August 23

George Davis (1870)

Guy Bush (1901)

Lonny Frey (1910)

Nels Potter (1911)
Carl Pohlad (1915)
Dale Mitchell (1921)
George Kell (1922)
Sherm Lollar (1924)
John Romano (1934)
Marty Martinez (1941)
Ron Blomberg (1948)
Jerry White (1952)
Mike Boddicker (1957)
Julio Franco (1958)
Randy St. Claire (1960)
Casey Blake (1973)
Mark Bellhorn (1974)

Carl Pohlad, of course, was the owner of the Twins from 1984 until his death in 2009.

Infielder Orlando (Oliva) “Marty” Martinez played in 37 games for the Twins in 1962.  He was born in Havana, Cuba and was signed by Washington as a free agent in 1960.  An infielder, he made his major league debut in 1962 with the Twins as a bench player, appearing in 37 games but getting only 24 plate appearances, batting .167/.286/.278.  Sent back to the minors, Martinez did not start to hit until 1966, when he hit .313 as a 24-year-0ld at AAA Denver.  That was good enough to get him noticed, and the Atlanta Braves selected him at the end of the season in the Rule 5 draft.  Martinez spent the next six years in the big leagues, mostly as a reserve.  His only year as a semi-regular was in 1968, when he got 356 at-bats with the Braves and hit .230.  Traded to Houston that off-season for Bob Aspromonte, Martinez had his best year in 1969, batting .308 in 198 at-bats.  It did not translate into any more playing time, however, and after two less-productive seasons he was traded to St. Louis.  Martinez played for three teams in 1972, St. Louis, Oakland, and Texas, totalling only 88 at-bats.  Martinez then turned to coaching and managing, first as a player-coach, then taking a full-time job on the bench.  He managed in the Texas and Seattle organizations in the minor leagues, coached for Seattle at the major-league level, and was interim manager for Seattle for one game in 1986.  Marty Martinez passed away on March 8, 2007.

Outfielder Jerome Cardell White did not play for the Twins, but coached for them for several years.  He was born in Shirley, Massachusetts, went to high school in San Francisco, and was drafted by Montreal in the fourteenth round in 1970.  He quietly progressed about a level a season, never particularly standing out but never having a really bad year, either.  He got a September call-up in 1974 and started 1975 in Montreal as a rarely-used reserve; through May 20 he had played in fifteen games and gotten six at-bats.  The Expos finally decided that wasn’t particularly useful so they sent him back to AAA Memphis, where he hit .297 with ten homers at AAA Memphis.  He was again called up in September, was given a chance to play, and went on to hit over .300 the rest of the year.  He got his first full major league season in 1976, but could not take advantage of it, hitting only .245 as a part-time player.  White was back in AAA in 1977, getting just a September call-up.  He started 1978 in Montreal, but it was a rerun of 1975; through May 20, he played in eighteen games and had ten at-bats.  He was sent down and then traded to the Cubs in late June.  He stayed in the majors the rest of that season, but then the Cubs sent him back to the Expos.  He finally stuck with Montreal in 1979, staying through 1983.  Used as a reserve outfielder and pinch-hitter, he only once got as many as 200 at-bats and his averages varied quite a bit.  He became a free agent after the 1983 season and went to Japan for a couple of years, coming back to the United States with St. Louis in 1986.  That was his swan song; he batted twenty-four times, getting three hits, and was released in mid-June, ending his playing career.  He joined the Twins’ organization in 1987 as a roving outfield and baserunning coach.  He was with the Twins from 1987-2012 other than 1997, when he was the first base and baserunning coach for Detroit.   He was the Twins’ first base coach in 2012, but was let go after the season.  At last report, Jerry White was not working in baseball, and was enjoying his hobby of restoring classic cars.  He is a member of the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.

Pitcher Randy Anthony St. Claire was with the Twins in 1989.  He was born in Glens Falls, New York, and was signed by the Montreal Expos as a free agent in 1978.  He stuggled in his first few years in the minors, but got things going in 1983, and earned a September callup to Montreal in 1994.  St. Claire bounced back and forth between AAA and Montreal until 1988, when he was traded to Cincinnati in a deal that also included ex-Twin Jeff Reed.  Released by the Reds at the end of spring training 1989, the Twins quickly signed him.  He again split the season between AAA and the majors, pitching well in Portland, but not so well in Minnesota.  St. Claire spent all of 1990 at AAA with Texas and Houston, 1991-92 bouncing between AAA and Atlanta, 1993 in AAA with Atlanta, Seattle, and Toronto, most of 1994 at AAA with a two-game cup of coffee with Toronto, and 1995 at AAA with Pittsburgh.  In all that bouncing around, he always pitched well in AAA (3.38 ERA), and not all that badly in the majors, really (4.14 ERA, 1.37 WHIP).  St. Claire never spent a full season in the big leagues, but he was there in parts of nine seasons.  As a Twin, he was 1-0 with a 5.24 ERA in 22.1 innings.  Randy St. Claire also got into coaching at the end of his playing days, and was the pitching coach for the Montreal/Washington franchise for 6 1/2 years until he was fired in June of 2009.  He was the pitching coach for the Miami Marlins from 2010-2012.  Randy St. Claire was the pitching coach for the Las Vegas 51s in the Mets organization in 2013 and was been the pitching coach for the Buffalo Bisons in the Toronto organization in 2014-15, after which he retired.  His father, Ebba St. Claire, was a major league catcher from 1951-1954.  His brother, Steve St. Claire, was an outfielder in the Expos organization from 1984-1988.  He is the uncle of the professional wrestler known as Ryback.

Third baseman William Casey Blake played for the Twins from 2000-2002.  He was born in Des Moines, went to high school in Indianola, Iowa, went to Wichita State, and was drafted in the seventh round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1996.  He struggled his first two years in the minors, then had a big year in 1998 hitting a combined .357 with 18 homers and 103 RBI, although as a 24-year-old at advanced A and AA.  Promoted to AAA in 1999, Blake hit only .245, although with 22 home runs.  He played 14 games with Toronto that year, but was back in AAA at the start of 2000, and batting only .217 there, when he was taken off waivers by the Twins in June.  The move seemed to help him, as he hit .317 with AAA Salt Lake and made a brief appearance in Minnesota.  2001 was similar, with Blake hitting well in Edmonton and appearing briefly with the Twins.  Blake was put on waivers in September of that year, and selected by Baltimore,  He played for the Orioles the rest of the season, but was again waived in October and the Twins took him back.  Blake again played mostly for Edmonton, with a brief appearance in Minnesota, in 2002.  As a Twin, he hit .241/.338/.310 in 58 at-bats.  Released by the Twins after that season, he signed with Cleveland, where he became the regular third baseman at the age of 29 and stayed there for all but one of the next 5 1/2 seasons (he played right field one year).  In July of 2008, Blake was traded to the Dodgers.  He played well for them through 2009, but struggled in 2010 and became a part-time player in 2011.  He signed with the Rockies for 2012 but was released in late March, could not find another playing job, and announced his retirement in early May.  Casey Blake was never a star, but he was a solid major league regular for several years.  Blake lives in both Indianola and Los Angeles.  He owns Casey Blake Baseball Camps of Indianola.