Bones Ely (1863)
Ed Wells (1900)
Dusty Boggess (1904)
Rosey Gilhousen (1913)
Herb Score (1933)
Roger Nelson (1944)
George Mitterwald (1945)
Don Money (1947)
Thurman Munson (1947)
Bobby Marcano (1951)
Bill Hohn (1955)
Tim Laudner (1958)
Heathcliff Slocumb (1966)
Donaldo Mendez (1978)
Virgil Vasquez (1982)
Mark Lowe (1983)
Ed Wells (1900)
Dusty Boggess (1904)
Rosey Gilhousen (1913)
Herb Score (1933)
Roger Nelson (1944)
George Mitterwald (1945)
Don Money (1947)
Thurman Munson (1947)
Bobby Marcano (1951)
Bill Hohn (1955)
Tim Laudner (1958)
Heathcliff Slocumb (1966)
Donaldo Mendez (1978)
Virgil Vasquez (1982)
Mark Lowe (1983)
Dusty Boggess was a National League umpire
from 1944-62.
Rosey Gilhousen was a long-time scout who is
credit for signing George Brett and Dan Quisenberry.
Bobby Marcano was an all-star in Japan.
Bill Hohn was a major league umpire since
1989-99 and 2002-10.
Catcher George Eugene
Mitterwald played for the Twins in 1966 and from 1968-1973. He was born
in Berkeley, California, went to high school in Hayward, California, and
attended Chabot College in Hayward. He signed with the Twins as a free
agent in 1965. He had an excellent year at Class A St. Cloud in 1965,
then settled in as a rather mediocre minor league hitter. He got a
September call-up in 1966 and another in 1968 before coming to the majors to
stay. He was the backup to Johnny Roseboro in 1969, then became the
mostly regular catcher. He remained in that role from 1970-1971, but in
1972 Mitterwald had a poor year even by his standards, and shared the job with
Glenn Borgmann, Phil Roof, and Rick Dempsey. He regained the starting job
in 1973 and had his best year as a Twin, hitting .259 with 16 home runs.
The Twins apparently decided that was as good as it was ever going to get and
traded him that Mitterwald to the Cubs that off-season for Randy Hundley.
As a Twin, George Mitterwald hit .239/.304/.373 in 1,578 at-bats. He was
then a part-time catcher for the Cubs for the next four years. Mitterwald
became a free agent after the 1977 campaign and signed with Seattle. He
played poorly in AAA for the Mariners and his playing career came to an
end. He then went into coaching and managing, serving as the bullpen
coach for Oakland (1979-1982), as the manager of Modesto (1983-1985) and
Orlando (1986-1987), and as bench coach for the Yankees (1988). He
managed in the independent Northern League from 1996-1998. He was
inducted into the Chabot College Hall of Fame in 2000. No information
about what George Mitterwald has been doing since then was readily available.
Catcher Timothy Jon Laudner was a catcher for
the Twins throughout the 1980s. He was born in Mason City, Iowa, went to
high school in Minneapolis, and attended the University of Missouri. He
was drafted by Minnesota in the third round of the 1979 draft. Laudner
had indifferent minor league numbers for two season, then hit .284 with 42
homers with Orlando in 1981. That got him a call-up in late August, and
when Butch Wynegar was traded in May of 1982 Laudner became the regular
catcher. Unfortunately, the 42-home-run season turned out to be a fluke;
he never hit more than 16 in any other season, majors or minors. Because
he never showed power and his average never really developed, either, Laudner
was never the full-time catcher after 1982, sharing the job with Dave Engle
(1983-84), Mark Salas (1985-1986), Sal Butera (1987), Tom Nieto (1987-1988),
and Brian Harper (1988-1989). Despite that, Laudner made the all-star
team in 1988. He was hitting .290 at the end of June that year, but fell
to .251 by year’s end. Laudner never played for another organization,
retiring after the 1989 campaign. He hit .225/.292/.391 with 77 homers in
2,038 at-bats. After his playing career ended, he worked in the heating
and air conditioning industry for a while, then got back into baseball.
Tim Laudner currently is as an instructor and part-owner of Big League Baseball
Camp in Minnetonka and also works as a part-time analyst for Fox Sports North.
Shortstop Donaldo Alfonso Mendez did not play
for the Twins, but was in their farm system for a couple of months in
2006. Born and raised in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, he signed with Houston
as a free agent in 1995. He stayed in the low minors and did not hit
anything until 2000, when he batted .270 and stole 39 bases for Class A
Michigan. His OPS was still only .683, but that was enough for San Diego
to take him in the rule 5 draft and keep him in the majors all season. A
reserve shortstop, he appeared in 46 games, got 118 at-bats, and hit
.153. Not surprisingly, he was back in the minors in 2002. He never
really did learn to hit; his lifetime average in the minors was .239, a figure
that falls to .228 when you take out his years in independent leagues. He
stayed with the Padres through 2003, getting another month in the majors in his
final year with them. He moved on to Pittsburgh in 2004 and San Francisco
in 2005. He was hitting .272 with Newark in the Atlantic League when the
Twins signed him on July 6, 2006. He went to Rochester and actually put
up very good numbers in limited playing time: in 19 games, he batted 29 times
and hit .270/.300/.621 with three homers. The Twins were not fooled, and
allowed him to become a free agent after the season. He played in
independent leagues through 2008, then ended his playing career. At last
report, Donaldo Mendez was working for the Gonzalez Sports Academy in San
Diego.
Right-hander Virgil Matthew Vasquez has not
played for the Twins, but was in their farm system from 2013-2014. Born
and raised in Santa Barbara, California, he was drafted by Detroit in the
seventh round in 2003. He was somewhat up and down in his minor league
career, but seemed to break through in 2007, going 12-5 in AAA with a 3.48 ERA
and a 1.11 WHIP. He appeared in five big-league games for the
Tigers that year, and while he did not do well in them, he still appeared
to be on his way. Instead, he went backward. He had a poor year in
AAA in 2008, was placed on waivers, and was selected by Boston. Before
the 2009 season started, he was waived twice more, being selected by San Diego
and then by Pittsburgh. The good news, of course, is that there was
always someone who wanted him. He did fairly well in AAA for the Pirates
and got back to the big leagues for nearly half the season. He spent over
a month in the Pittsburgh rotation, but again did not do well. After the
2009 season he was traded to Tampa Bay for a player to be named later. He
was okay, but nothing more, in AAA for the Rays and became a free agent
after the season. He signed with the Angels for 2011, but was
released in April and spent 2011 in the Atlantic League, with a couple of
starts in Australia. He was back in the Atlantic League in 2012, then
signed with Minnesota for 2013. He pitched for Rochester and was not
horrible but was not particularly good, either. In 2014 he spent most of
the year in New Britain, but he was a thirty-two-year-old pitching in AA.
He pitched in Mexico that winter and has pitched in Australia the last
two winters. However, he has also been the pitching coach of the GCL
Twins since 2015. If Virgil Vasquez is to stay in baseball, it appears
that it will be as a coach.
No comments:
Post a Comment