March 3

John Montgomery Ward (1860)

Wee Willie Keeler (1872)

Ed Phelps (1879)

Tetsuya Yoneda (1938)

Paul Schaal (1943)

Rick Reed (1950)

Chuck Cary (1960)

Neal Heaton (1960)

Marvin Hudson (1964)

Scott Radinsky (1968)

Mike Romano (1972)

Matt Diaz (1978)

Jorge Julio (1979)

Tetsuya Yoneda is the second-winningest pitcher in Japanese professional baseball with 350 victories.

The Rick Reed whose birthday is today is the major league umpire from 1979-2009, not the ex-Twin.

Marvin Hudson has been a major league umpire from 1979-2009.

Left-hander Neal Heaton pitched for the Twins for part of 1986.  He was born in South Ozone Park, New York, went to high school in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, and attended the University of Miami.  He was drafted by Cleveland in the second round in 1981.  He was in the minors only two years, at AA at age 21 and AAA at age 22.  His numbers aren't great, but not bad considering his age.  He got a September call-up in 1982, and was in the majors to stay at the beginning of 1983.  He started the season in the bullpen, pitched fairly well, and was in the starting rotation by mid-July.  Heaton was hyped pretty hard at the time, but never really lived up to it.  In roughly three years in the Cleveland rotation, he never put up an ERA under 4.2 or a WHIP under 1.4.  On June 20, 1986, Neal Heaton was traded to Minnesota for John Butcher.  He began his time as a Twin in the bullpen, but after four appearances was moved back to the rotation.  He was not awful as a Twin:  4-9, but with a 3.98 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP.  In February of 1987, however, Heaton was traded to Montreal along with Al Cardwood, Yorkis Perez, and Jeff Reed for Tom Nieto and Jeff Reardon.  He had two relatively undistinguished years as an Expo, then was traded to Pittsburgh prior to the 1989 season.  His seasons as a Pirate were the best of his career:  in three years, he was 21-19, 3.46 with a 1.26 WHIP.  After a down year in 1991 he was traded to Kansas City.  The Royals released him in July, he finished the year with Milwaukee, and was released again after the season.  He signed with the Yankees for 1993 and was released one more time in July, ending his career.  At last report, Neal Heaton was living in East Patchogue, Long Island and was producing articles and videos for Axcess Baseball, a baseball media company based in Long Island.

Right-hander Michael Desport Romano did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for about three months in 2000.  He was born in New Orleans, went to high school in Chalmette, Louisiana, attended Tulane, and was drafted by Toronto in the third round in 1993.  A starting pitcher early in his minor league career, he progressed at about a level a year, reaching AAA in 1997.  This progression came despite the fact that, statistically at least, he doesn’t appear to have done very much; he did not post an ERA below four nor a WHIP below 1.4 after 1994 in Class A.  He both relieved and started for Syracuse in 1997 and 1998.  Returned to the rotation full-time in 1999, he had a comparatively good season in AAA, going 12-8, 4.13, 1.40 WHIP.  He got a September call-up, pitching 5.1 innings over three games for the Blue Jays and allowing eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and five walks.  Those would turn out to be his career totals.  He got off to a good start in Syracuse in 2000 and was traded to Minnesota in mid-June for Francisco Alvarez.  He pitched poorly in AAA Salt Lake, going 7-6, 6.14, 1.59 WHIP in 16 starts.  A free agent after the season, he was signed by Atlanta for 2001 but was released in spring training.  He went to the Mexican League for most of the next three years, throwing the first postseason no-hitter in League history in 2001.  He was having a good season there in 2003 when he was purchased by the Braves in mid-August and sent to AAA Richmond.  He had a fine season for Richmond in 2004, going 13-5, 3.42, but at age 32 he was no longer considered a prospect and was not called up to the majors.  He then went overseas, pitching in Japan in 2005-2006 and in Korea in 2007.  He was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000.  At last report, Mike Romano was the owner of Romano's Baseball Instructions, offering baseball instruction to kids of all ages in the New Orleans area.