Goose Goslin was a star for the franchise in the 1920s, when it played in Washington.
Better known as a basketball player, Dave DeBusschere pitched for the White Sox from 1962-1963.
It clearly doesn't mean anything, but it seems like kind of an odd coincidence that Brian Harper and Bryce Harper were born on the same day.
Catcher Brian David Harper played for the Twins from 1988-1993. He was born in Los Angeles, went to high school in San Pedro, California, and was drafted by the Angels in the fourth round in 1977. He hit very well in the minors, but it took him a long time to advance. Harper hit .314 with 14 homers at AA El Paso in 1979, and was made to repeat AA the next year. In 1981, Harper hit .350 with 28 homers and an OPS of 1.006 at AAA Salt Lake; he found himself back in AAA the next season. He also found himself no longer a catcher, as he was converted to the outfield. Harper was traded to Pittsburgh in the 1981-82 off-season. He had made brief appearances with the Angels in 1979 and 1981, and made another brief appearance with the Pirates in 1982. He spent the next three full seasons in the big leagues, two with Pittsburgh and one with St. Louis, but averaged fewer than 100 at-bats per season. The Cardinals released him at the end of spring training in 1986. He signed with Detroit and was back in AAA again, although he did spend about a month with the Tigers. 1987 was a similar story: released at the end of spring training, he signed with Oakland and was again at AAA, spending about a month with the A's. It looked like 1988 might be the same thing again: released by Oakland, he signed with Minnesota and again started the season in AAA. This time, however, he was promoted to the majors in late May and he stayed there. He was a semi-regular catcher for the Twins in 1988, and took over full-time duties the next year. Finally given an opportunity at age 28, Harper took advantage of it, batting over .290 for seven consecutive seasons and playing an instrumental role in the Twins' World Championship team of 1991. An excellent contact hitter, Harper twice led the league in most at-bats per strikeout and never fanned more than 29 times in a season. A free agent in 1994, he signed with Milwaukee, where he became the regular catcher and continued to hit well until late June, when he was hit by a pitch and fractured his wrist, missing the rest of the season. Harper signed with Oakland for 1995, but played only two games for them before retiring. Brian Harper spent six years with the Twins, batting .306/.342/.431 in 2,503 at-bats, with an OPS+ of 110. Since his playing career ended, he has turned to coaching and managing. He was first in the Angels organization but moved to the Giants’ organization in 2008, serving as their roving minor-league catching instructor for two years. In 2010 he was the manager of the San Jose Giants, but then moved to the Cubs chain, serving as the manager of the Tennessee Smokies in 2011 and of the Daytona Cubs in 2012. He was the batting coach of the Iowa Cubs since 2013-16. He then moved to the Tigers' organization and was the batting coach of the Erie SeaWolves in 2019. He was let go after the season, however, along with five other minor league coaches. At last report, Brian Harper was an instructor with the Players Choice Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Outfielder Darren A. Douglass Reed played in fourteen games for the Twins in 1992. He was born in Ojai, California, went to high school in Ventura, California, and was drafted by the Yankees in 1984 in the third round of the June draft's secondary phase. He repeated both Class A and Class AA, hitting over .300 in his second year at both levels. He was traded to the Mets after that second year of AA, and was promoted to AAA. He repeated that level, too, but did not have the same success in his second year. In his third year of AAA, in 1990, he hit .265 with 17 home runs, which was enough to get him promoted to the majors for two months. He was traded to Montreal in 1991, but was apparently injured that year, as he did not play at all. He came back in 1992, starting the year in AAA but being promoted to the Expos in May. He remained with Montreal as a reserve catcher until the end of August, when he was traded to the Twins for Bill Krueger. He was with the Twins through the end of the season, playing in 14 games, and then was traded to the Mets for Pat Howell. He missed all of the 1993 season, and then came back for two seasons at AAA, one for Pittsburgh and one for Atlanta. He played in the Northern League in 1996, then called it a career. Darren Reed had 33 at-bats as a Twin, batting .182 with no home runs and four runs batted in. It appears that he has had a number of health problems, although it does not appear that any of them are life threatening. No information about what Darren Reed is doing now was readily available.
Second baseman Jonathan Rufino Jezus Schoop played for the Twins in 2019. He was born in Willemstad, Curacao, and was signed by Baltimore as a free agent in August of 2008. He came up through the Orioles organization at about a level a year, which is fairly aggressive for someone who made his pro debut at seventeen. He reached the majors as a September call-up in 2013 at age twenty-one and has been there ever since, other than a couple of rehab assignments. He had some solid years for the Orioles, with the best coming in 2017. He batted .293 with an OPS of .841 and 32 home runs that season, making the all-star team. He had a poor year in 2018, however, was traded to Milwaukee at the July deadline, and became a free agent after the season. Minnesota signed him and made him their regular second baseman. He did a solid job for the Twins, but the emergence of Luis Arraez cut into his playing time. Still, he batted .256/.304/.473 with twenty-three homers, which isn't bad at all. He became a free agent again after 2019 and signed with Detroit for 2020. He had two solid seasons for them, batting .278 both years with an OPS in the mid-to-upper .700s. In 2022, however, he batted just .202 with an OPS of .561. He lost his starting job in 2023, again did not hit, and was released in mid-July. He did not sign with anyone. If he still wants to play it's possible that someone will give him a look in spring training. It seems more likely, however, that Jonathan Schoop's playing career is over. We wish him well in whatever the next phase of his life holds for him.
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