Gene DeMontreville (1873)
Art Herring (1906)
John Briggs (1944)
Wayne Twitchell (1948)
Greg Pavlick (1950)
Steve Howe (1958)
John Cangelosi (1963)
Mike Timlin (1966)
Aaron Bates (1984)
Art Herring (1906)
John Briggs (1944)
Wayne Twitchell (1948)
Greg Pavlick (1950)
Steve Howe (1958)
John Cangelosi (1963)
Mike Timlin (1966)
Aaron Bates (1984)
Greg Pavlick was a coach in the Mets organization for 26 years,
and was a coach in the Yankees organization from 2002-15.
First baseman/outfielder
John Edward Briggs played with the Twins for about half of the 1975 season.
Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, he attended Seton Hall and signed with
Philadelphia as a free agent in 1962. He spent only one year in the
minors--1963, when he hit .297 with 21 homers for Class A Bakersfield. Briggs
joined the Phillies in 1964 and stayed until early 1971, but never got as many
as 400 at-bats in a season. He was used primarily as a pinch hitter in 1964 but
then received semi-regular play. A left-handed batter, he played almost
exclusively against right-handed pitching. Briggs had a good eye at the plate:
he hit only .251 as a Phillie, but had an OBP of .349. He was traded to
Milwaukee in April of 1971, where he was able to shed his platoon status and
become a full-time player. He did not do particularly better or worse as a
full-time player than he had as a part-timer, although his home run number went
up due to increased at-bats. He actually received six points in the MVP voting
in 1973, a year when he hit .246 with 18 homers, 57 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases.
In June of 1975, Briggs was traded to Minnesota for Bobby Darwin. As a Twin,
John Briggs hit .231/.371/.360 in 264 at-bats, hitting seven homers and driving
in 39 runs. He was released in February of 1976 and went to Japan for a year,
ending his playing career after the season. After that, John Briggs returned to
his home town of Paterson, New Jersey, and was a sergeant in the Paterson
Sheriff's Department until his retirement. At last report, he was still
living in Paterson.
Left-handed reliever Steven Roy Howe pitched for the Twins for
about a month in 1985. He was born in Pontiac, Michigan and attended the
University of Michigan. He was drafted by the Dodgers in the first round in
1979. He was a starter at AA San Antonio and pitched very well, going 6-2, 3.13
with a WHIP of 1.05. He began 1980 with the Dodgers and won the Rookie of the
Year award, going 7-9 with 17 saves and an ERA of 2.66 in 59 appearances. He
did an excellent job in relief for the Dodgers through 1983, making the
all-star team in 1982. After the 1983 season, however, Howe was suspended for a
year due to drug use. He was not the same when he came back, and the Dodgers
released him in July of 1985. The Twins signed him in early August. He made 13
appearances for them, going 2-3, 6.16 in nineteen innings. He could not conquer
his drug problems, however, and left the team in early September. Howe played
some independent ball in 1986 and signed with Texas in July of 1987. He was in
the big leagues with the Rangers for the last two months of the season and did
okay, but drugs hit him again, and he was once again out of baseball. He did
not play again until 1990, when he played for an independent team. Howe signed
with the Yankees in 1991 and it appeared that the story might have a happy
ending, as he pitched well out of the Yankee bullpen for four years. He pitched
poorly in 1995, however, and in 1996 he again had drug problems. He pitched
well for independent Sioux Falls in 1997, but injured his arm and was out of
baseball for good. After his playing career ended, he wrote an autobiography
and worked as a self-employed framing contractor in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
Steve Howe passed away in an automobile accident on April 28, 2007 in
Coachella, California.
First baseman Aaron Bates did not play for the Twins, but was in
their farm system for about a year. He was born in New York, went to high
school in San Jose, California and Soquel, California, attended both San Jose
State and North Carolina State, and was drafted by Boston in the third round in
2006. In 2007, playing mostly in the California League, he hit .306/435/.560
with 28 home runs. Unfortunately, he has not been able to repeat those power
numbers, hitting no more than twelve homers in any year since. He reached AAA
in 2009 and even spent a week in the majors that season, going 4-for-11 with a
pair of doubles just before the all-star break. He stayed in the Red Sox
organization through 2010, but after hitting only .240 in a full year at
Pawtucket he was let go in 2011 spring training. He went unsigned until early
May, when the Twins picked him up and sent him to Rochester. He had a fine
season there, hitting .316/.408/.439. He has always drawn a good number of
walks, posting a career OBP of .378 in six minor league seasons. The Twins did
not give him a September call-up in 2011 despite needing a first baseman. Bates
was a minor league free agent after 2011, but re-signed with the Twins
organization for 2012. He got off to a slow start and was released in mid-May.
He signed with the Cardinals, did not hit in 21 games of AAA, was released
again, and finished the season playing for Sugar Land in the Atlantic League.
He was still in Sugar Land for 2013 and had a fine year, batting .306. He
signed with the Dodgers for 2014 but missed most of the season due to injury
and his playing career came to an end. Aaron Bates was a coach for the
AZL Dodgers from 2015-16 and will be the batting coach for the Great Lakes
Loons in 2016.
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