November 19

Billy Sunday (1862)

Everett Scott (1892)
Roy Campanella (1921)
Joe Morgan (1930)
Manny Jimenez (1938)
Larry Haney (1942)
Bobby Tolan (1945)
Bob Boone (1947)
Dickie Noles (1956)
Mike Winters (1958)
Gary Disarcina (1967)
Mario Valdez (1974)
Clay Condrey (1975)
Ryan Howard (1979)
Jeff Gray (1981)
Jonathan Sanchez (1982)
Michael Tonkin (1989)

The Joe Morgan listed above is not Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. The Joe Morgan born today is the Joe Morgan who once managed the Red Sox.

Larry Haney is the cousin of ex-Twin Mike Cubbage.

Mike Winters has been a major league umpire since 1990.

First baseman/outfielder Mario A. Valdez did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for about four months in 2000. He was born in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, went to high school in Hialeah, Florida, and was drafted by the White Sox in the forty-eighth round in 1993. He had some fine seasons in the minors, hitting .330 with 13 homers in a 1996 split between A and AA and .330 with 20 homers in Calgary in 1998. He was in the majors for a little less than half of 1997, allowing Frank Thomas to spend time at the DH spot. He got 115 at-bats, hitting .243/.350/.330. Despite his 1998 AAA season, he never got another chance with Chicago and was allowed to become a free agent after the 1999 campaign. The Twins signed him and sent him to AAA Salt Lake, where he hit .366 with 18 homers through the end of July, at which point he was traded to Oakland for Danny Ardoin. He got a September call-up with the Athletics in 2000 and started 2001 in Oakland. He was used largely as a pinch-hitter and hit .278 in 54 at-bats, but was sent back to AAA in June and never got back to the majors. He stayed in the Athletics’ organization through 2002, played in AAA for San Diego in 2003, went to Japan in 2004, then went to Mexico, where he continued to hit well.  He played sparingly in 2013 and 2014, played in winter ball in 2014-15, and then his playing career came to an end. There were surely reasons he didn’t play more in the majors, but it seems like he could have helped somebody if he’d been given a chance.  At last report, Mario Valdez was living in Sonora, Mexico.

Right-handed reliever Clayton Lee Condrey did not play for the Twins, but was on their disabled list in 2010. He was born in Beaumont, Texas, went to high school in Navasosta, Texas, and then attended McNeese State, the same college attended by ex-Twin Danny Ardoin. He signed with San Diego as a free agent in 1998. He was strictly a relief pitcher through 2001, pitching well in the low minors but not so well above Class A. He never pitched as many as ninety innings in a season in those years, averaging around 55 innings. He became a starter in 2002 and did well, going 10-4, 3.50, 1.26 WHIP for AAA Portland. He made his major league debut in late August and continued to do well, posting an ERA of 1.69 and a WHIP of 1.05 in 26.2 innings. Condrey began 2003 as the Padres’ fifth starter, but flopped and was sent back to AAA in May. In late March of 2004, Condrey was sent to Philadelphia as part of a “conditional deal.” He had a couple of mediocre years at AAA for the Phillies, but they did not give up on him, instead shifting him back to the bullpen for 2006. Now 30, he suddenly flourished there, spending nearly half of 2006 and almost all of 2007 in the majors. He had two full seasons in the majors in 2008 and 2009 and did very well, posting a combined ERA of 3.16 in 111 innings. A free agent after the 2009 campaign, he signed with Minnesota but was injured in spring training, missing the entire season except for 9.1 innings on an aborted minor league rehab assignment.  That brought his playing career to an end.  He apparently is now giving private pitching instruction to young players through OOSinker Pitching Lessons.

Right-handed reliever Jeffrey Michael Gray pitched for the Twins in 2012.  He was born in Texas City, Texas, went to high school in Wildwood, Missouri, attended Missouri State University, and was drafted by Oakland in the thirty-second round in 2004.  He became a reliever for good in 2006 and was rather up and down in his minor league career.  He first reached the majors as a September call-up in 2008 and got over two months in the majors in 2009.  He did pretty well in 2009, but was traded to the Cubs after the season.  He started the year in Chicago but was in AAA by early May and spent the rest of the year there.  He got his first full season in the majors in 2011, but with two different teams:  the White Sox had signed him as a free agent in November of 2010, waived him in mid-May, and he was claimed by Seattle.  He did not have a very good year, was waived again, and was claimed by Minnesota for 2012.  He appeared in 49 games and was 6-1, which is the good news.  The bad news is that he posted an ERA of 5.71 and a WHIP of 1.54.  He was again a free agent after the season, signed with the White Sox, went to AAA, and was released in mid-July, bringing his playing career to an end.  It may not have been a great career, but he appeared in 115 games over five big league seasons, which is not bad for a thirty-second round draft choice.  There are a lot of people in the world named Jeff Gray, and several of them are involved in baseball in some capacity.  No information about what our Jeff Gray is doing now was readily available.

Right-handed reliever Michael Harvey Tonkin as pitched for the Twins from 2013-2017.  He was born in Glendale, California, went to high school in Palmdale, California, and was drafted by Minnesota in the thirtieth round in 2008.  He was primarily a starter through 2010 and did not do badly in that role, but became a relief pitcher in 2011.  He did not reach AA until 2013, but was promoted to AAA that same season and ended the year in the majors.  He pitched very well for the Twins in 11.1 innings, going 0-0, 0.79, 1.06 WHIP with three walks and ten strikeouts.  He started 2014 in the majors and pitched very well in April, but stumbled in May and was sent to AAA. returning as a September call-up.  He split 2015 pretty evenly between AAA and the majors, pitching extremely well in AAA and not badly in Minnesota.  He was with the Twins for all of 2016 and started the season quite well, but ultimately did not have a good season, although he did strikeout quite a few batters.  At that time, we said, "He has a good chance to be in the Twins' bullpen at the start of 2017, but he's probably going to have to pitch better than last year if he wants to stay there."  Well, he was in the Twins' bullpen at the start of 2017, but he didn't pitch better and he didn't stay there, regardless of how much he may have wanted to.  He was with the Twins for about five weeks and then went back to Rochester, where he pitched very well and earned a spot as a September call-up.  The Twins released him after the season, however.  As a Twin, he was 3-3, 4.43, 1.43 WHIP, 4.57 FIP in 146.1 innings (141 games).  He went to Japan for 2018 and had a solid season in the Nippon Ham Fighters bullpen.  He turns twenty-nine today.  He would probably get at least a minor league contract if he came back, but it appears that he intends to remain in Japan for the 2019 season.