Sammy Strang (1876)
Tony Kaufmann (1900)
Neil Chrisley (1931)
Adolfo Phillips (1941)
Mike Flanagan (1951)
Rick Sofield (1956)
Tom Gorman (1957)
Billy Ripken (1964)
Jeff Granger (1971)
Charles Gipson (1972)
Matt Kinney (1976)
Hector Santiago (1987)
Tony Kaufmann (1900)
Neil Chrisley (1931)
Adolfo Phillips (1941)
Mike Flanagan (1951)
Rick Sofield (1956)
Tom Gorman (1957)
Billy Ripken (1964)
Jeff Granger (1971)
Charles Gipson (1972)
Matt Kinney (1976)
Hector Santiago (1987)
The reason Neil Chrisley is listed is because his given name is
Barbra O’Neil Chrisley. No explanation for this name is given, but it seems
reasonable to assume that he’s the only man to play major league baseball whose
first name was Barbra.
Jeff Granger was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in
1990, but did not sign.
Outfielder Richard Michael
Sofield played for the Twins from 1979-1981. Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, he
attended high school in Morristown, New Jersey and was drafted by the Twins
with the 13th pick in the 1975 draft, turning down a football scholarship at
Michigan. He struggled early, but broke through in 1977, hitting .325 with 27
homers for Class A Visalia. Sofield never had a year like that again; his next
highest minor-league average was .281 in 1978 with AA Orlando, and his next
highest minor-league home run total was five. Still, he began 1979 as the
Twins' starting right fielder. He did not keep the job--in mid-May he was
hitting .241, had only one extra base hit, and was sent to AAA. He was called
back in September, though, and hit .400 (14-f0r-35), which was enough for him
to regain the starting right fielder job for the Twins in 1980. It was not only
his only full year as a big-league regular, it was his only full year in the
big leagues. He hit .247 with nine homers. He started 1981 in Minnesota, but
did poorly and went back to Toledo, never to return. He began 1982 with Toledo,
finished in Denver in the Texas system, and then was done, out of baseball at
age 25. After leaving baseball, he enrolled at the University of South Carolina
intending to play football, but was declared ineligible after it was revealed that
he had briefly attended the University of Minnesota in 1975. He instead became
an assistant baseball coach for South Carolina, was head coach at Utah from
1988-1994, and then went into coaching at the professional level with a variety
of organizations. In 2007, Rick Sofield was hired as the first baseball coach
of the University of South Carolina--Beaufort, a position he held through
2011. He managed Class A West Virginia in the Pittsburgh organization in
2012 and was a coach for the major league club from 2013-2016, but was let go
after the 2016 season. It is unclear at this point whether Rick Sofield
will be active in baseball in 2017.
Left-hander Thomas Patrick Gorman did not play for the Twins,
but was in their farm system in 1987. He was born in Portland, Oregon, attended
Gonzaga University, and was drafted by Montreal in the fourth round in 1980.
Pitching mostly in relief, he was started in AA and had two fine seasons in
Memphis, making his major league debut as a September call-up in 1981. He struggled
in AAA in 1982 when he was converted to starting, and was traded to the Mets in
mid-August. He righted himself in 1983, and after a strong start at Tidewater
came up to the Mets in late June. He was excellent out of the Mets bullpen
through 1984, but struggled in 1985 and was released at the end of 1986 spring
training. Philadelphia signed him and he pitched very well in AAA Portland, but
not so well when brought to the majors for a month. He was released again after
the season and signed with San Diego for 1987, but when he continued to
struggle he was traded to Minnesota in June for right-hander Dave Blakely. He
did well in limited innings, going 1-4, 3.02, 1.39 WHIP in 44.2 innings. The
Twins let him go after the season. He made one appearance in AAA with Oakland
in 1988, then his playing career was over. The third most famous Tom
Gorman in baseball history (behind the former umpire and the 1950s relief
pitcher), at last report this Tom Gorman was an instructor with Metro Baseball
Academy in Clackamas, Oregon.
Right-handed pitcher Matthew John Kinney began his major-league
career with the Twins, pitching for them in 2000 and 2002. He was born in
Bangor, Maine, and went to high school there. He was drafted by Boston in the
sixth round in 1995. He pitched well in the low minors, but was still in Class
A on July 31, 1998 when he was traded to Minnesota with Joe Thomas and John
Barnes for Orlando Merced and Greg Swindell. He flopped in a promotion to AA in
1999, but did better there in 2000. Kinney also pitched fairly well when
promoted to AAA in 2000, and reached the Twins briefly that year, making eight
starts at the end of the season. He had a bad year at AAA Edmonton in 2001, but
was still placed in the starting rotation for a couple of months in the beginning
of 2002. It did not go well, and it did not go well for him in the minors that
year, either, although he appears to have been injured part of the year. That
off-season, Kinney was traded with Javier Valentin to Milwaukee for Gerry Oakes
and Matt Yeatman. He was in the Brewers rotation all of 2003 despite not
pitching very well, was sent to the bullpen in 2004, continued to not pitch
well, and was placed on waivers in August. Kansas City selected him, he
finished out the year there, and then became a free agent. Kinney signed with
San Francisco and was in the starting rotation for AAA Fresno for the next
three years, getting a September call-up in 2005 but not in 2006 or 2007. He
pitched in Japan in 2008, but came back to the United States in 2009, again
with Fresno. He was injured much of 2010, making only seven appearances for
Fresno. Near the end of the season, he received a fifty-game suspension for
testing positive for adderall, an amphetamine. Kinney stated it was a drug he
had taken since 2005 to treat his ADHD, but he had not filed the proper
paperwork to get permission to use it in 2010. As a Twin, Matt Kinney was 4-9
with a 4.82 ERA in 22 games, 20 of them starts. His playing career ended
with the 2010 suspension. At last report, Matt Kinney was the baseball
coach of Hermon High School in Bangor, Maine.
Left-hander Hector Felipe Santiago came to the Twins in 2016.
He was born in Newark, went to high school in Bloomfield, New Jersey,
attended Okaloosa-Walton College in Niceville, Florida (one of nine major
leaguers the school has produced), and was drafted by the White Sox in the
thirtieth round in 2006. His numbers in the minors are okay, but nothing
really eye-popping. He was a relief pitcher throughout his minor league
career other than 2011, when he made 23 starts. He made his major league
debut that year, appearing in two games of relief, and came up to stay as a
reliever for the White Sox in 2012. He went back to starting in 2013 and
did well enough. After the season he went to the Angels in a three-team
deal. He was a starter for the Angels for two and a half seasons, then
was traded to the Twins on August 1, 2016 with Alan Busenitz for Alex Meyer,
Ricky Nolasco, and cash. He was very up-and-down in his eleven starts with
the Twins, but looking at his career, he looks like a solid enough starter.
Nothing about him really stands out--he made the all-star team in 2015
based on a good first half, but the year as a whole doesn't look particularly
different from any other year. For his career, he's 36-38, 3.84, 1.33
WHIP. Those are numbers that are very average, but an average major
league starting pitcher can be quite valuable. He turns twenty-nine
today. He'll never be outstanding, but there's no obvious reason Hector
Santiago can't be a major league pitcher for at least a few more seasons yet.
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