November 28

Heinie Pietz (1870)

Frank O'Rourke (1894)

Jerry Gardner (1920)

Wes Westrum (1922)

Sixto Lezcano (1953)

Dave Righetti (1958)

Walt Weiss (1963)

John Burkett (1964)

Matt Williams (1965)

Pedro Astacio (1969)

Robb Nen (1969)
Jose Parra (1972)
Carlos Villaneuva (1983)
Miguel Diaz (1994)

Jerry Gardner spent most of his life in baseball as a minor-league player and manager and as a scout.

We would also like to wish everyone a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Right-hander Jose Miguel Parra pitched for the Twins in 1995 and 1996. He may not have spent a lot of time in the majors, but he stretched that time over several years. Born in Jacagua, Dominican Republic, Parra was signed by the Dodgers as a free agent in 1989 at age 16. He had a good year in 1990 in the Gulf Coast League, but struggled quite a bit after that. Despite posting an ERA near five in just over a season at AAA, the Dodgers gave him about a month in the big leagues in June of 1995. At the end of July, Parra was traded to the Twins along with Ron Coomer, Greg Hansell, and Chris Latham for Mark Guthrie and Kevin Tapani. Parra was in the Twins' starting rotation through the end of 1995, and was in Minnesota for the bulk of 1996, beginning the year in the rotation and going to the bullpen after five starts. His time in Minnesota did not go well: he posted a 6.77 ERA in 131.2 innings. He was no better in AAA Salt Lake in 1997, and the Twins released him after that season. Parra did not give up, however; he went to Korea for a year, and was in Japan for another year. In 2000, he found himself back in the majors with Pittsburgh. It would be wonderful to report that he went on to big league success, but in reality he pitched about the same for the Pirates as he had for Minnesota, and was back in the minors a month later. He spent 2001 in the Mexican League, but in 2002 was back in the big leagues, getting a month with Arizona. He posted a 3.21 ERA in 16 relief appearances, but had a WHIP of 1.71. Returned to the minors, he went back to Mexico for 2003, but came back again in 2004, getting another month in the majors with the Mets. Parra again had a 3.21 ERA, but again had a high WHIP, and went back to AAA. He was back in Japan for 2005, and then ended his playing career. It took a long time, but he pitched in 82 major league games, which is something a lot of people wish they could say. He also is tied for an all-time batting record: most walks in a career without an official at-bat (2, tied with Ernie Rudolph). Jose Parra has been the pitching coach for the DSL Tigers from 2008-2018 and was the pitching coach for the GCL Tigers in 2019, but was let go after the season.  One would think that, with that much experience, he could probably get another job in baseball if he wants one, but he does not appear to have gotten one as of this writing.

Right-hander Miguel Angel Diaz did not play for the Twins, but was in their organization for part of December 8, 2016.  He was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic and signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in December of 2011.  He spent two years in the Dominican Summer League and two years in the Arizona Summer League, in both cases doing substantially better in his second year.  He spent 2016 with Class A Wisconsin, going 1-8, but posting an ERA of 3.71 and a WHIP of 1.18.  He was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and was claimed by Minnesota, but was traded to San Diego that same day for Justin Haley.  He started the season in the majors with the Padres, presumably because of the Rule 5 rules, but apparently was injured in late June.  He came back in September when the rosters expanded.  He clearly wasn't ready to be in the majors, posting an ERA of 7.34 in 41.2 innings.  He had a strong 2018 in AA El Paso, however, and while he didn't exactly shine when brought up to the majors he was a lot better, going 1-0, 4.82 in 18.2 innings.  He was apparently injured much of 2019, as he appeared in just fifteen games, five of them with the Padres in June.  He again didn't do much in the majors.  He turns twenty-five today.  If he's healthy, one assumes he'll start the season in AAA.  He's still young enough to develop, but he needs to get started pretty soon.