February 28

Terry Turner (1881)
Jud Wilson (1897)
Bob Howsam (1918)
George Maloney (1928)
Frank Malzone (1930)
Bill Haller (1935)
Marty Perez (1946)
Mark Wiley (1948)
Tom Gamboa (1948)
Jim Wohlford (1951)
Mike Milchin (1968)
Trent Oeltjen (1983)
Aaron Thompson (1987)
Aroldis Chapman (1988)
Niko Goodrum (1992)

Jud Wilson played in the Negro Leagues from 1922-1945 and had a lifetime batting average of .351.

Bob Howsam was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and helped put together the Big Red Machine.

George Maloney was an American League umpire from 1969-1983.

Bill Haller is the older brother of Tom Haller and was an American League umpire from 1963-1982.

Tom Gamboa was a minor league manager who won league championships twice and reached the playoffs four other times in a ten year career.  Unfortunately, he is best known as the Kansas City Royals coach attacked by two White Sox "fans" in Comiskey Park in 2002.

Right-hander Mark Eugene Wiley appeared in fifteen games for the Twins in 1975.  He was born in National City, California, went to high school in La Mesa, California, and attended Cal Poly-Pomona.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 1970.  He pitched very well in the lower minors but struggled when promoted to higher levels.  Wiley had been a starter in the minors, but was moved to the bullpen in 1974.  He both started and relieved in 1975 and had a big year, going 9-1, 2.15 in 92 innings.  Wiley came up to the Twins in mid-June and did not do well, going 1-3, 6.05 in 38.2 innings.  He went back to starting in Tacoma in 1976 and had a fairly good year, but the Twins released him in March of 1977.  San Diego signed him and sent him to AAA Hawaii, where he had a couple of unspectacular seasons.  He made four appearances with the Padres in 1978, and two for Toronto that same year (he was traded there in September).  He was in the minors for the Blue Jays in 1979 and was released in March of 1980.  While pitched for the Orioles' AAA affiliate in Rochester that year, and then his playing career came to an end.  Wiley went into managing and coaching.  He has been the pitching coach for Baltimore (1987, 2001-2004), Cleveland (1988-1991, 1995-1998), Kansas City (1999), and Florida (2005, 2008-2009).  After the 2009 season, Mark Wiley became a special assistant to the front office and a scout, positions he held through 2012.  In 2013, he moved to Colorado, where he is the Director of Pitching Operations for the Rockies.

Left-hander Michael Wayne Milchin was with the Twins for about three months in 1996.  He was born in Knoxville and attended Clemson.  Milchin was drafted by St. Louis in the second round in 1989.  He pitched well at the lower levels of the minors, but struggled when he reached AAA in 1991.  His third year of AAA, 1993, was not too bad, but by then the Cardinals had given up on him and placed him on waivers.  Milchin was claimed by the Dodgers.  He missed all of 1994 due to reconstructive elbow surgery, and was rather mediocre at AAA Albuquerque in 1995.  He became a minor league free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota for 1996.  He was adequate, but no more, in the Salt Lake bullpen, but was still called up to the Twins in mid-May.  Milchin made 26 appearances for Minnesota, all in relief, and went 2-1, 8.31 with a 1.99 WHIP in 21.2 innings.  He was waived in early August and taken by Baltimore, for whom he finished the season.  He was let go after that and his career was over.  Since then he became a player agent, and at last report was the managing partner of SFX Baseball Group.  At last report, he was living in Windermere, Florida.

Outfielder Trent Carl Wayne Oeltjen did not play for Minnesota, but he was in their farm system for several years.  He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and was signed by the Twins as a free agent in 2001.  He posted some solid batting averages in the minors, but with little power and not a lot of walks.  When he reached AAA, the batting average went away, too:  he hit only .238 at Rochester in 2007, and the Twins allowed him to become a minor league free agent.  Arizona signed him, and the move was good for Oeltjen.  He hit over .300 in consecutive years at Albuquerque and also improved his power numbers a little.  Oeltjen was called up to the majors in early August in 2009.  In 70 at-bats, he hit .243/.250/.457.  He was again allowed to become a free agent after the season, and signed a minor league contract with Milwaukee for 2010.  He hit .301 in AAA for the Brewers, but was still released in early July.  He signed with the Dodgers a few days later and finished the season in Albuquerque, where he hit .347 and earned a September call-up.  He began 2011 in Albuquerque, but came up to the Dodgers in mid-June after hitting .339 there.  He appeared in 61 games, the most of his career, but all but thirteen of those appearances were as a substitute.  Not surprisingly, his numbers suffered, as he hit only .197 in 71 at-bats.  He had another good year in AAA in 2012, batting .294 with an OPS of .831, but did not get called back to the Dodgers.  A free agent after the season, he became a free agent and signed with the Angels.  It was the same story:  a good year in AAA, but no call-up.  He became a free agent and signed with Arizona for 2014, but played little and was released in mid-May, finishing the season in the Mexican League.  He announced his retirement after that season, but played a couple of games of independent ball in 2016, played in the Australian League this off-season, and it appears may be playing for Australia in the World Baseball Classic.  In 747 games of AAA he hit .294/.358/.479, but never really got a chance in the majors.  No one ever promised that either baseball or life would be fair.  At last report, Trent Oeltjen was the owner, along with Ryan Rowland-Smith of NxtGen Baseball Camps, which operates in both the United States and Australia.

Left-hander Aaron Mitchell Thompson has played for the Twins since 2014.  He was born in Beaumont, Texas, went to high school in Houston, and was drafted by Florida in the first round in 2005.  He pitched well in rookie ball and in Class A, but has had no real success above that.  His best season above Class A was probably 2009, when we went a combined 5-12, 3.93 for the AA teams of Florida and Washington.  He struck out 102 in 146.2 innings, but posted a WHIP of 1.41.  He was traded to the Nationals' system at the trade deadline of 2009 for Nick Johnson.  He stayed there through the end of 2010, when he was claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh.  Despite having made only six career appearances in AAA (five starts), he was called up in late August of 2011 and appeared in four games, his only major league time to date.  He did about as well as one would expect, allowing six runs on thirteen hits and six walks in 7.2 innings for an ERA of 7.04.  The Twins signed him as a free agent in December of 2011.  He spent 2012 in New Britain but didn't get much accomplished, going 3-8, 5.23, 1.59 WHIP.  He moved to the bullpen in 2013, doing very well in 11 appearances in New Britain and not badly in 31 appearances in Rochester.  He spent 2014 pitching out of the Rochester bullpen and did not do anything noteworthy, but he got a September call-up anyway and did okay, posting a 2.45 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in 7.1 innings.  He spent the first half of 2015 with the Twins.  He did okay for the first month or two, but ultimately went 1-3, 5.01, 1.33 WHIP in 32.1 innings (41 appearances) and finished the year in Rochester.  He was released at the end of spring training of 2016 and spent the summer pitching for Sugar Land in the Atlantic League, but was nothing special there.  His totals with the Twins are 1-3, 4.54, 1.34 WHIP in 39.2 innings (48 appearances).  He did not play anywhere in 2017, so his playing career is presumably over.  No information about what Aaron Thompson is doing now was readily available.

Infielder/outfielder Cartier Niko Goodrum appeared in eleven games for the Twins in 2017.  Born and raised in Fayetteville, Georgia, he was drafted in the second round by Minnesota in 2010.  When one looks at his career, one has to conclude he simply didn't develop the way the Twins hoped he would when they drafted him in the second round.  He spent three years in rookie ball, and by 2012 still only had an OPS of .768--not bad, but not what you'd want, either.  From there, he went to Cedar Rapids in 2014, to Fort Myers in 2015, and to Chattanooga in 2016, batting around .250 and posting an OPS each season somewhere in the vicinity of .700.  Not terrible, really, but not numbers that suggest we're dealing with a big-league prospect here.  He went to Rochester in 2017 and had a similar season, batting .265/.309/.425, a better year than he'd been having but not outstanding by any means.  He got a September call-up and played in eleven games, three as a pinch-hitter and two as a pinch-runner.  He went 1-for-17 with a walk, giving him a stat line of .059/.111/.059.  It appears those will be his final numbers as a Twin, He became a free agent after the season and signed with Detroit for 2018.  He turns twenty-six today.  It's still possible that he'll figure something out--it would be unusual at this point, but not unprecedented.  And I don't mean to be too hard on him--he may be a nice guy, and I don't doubt that he's doing his best.  Unfortunately, sometimes your best just isn't good enough.