Babe Dahlgren (1912)
Bernice Gera (1931)
Mario Cuomo (1932)
Billy Williams (1938)
Ty Cline (1939)
Bruce Dal Canton (1941)
Ken Henderson (1946)
Champ Summers (1946)
Dusty Baker (1949)
Lance Parrish (1956)
Brett Butler (1957)
Wade Boggs (1958)
Tony Clark (1972)
Ramiro Mendoza (1972)
Andy Pettitte (1972)
Zach Day (1978)
Jeremy Reed (1981)
Tim Lincecum (1984)
Cliff Pennington (1984)
Trevor Plouffe (1986)
Eduardo Nunez (1987)
Jake Locker (1988)
Bernice Gera (1931)
Mario Cuomo (1932)
Billy Williams (1938)
Ty Cline (1939)
Bruce Dal Canton (1941)
Ken Henderson (1946)
Champ Summers (1946)
Dusty Baker (1949)
Lance Parrish (1956)
Brett Butler (1957)
Wade Boggs (1958)
Tony Clark (1972)
Ramiro Mendoza (1972)
Andy Pettitte (1972)
Zach Day (1978)
Jeremy Reed (1981)
Tim Lincecum (1984)
Cliff Pennington (1984)
Trevor Plouffe (1986)
Eduardo Nunez (1987)
Jake Locker (1988)
Bernice Gera was the first female umpire in
Organized Baseball, umpiring one game in the New York-Penn League in 1972.
Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo was an
outfielder for the Brunswick Pirates of the Georgia-Florida League in 1952.
Quarterback Jake Locker was drafted by the
Angels as an outfielder in the tenth round in 2009. He signed a contract
with them, but never played a game of professional baseball.
Right-hander Stephen
Zachary Day did not pitch for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for
about a month in 2008. Born and raised in Cincinnati, he was drafted by
the Yankees in the fifth round in 1996. He advanced slowly, not getting
out of A ball until 2000. When he did, he was no longer in the Yankees’
system; he was traded to Cleveland in late June of 2000. He reached AAA
for the Indians in 2001, but after one game there he was traded to Montreal at
the July deadline. He made his major league debut with the Expos in 2002,
spending about two and a half months with the team that year. He was
mostly used as a relief pitcher in 2002, but was in the starting rotation in
2003-2004. He was decent in those years, not great but not
terrible. He moved to Washington with the team in 2005, but was traded to
Colorado in July. He spent time in the minors that year as well, and also
split 2006 between AAA and the majors. He was waived in late April of
2006 and went back to Washington. He made five mediocre starts with the
Nationals, then had rotator cuff surgery and never made it back to the
majors. He kept trying for a while, though. He signed with Kansas
City for 2007, was in AAA that season, then signed with Minnesota for
2008. The Twins sent him to Ft. Myers due to his continuing shoulder
problems. The hope was that the shoulder would improve, but it was not to
be. He made six relief appearances for Ft. Myers and went 1-0, 5.62,
1.88 WHIP in eight innings. The Twins released him in early May.
His continuing health problems led him to not try to play for another
team, and his playing career came to an end. At last report, Zach Day had
moved back to his home town of Cincinnati. He currently is the founder
and owner of Zigoo Pets, a company which makes pet toys. He is also the
manager of business development for TrackMan A/S, which consults with software
development experts to translate principles of peak athletic performance into
teaching applications.
Outfielder Jeremy Thomas Reed did not play
for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 2011. He was born
in San Dimas, California, went to high school in LaVerne, California, then
attended Cal State—Long Beach. He was drafted by the White Sox in the
second round in 2002. He hit very well in his first couple of years in
the minors, reaching AAA in 2004. In late June of that season he was
traded to Seattle and made his major league debut for the Mariners that September.
He was their starting center fielder in 2005, but hit only .254 with no
power. It was his only year as a major league regular. He was a
reserve for Seattle in 2006, then spent most of 2007 in AAA, coming back to the
majors only as a September call-up. He started 2008 in the minors again
but came back to Seattle in late May and stayed the rest of the season.
He was traded to the Mets for the 2009 season. He was in the majors all
year, playing in 126 games but getting only 161 at-bats. Fifty-three of
those games were as a pinch-hitter. Given his use, he didn’t do badly,
batting .242, but it was his last full season in the majors. A free agent
after the season, he signed with Toronto for 2010, played seldom, and was
released in early July. The White Sox picked him up and sent him to AAA
for the rest of the season. He signed with Milwaukee for 2011, went
0-for-7 as a pinch hitter, was sent to the minors, then was traded to Minnesota
in early June for future considerations. He played in four games for
Rochester, went 0-for-15, and then got hurt and did not return. He was a
free agent after the season, but did not play in 2012. He signed with
Arizona for 2013 but retired during spring training. The Diamondbacks
apparently held out hope that he might change his mind, as they did not release
him until after the season. He elected to stay retired, however, and is
currently the minor league batting coordinator for the Milwaukee Brewers.
He is also affiliated somehow with Pro Compression, which makes
compression socks.
Third baseman Trevor Patrick Plouffe played
for the Twins from 2010-2016. He was born in West Hills, California and
was selected by Minnesota in the first round of the 2004 amateur draft.
He progressed at a pace of roughly a level per season. His minor
league numbers are not bad but not terribly impressive, either. His
highest batting average is .274 and his highest OPS is .736 (both at New
Britain, 2007); his lowest batting average is .223 and his lowest OPS
is .645 (both at Beloit, 2006). He had four brief stints with
Minnesota in 2010, getting a few days in May, a week in June, about a week in
August, and coming back for a September call-up. He was with the Twins
for about a month in 2011, spending most of the season in Rochester. He
started to develop some power in 2009, hitting 13 homers in Rochester that
season and 15 there in 2010. He split 2011 between Rochester and
Minnesota, hitting 15 more homers in Rochester in just 220 at-bats and eight
more in Minnesota in 286 at-bats. He became the regular third baseman
for Minnesota in 2012 and remained there through 2016. He was remarkably
consistent year-to-year, never great but never awful, but missed significant
time in 2017 due to injury. As a Twin, Trevor Plouffe hit .247/.308/.420
in 2909 major at-bats. Rather than trade him before the 2016 season to
make room for Miguel Sano at third base, the Twins kept him all year and
then allowed him to become a free agent after the season. He signed with
Oakland and has been their regular third baseman, but has not done much for
them so far. The Athletics have no particular reason to feel loyalty to
him, so one suspects he may not remain the regular third baseman if he doesn't
start hitting pretty soon.
Infielder/outfielder Eduardo Michelle
(Mendez) Nunez came to the Twins in April of 2014. He was born in Santo
Domingo in the Dominican Republic, went to high school in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, and signed with the Yankees as a free agent in 2004. He did not
reach AA until 2009, but it should be remembered that he was still only 22
then. He reached AAA in 2010 and made his major league debut in August of
that year. He spent the next few years bouncing back and forth between
AAA and the majors, posting decent batting averages but not doing a lot else.
Despite the fact that the Yankees knew they would soon be looking for a
shortstop, they traded Nunez to Minnesota in April of 2014 for Miguel Sulbaran.
He mostly played shortstop and third base, although he does had a handful
of games at second and in the outfield. He had a decent season as a
reserve in 2015, batting .282/.327/.431 in 188 at-bats. He got off to a
tremendous start in 2016, playing mostly shortstop and batting .373 at the end
of April, 340 at the end of May, and still batting .321 at the all-star break,
making his first (and likely only) all-star team. The Twins decided to
strike while the iron was hot and traded him to San Francisco for Adalberto
Mejia. He has played third base for the Giants and has done fairly well.
He turns 30 today. It's uncertain how long he'll keep a starting
job, but one suspects Eduardo Nunez will be around the majors for at least a
few more years yet.
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