September 14

Kid Nichols (1869)

Jerry Doggett (1916)

Jerry Coleman (1924)

Jim Fanning (1927)

Stan Williams (1936)

Jerry Don Gleaton (1957)

Tim Wallach (1957)

Mike Durant (1969)

David Bell (1972)

Chad Bradford (1974)

Delmon Young (1985)

Andrew Vasquez (1993)

Jerry Doggett was a broadcaster for the Dodgers from 1956-1987.

Right-hander Stanley Wilson Williams played for the Twins from 1970-1971. He was born in Enfield, New Hampshire, went to high school in Denver, and was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a free agent in 1954. He was somewhat up and down in the minors, but after a strong 1957 at AAA St. Paul and a good start there in 1958, Williams was called up to the then Los Angeles Dodgers in May of 1958. He was with the Dodgers through the 1962 season, used mostly as a starter, but was traded in the 1962-63 off-season to the Yankees for Moose Skowron. He had a couple of seemingly solid years for New York, but apparently the Yankees weren’t impressed, because he was sold to Cleveland after the 1964 campaign. He spent most of 1965 and 1967 and all of 1966 in the minors, but made it back in 1968, putting in two good years for the Indians as a swing man. In December of 1969, Williams was traded to the Twins with Luis Tiant for Dean Chance, Bob Miller, Graig Nettles, and Ted Uhlaender. Used exclusively in relief for the Twins, he had a tremendous 1970, going 10-1 with a 1.99 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP in 113 innings. He did not repeat that in 1971, but was still decent; the Twins, however, were not, and so traded Williams to St. Louis on September 1 for Fred Rico and Dan Ford. As a Twin, he was 14-6, 2.87, 1.17 WHIP. He appeared in 114 games, pitching 191.1 innings. He pitched well for the Cardinals down the stretch, but was released after the season. He played briefly in the Angels organization and got back to the big leagues with Boston for three games in 1972. Stan Williams remained in baseball after his playing career ended, and was the pitching coach for Boston, the Yankees, Seattle, the White Sox, and Cincinnati. He also was a scout for Tampa Bay and Washington until his retirement in 2010.  Stan Williams is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

Catcher Michael Joseph Durant played in 40 games for the Twins in 1996. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 1991 draft out of Ohio State. He had a decent but unspectacular minor league career, with his best year coming in 1994, when he batted .297 with 24 doubles for AAA Salt Lake. Durant made the Twins out of spring training in 1996 and played 40 games for them in three stints with the team that totaled a little more than half the season. He was the third catcher, playing behind Greg Myers and Matt Walbeck, and batted .210/.293/.247 with 5 RBIs in 81 at-bats. Sent back to the minors, he played for Salt Lake again in 1997, but batted only .206, and retired after that season. At last report, Mike Durant was the facilities coordinator for D1 Sports Training in Columbus.

Outfielder Delmon Damarcus Young played for the Twins from 2008-2011. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, went to high school in Camarillo, California, and was chosen by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with the first pick of the 2003 draft. He hit extremely well at Class A and AA, not quite as well, but still solidly enough, in AAA. Young was named Baseball America’s 2005 minor league player of the year, and despite being suspended for 50 games in 2006 for throwing a bat which hit the home plate umpire, made his debut in the majors with Tampa Bay in August of that year. Young played in every game for the Devil Rays in 2007, batting .288 with 13 homers and 93 RBIs as a 21-year-old, finishing second to Dustin Pedroia in Rookie of the Year voting. That off-season he was traded to the Twins with Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie for Eduardo Morlan, Jason Bartlett, and Matt Garza. Young hit for a decent average as a Twin and hit double digit home runs in his first three seasons there. In 2010, he set career highs in doubles, home runs, and RBIs, leading some to think he was about to live up to the stardom predicted for him when we was chosen first in the draft.  In 2011, however, he went backward, and was traded to Detroit in mid-August for Cole Nelson and a player to be named later (Lester Oliveros).  He did well for the Tigers the rest of the season.  He was used mostly at DH by the Tigers in 2012, and while he wasn’t awful, he did not do enough offensively for someone who has no defensive value.   A free agent after the season, he signed with Philadelphia.  He was their regular right fielder for about three months, and while he again wasn't awful, he wasn't very good, either.  The Phillies released him in mid-August and he signed with Tampa Bay, getting called up to the majors in September.  A free agent once more after the season, he signed with Baltimore and did fairly well as a reserve in 2014.   One suspects Buck Showalter did a good job of playing him against pitchers he could hit.  That didn't help him in 2015, though; his numbers dropped and he was released in July.  That seemed to bring his playing career to an end, out of baseball at age twenty-nine.  He was charged with battery after an incident at a club in Miami in February of 2016, but the charge was dropped in May when his accuser failed to appear at a hearing.  In 2017, he came back to baseball, playing in the Australian League.  He played in the Mexican League in 2018 and had a good season.  As a Twin, Delmon Young batted .287/.324/.429 in three and a half seasons.  He turns thirty-three today.  He can probably play in the Mexican League a few more seasons if he wants to, but it seems very unlikely that we'll ever see him in the majors again.  I'm sure stranger things have happened, but off-hand I can't think of a whole lot of them.

Left-hander Andrew Jude Vasquez has pitched for the Twins in 2018.  Born and raised in Rancho Cucamonga, California, he attended the University of California at Santa Barbara and also attended Westmont College, also in Santa Barbara.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-second round in 2015.  He pitched really well in the low minors but remained in low Class A through 2017.  After a fine season in the Arizona Fall League he started 2018 in Fort Myers, went up to Chattanooga, was promoted to Rochester, and earned a September call-up.  His 2018 combined minor league numbers are 1-2, 1.30, 1.02 WHIP with 108 strikeouts in 69.1 innings.  He has made four major league appearances at this writing, pitching 1.2 innings.  He turns twenty-five today.  There aren't a whole lot of thirty-second round draft choices who have long major league careers, but given his numbers, there's a chance he may be the exception.