Monday, February 14, 2022

February 14

Joe Gerhardt (1855)
Arthur Irwin (1858)
Pretzels Getzien (1864)
Morgan Murphy (1867)
Candy LaChance (1870)
Bob Quinn (1870)
Earl Smith (1897)
Mel Allen (1913)
Red Barrett (1915)
Len Gabrielson (1940)
Ken Levine (1950)
Larry Milbourne (1951)
Will McEnaney (1952)
Dave Dravecky (1956)
Alejandro Sanchez (1959)
John Marzano (1963)
Kelly Stinnett (1970)
Damaso Marte (1975)
Tyler Clippard (1985)

Bob Quinn was a long-time executive for the St. Louis Browns, the Boston Red Sox, and the Boston Braves.  He was later the director of the Hall of Fame.

Ken Levine has been a broadcaster for Baltimore, San Diego, and Seattle.  He has also worked on a number of television programs, notably including "Cheers" and "Frazier".

John Marzano was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1981, but he did not sign.

There have been seven major league players with the last name "Valentine".  The most recent was Joe Valentine, a reliever for Cincinnati from 2003-05.  The best was Ellis Valentine, who played from 1975-83 and 1985, mostly for Montreal.  One was a manager, Bobby Valentine.

Infielder Lawrence William Milbourne played for the Twins for a little less than two months in 1982.  Born in Port Norris, New Jersey, he signed with Baltimore as a free agent in 1969.  He hit .305 in rookie ball, but that wasn't enough to satisfy the Orioles, who released him the next spring.  Milbourne was out of baseball in 1970, but signed with San Francisco for 1971.  He hit .301 in Class A and was selected by California that November in the Rule 5 draft.  Something was apparently worked out, because he was in AA for 1972.  Left unprotected again, he was selected by St. Louis in the next year's Rule 5 draft.  Again, something must have been worked out, because he was in AAA for 1973.  It was deja vu all over again that November; he was left unprotected and chosen in the Rule 5 draft, this time by Houston.  He stayed in the big leagues all of 1974, but was seldom used, getting most of his playing time as a defensive replacement for Tommy Helms.  He split the 1975 and 1976 seasons between Houston and AAA, getting about 150 major league at-bats both years.  Milbourne was traded to Seattle just before the 1977 season.  That trade enabled him to stick in the big leagues, as he was a reserve infielder for the Mariners for four seasons.  His best year as a Mariner was 1979, when he hit .278 in 356 at-bats.  Seattle traded Milbourne to the Yankees in November of 1980.  He had his highest average in the big leagues as a Yankee in 1981, hitting .313 in 163 at-bats.  In May of 1982, the Yankees sent Milbourne, Pete Filson, John Pacella, and cash to Minnesota for Roger Erickson and Butch Wynegar.  He was the Twins' starting second baseman for about a month but didn't hit, lost the job, and was traded to Cleveland on July 3 for Larry Littleton.  As a Twin, Larry Milbourne hit .235/.283/.265 in 98 at-bats.  He was the regular second baseman for Cleveland for the rest of the season and hit .275, but was sold to Philadelphia in 1983.  He was sold back to the Yankees in July of 1983, and was traded back to Seattle before the 1984 season.  He was a reserve infielder for the Mariners for all of 1984, went back to the minors in 1985, and was released in August, ending his career.  He then went into minor league coaching and managing, coaching for the Mets in the late 1980s and managing in the St. Louis organization in the early 1990s.  He also played in the Seniors' League in the late 1980s.  After that, however, Milbourne appears to have left baseball, and at last report was living in Vineland, New Jersey.  He is a member of the South Jersey Baseball Hall of Fame.

Outfielder Alejandro (Pimentel) Sanchez got 16 at-bats with the Twins in 1986.  He was born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, and signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1978.  He gradually worked his way through the Phillies' system, making his mark by batting .306 with 13 homers for AAA Oklahoma City in 1982.  That got him a September call-up.  He started 1983 with Philadelphia, but played in only two games, batting once, before being sent back to the minors.  He had a poor year there, but still got another September call-up.  It was his swan song in Philadelphia, however, as he was traded to San Francisco during spring training of 1984.  Sanchez had a tremendous year in Phoenix in 1984, hitting .318 with 26 home runs.  That got him a September call-up again, and it also got him another spring training trade, as he was sent to Detroit.  1985 was the closest he came to a full year in the majors, as he came up in late April and stayed the rest of the season.  He was strictly a reserve, however, batting only 133 times and hitting .248, although with six home runs.  In the off-season, Sanchez was sent to Minnesota with Chris Pittaro for Dave Engle.  He started the 1986 season with the Twins but played in only eight games in a month, going 2-for-16, before being sent back to AAA.  He became a free agent again after the season and signed with Oakland.  He hit .310 at AAA in 1987, but got only three at-bats in the big leagues, the last three he would have.  He was in AAA all of 1988, and then his playing career seemingly came to an end.  In 1997, however, he made a comeback of sorts, playing for two years in independent leagues before retiring again in 1998, this time for good.  At last report, Alejandro Sanchez was living in Passaic, New Jersey.

Right-hander Tyler Lee Clippard pitched for the Twins in 2020.  He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, went to high school in New Port Richey, Florida, and was drafted by the Yankees in the ninth round in 2003.  He reached AA in 2006, AAA in 2007, and made six starts for the Yankees in 2007 as a twenty-two-year-old, not doing very well.  He was traded to Washington after the season and spent almost all of 2008 in AAA, making just two starts for the Nationals.  The Nationals converted him to relieving in 2009 and he took to it immediately, dominating the International League before being promoted to the majors in late June.  He was a solid reliever for Washington through the 2014 season.  He got one shot at being a closer, in 2012 and it was his worst season with the Nationals, although it certainly wasn't awful:  2-6, 3.72, 1.16 WHIP.  He then started moving around.  He was traded to Oakland for 2015 and traded to the Mets at the July deadline that year.  He signed with Arizona as a free agent for 2016 and was traded to the Yankees at that year's July deadline.  He started 2017 with the Yankees but was again traded in July, this time to the White Sox.  A few weeks later he was traded again, to Houston.  He was with Toronto in 2018 and with Cleveland in 2019.  He struggled in 2017 but otherwise was a fine reliever through all those moves.  He signed with Minnesota  for 2020 and was again a fine reliever, going 2-1, 2.77, 0.89 WHIP with 26 strikeouts in 26 innings (and 26 games).  A free agent again, he signed with Arizona for 2021.  He missed half the season due to injury, but once healthy he had another fine year.  He turns thirty-seven today.  He is once again a free agent, but will presumably be part of someone's bullpen in 2022.

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