January 26

Francis Richter (1854)

Kaiser Wilhelm (1877)

Tubby Spencer (1884)

George Blaeholder (1904)

Charlie Gelbert (1906)

Bob Nieman (1927)

Ray Knoblauch (1928)
Bob Uecker (1934) 
Mike Pazik (1950)
Rick Schu (1962)
Jeff Branson (1967)
Esteban German (1978)
Andres Torres (1978) 
Ryan Rowland-Smith (1983)

Francis Richter was the editor of two  influential early baseball publications, the Sporting Life and the Reach Guide.

The father of Chuck Knoblauch, Ray Knoblauch pitched in the minors from 1948-1957, going 54-51.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Daneeka's Ghost.

Left-hander Michael Joseph Pazik appeared in 13 games for Minnesota from 1975-1977.  He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, attended high school there, and then went to Holy Cross, the most recent major league player to come from that school.  Pazik was drafted by the Yankees in the 13th round in 1971.  He was used as a starter in the Yankees' minor league system and pitched pretty well, but did not get a chance in the majors with them.  In May of 1974, Pazik was traded along with cash to Minnesota for Dick Woodson.  He pitched pretty well at AAA Tacoma and came to the Twins for about a month in 1975, but got little chance to play, appearing in five games (three starts) and pitching 19.2 innings.  Pazik made the Twins out of spring training in 1976, but again appeared in only five games (all in relief) before going back to AAA.  In 1977, Pazik again made the Twins out of spring training and pitched very well in three starts, but then was seriously injured in an automobile accident which broke both his legs, and missed the rest of the season.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with the White Sox.  He pitched well in the minors, but was not brought back to the big leagues.  Pazik started 1979 still in the White Sox' organization, moved on to Pittsburgh, and then ended his career.  His entire major league career was with Minnesota:  he was 1-4, 5.79 in 46.2 innings.  After his career ended, Pazik went on to coaching and managing, and was the pitching coach for the White Sox from 1995 to 1998.  At last report, Mike Pazik was a scout for Kansas City and was living in the Washington, D. C. area.  His daughter, Kristen Pazik, is a model and is married to Ukrainian soccer player turned politician Andriy Shevchenko.

Outfielder Andres Vungo (Feliciano) Torres did not play for the Twins, but was in the minor league system in 2006.  He was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and was drafted by Detroit in the fourth round in 1998.  He started slowly and never did show any power, but hit .296 for Class A Lakeland in 2000 and .294 for AA Erie in 2001.  He started 2002 as a platoon center fielder for the Tigers, but hit only .211 in ten games and went back to AAA, coming back in September.  He was in the majors over half of 2003 as a reserve but again didn’t hit.  There was really no reason to think he would, because he was pretty average in AAA in those years as well, hitting around .260.  He again started 2004 in the majors, but played in only three games and never batted before being released in late April.  The White Sox signed him and sent him to AAA, where he had a good season, batting .295.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Texas and got off to a good start in AAA, hitting .302 before being brought up to the majors in mid-May.  He played in only eight games as a reserve outfielder, going 3-for-19, before being release in mid-June.  The Twins signed him for 2006 and sent him to Rochester, where he hit .236/.333/.353.  He spent 2007 in AAA for Detroit and was in AAA again in 2008 with the Cubs.  He hit for a good average both years, but did not get a call to the majors, and at age 30 it appeared his career might be over.  He signed with San Francisco for 2009, and was in the majors for all but a month of the season, hitting .270 as a reserve.  In 2010, at age 32, he spent his first full season in the majors, starting 124 games at all three outfield positions, 73 in center, 38 in right, and 13 in left.  He actually hit well, batting .268/.343/.479 with 16 home runs.  He did not repeat that performance in 2011, however, batting only .221 with four home runs in 348 at-bats and starting only 78 games, all in center field.  He was traded to the Mets after the season and was their mostly-regular center fielder in 2012, starting 101 games.  Unfortunately, his batting did not improve, as he hit .230, although with a .327 OBP.  A free agent after the season, he returned to the Giants for 2013 and did about the same, raising his batting average a little but dropping his OBP.  He again became a free agent after the season and did not sign with anyone until mid-June, when the Red Sox signed him.  They sent him to AAA but he opted out of his contract six weeks later, bringing his playing career to an end.  At last report he was living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He was diagnosed with ADHD in 2002 and has since become a spokesperson to raise awareness of ADHD.  He is also involved in working with inner-city children.

Left-hander Ryan Benjamin Rowland-Smith never played for Minnesota, but was in spring training with them in 2005.  Born in Sydney, Austalia, he attended high school in Newcastle, Australia.  He was signed by Seattle as a free agent in 2000.  He alternated between starting and relieving through much of his early career.  Despite generally pitching well, he had not been above Class A through the 2004 season.  Following that season, Minnesota selected him in the Rule 5 draft; however, he did not make the team, and was returned to Seattle in late March.  He struggled in his AA debut in 2005, but did much better the second time around in 2006.  He split his time from 2007-2009 between Seattle and AAA Tacoma.  He was used in relief in 2007, but was converted back to starting in 2008.  He had pitched well in the majors through 2009, going 11-7, 3.62, 1.30 WHIP in 253.1 innings.  He appeared ready to be a major league starter in 2010, and was given every opportunity to be, but in 27 appearances, 20 of them starts, he went 1-10, 6.75, 1.69 WHIP.  He was, however, featured in a couple of humorous TV ads for Mariners baseball that season.  He was sent back to the minors for six starts and did not do much better there, going 2-4, 5.11.  He was a free agent after the season and signed with Houston for 2011.  He was released on April 1, but re-signed on April 4 and spent the season in the minors, where he did not pitch well.  He signed with the Cubs for 2012 and again spent the season in AAA, doing okay but nothing special.  He signed with Boston for 2013 and had a really good year in relief for AAA Pawtucket, became a free agent, and signed with Arizona for 2014.  He was released in late April, signed with Toronto, went to AAA, was released in mid-June, signed with Cincinnati a couple of weeks later, and was released again in early August.  He played with the EDA Rhinos in Taiwan in 2015.  That ended his summer baseball career, although he continued to play winter ball in Australia, where it was actually summer, through 2016.  He and Trent Oeltjen are co-owners of NxtGen Baseball, whose goal is to train and inspire the next generation of Australian baseball players.  He is also an analyst on Seattle Mariners games for Root Sports Northwest and 710ESPN in Seattle.