April 17

Alexander Cartwright (1820)
Cap Anson (1852)
Tom Needham (1879)
Jake Daubert (1884)
Buzz Arlett (1912)
Solly Hemus (1923)
Tsutomu Wakamatsu (1947)
Denny Walling (1954)
Craig Worthington (1965)
Marquis Grissom (1967)
Gary Bennett (1972)
Ryan Raburn (1981)
Jed Lowrie (1984)
Deolis Guerra (1989)

Alexander Cartwright was instrumental in developing the rules for the game of baseball.

Buzz Arlett was a star in the low minors from 1934-1941, and probably would have been for several more years had World War II not intervened.  He had a career average of .319 with a slugging average of .480, but never played above Class C.

Tsutomu Wakamatsu was a star in Japan from 1971-1989, making the all-star team eleven times.  His career average of .319 is second to Leron Lee on the all-time list of players with at least four thousand at-bats.

Right-hander Deolis Alexander Guerra did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for several years.  He was born in San Felix, Bolivar, Venezuela and signed with the Mets as a free agent in 2005 at the age of sixteen.  He had a good year in low A in 2006 but a poor year in high A in 2007.  Following that season, he was traded to the Twins along with Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, and Kevin Mulvey for Johan Santana.  He spent several years in the Twins system not doing much.  He never posted an ERA under four in any season and was generally over five.  The Twins promoted him to AA in 2009 and that's pretty much where he stayed through 2012.  He was a starter through 2010, then moved to the bullpen.  He missed most of 2013 due to an injury, finally got a full season in AAA in 2014, and then became a free agent, signing with Pittsburgh.  Amazingly, he had a tremendous year in the bullpen for AAA Indianapolis, going 2-1, 4 saves, 1.23 ERA, 0.79 WHIP in 36,2 innings (25 appearances).  The Pirates decided he'd finally found something and promoted him to the majors in late June.  He started out well, throwing seven shutout innings over four appearances, but got progressively worse and was sent down after a July 30 debacle in which he gave up six runs in an inning and a third.  That outing made his numbers look a lot worse than they would otherwise.  He was chosen by the Angels in the rule 5 draft and had a fine 2016 season for them, going 3-0, 3.21, 1.11 WHIP.  He spent about half of the 2017 season in the majors, and while he didn't repeat his 2016 line he still did decently enough in the majors and was excellent in AAA  A free agent after the season, he signed with Texas.  He had a good year with AAA Round Rock but did not get a call to the majors.  Again a free agent after the season, he signed with Milwaukee for 2019 and had another fine year in AAA but got only one major league appearance.  The Brewers waived him after the season and he was claimed by Philadelphia for 2020.  He made nine appears for them but did not pitch well and became a free agent after the season.  He signed with Oakland for 2021, was released in late March, but we re-signed the next day.  He has appeared in two games for them at this writing and has pitched well.  He turns thirty-two today.  He has appeared in 85 games (108 innings) and is 8-5, 4.67, 1.28 WHIP.  I'll say once more what I've been saying the last few years:  he'll obviously never be a star, but if he stays in the majors he won't be the worst pitcher there.