remained an unspectacular but solid
starter for the Padres through July of 1993, when he was traded to Colorado. He
may have moved north and east, but his career went straight south. In a year
and a half with the Rockies, Harris was four and twenty, which may work for
blackbirds in a pie but not for major league pitchers. His ERA in that time was
6.60. Released by the Rockies, Harris signed with Minnesota in April of 1995.
He was with the Twins for a little over a month, making seven appearances, six
of them starts. It did not go well: he was 0-5 with an 8.82 ERA. Harris was
sent to AAA and then was released in August. The Padres gave him a last shot in
1996, but he pitched poorly at Class A and his career was over. His career ERA
for the Padres, 2.95, is second on the Padres' career list to Trevor Hoffman.
Arm problems were at least partly responsible for his rapid decline; he sued
his surgeon over botched operations on his pitching arm and shoulder, receiving
a judgment of six million dollars. He also was the victim of some investment
scams, for which he received a judgment of ten million dollars. At last report,
Greg Harris was living in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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