Saturday, March 25, 2017

March 25

Frank Dwyer (1868)
Clyde Milan (1887)
John Fetzer (1901)
Dutch Leonard (1909)
Ryohei Hasegawa (1930)
Woodie Held (1932)
Frank Peters (1944)
Lee Mazzilli (1955)
Jeff Kunkel (1962)
Tom Glavine (1966)
Erik Schullstrom (1969)
Travis Fryman (1969)
Dan Wilson (1969)
Neal Cotts (1980)
John Fetzer was the majority owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961-1983.
Ryohei Hasegawa was a star in Japan in the 1950s and was also a coach, manager, and broadcaster there.
Frank Peters was a minor league player and manager.  On August 31, 1974, while managing the Portland Mavericks, he had each player play each position for one inning.  Portland won the game over the Tri-City Ports, 8-7.
There were six major league players born on March 25, 1969.  In addition to the three listed above, Eric Helfand, Paul Menhart, and Scott Sanders were born on that date.  I don't know whether that's a record, but it seems like it has to be pretty close.
Right-hander Erik Paul Schullstrom was with the Twins for parts of two seasons, 1994 and 1995.  He was born in San Diego, went to high school in Alameda, California, and then went to Cal State--Fresno.  He was drafted by Baltimore in the second round in 1990.  Oddly, he never spent a full year with one team at any point in his career.  He was originally a starter.  He had a pretty good year in 1991, mostly at Class A Frederick, but overall his minor league numbers as a starter are decent but unimpressive.  In August of 1992, he was traded to San Diego, but the Padres waived him in April of 1993 and he went back to Baltimore.  That year, 1993, Schullstrom began a transition to the bullpen.  In August, he became the player to be named later in the deal that sent Mike Pagilarulo to Baltimore, and Erik Schullstrom joined the Twins' organization.  He had a good year in relief for the Twins in 1994 and spent about a month in the majors, posting a 2.77 ERA in thirteen innings spread over nine games.  He was not off to a particularly good start at AAA Salt Lake in 1995, but was brought up to the Twins in mid-May anyway.  He somehow stayed with them the rest of the season despite posting a 6.89 ERA and a 1.87 WHIP in 47 innings, all in relief.  Schullstrom became a free agent after the season and signed with Boston; as a Twin, he was 0-0, 6.00 in 60 innings.  He appeared in 46 games, all in relief.  He pitched well in AA for the Red Sox in 1996, but not so well when promoted to AAA.  He continued pitching in other countries, pitching in Mexico in 1997 and in Japan in 1998-1999 and 2001-2002 before ending his playing career.  At last report, Erik Schullstrom had returned to his home town of Alameda, California and was the director of USA scouting for the Hiroshima Carp, as well as working as an instructor for the Alameda Professional Baseball School.  He holds the major league record for most innings pitched without recording a decision, although he did get a save in 1994.
Left-hander Neal James Cotts pitched for the Twins for about six weeks in 2015.  He was born in Belleville, Illinois, went to high school in Lebanon, Illinois, attended Illinois State, and was drafted by Oakland in the second round in 2001.  He was traded to the White Sox after the 2002 season in a multi-player deal that involved, among others, Billy Koch and Keith Foulke.  Cotts was a starting pitcher in the minors and had an excellent season in AA in Birmingham in 2003.  He made four starts for the White Sox in August of that season without much success, but he made the White Sox in 2004 and was converted to relief.  He had an outstanding season in 2005, going 4-0, 1.94, 1.11 WHIP in 60.1 innings.  He struggled in 2006, however, and was traded to the Cubs after the season.  He spent the next three seasons going back and forth between the Cubs and AAA Iowa, pitching very well in AAA but not very well in the majors.  He had Tommy John surgery after the 2009 season.  He signed with Pittsburgh for 2010 but was released without ever pitching for them.  He signed with the Yankees for 2011 but was released early in spring training when he could not pass a physical.  He kept trying, though, and he signed with Texas for 2012.  He spent all of that season at AAA Round Rock but made it back to the majors in 2013 and had an excellent season for the Rangers, going 8-3, 1.11, 0.95 WHIP in 57 innings.  He could not repeat that success in 2014 and became a free agent after the season.  He signed with Milwaukee for 2015 and was pitching well when he was traded to Minnesota on August 21 for a player to be named later or cash.  He appeared in seventeen games for the Twins, pitching 13.2 innings.  He did not get any decisions and posted a 3.95 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP.  A free agent again, he signed with Houston for 2016.  A year ago, we said, "He might have a few more good years in him, or he might get released in spring training and never pitch in the majors again."  Well, he got released by the Astros, signed with the Angels in April, was released in May, signed with the Yankees two days later, was released in June, and signed with Texas a week later.  All of his pitching in 2016 was in AAA.  Cotts has been very inconsistent from year to year, which is partly attributable to his frequent use as a LOOGY (only twice in his career has he averaged as much as one inning per appearance).  He signed with Washington for 2017. Your guess is as good as mine whether he'll play in the majors again.


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