Pitcher Dave Barnhill was a four-time all-star in the Negro Leagues.
Pitcher Leon Day was a star in the Negro Leagues, primarily with the Newark Eagles.
Dave Leeper was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1978, but did not sign.
Right-hander James Evan Perry played for the Twins from 1963-1972. He is probably best remembered today as Gaylord Perry's brother, but that's unfair, because Jim Perry was a fine pitcher in his own right, winning 215 games in 17 seasons. He won a Cy Young award and finished third another time, made the all-star team three times, finished in the top ten in MVP voting twice, and twice led the league in wins. Born and raised in Williamston, North Carolina, Jim Perry attended Campbell University and was signed by Cleveland as a free agent in 1956. He pitched 551 minor league innings in only three years. Perry made the Indians out of spring training in 1959 and never spent another day in the minors. He made an immediate impact. Perry appeared in 44 games, 13 of them starts, won 12 games with a 2.65 ERA, and finished second to Bob Allison for Rookie of the Year. The next year, Perry was put into the starting rotation and led the league with 18 wins. In 1961 and 1962, however, the wins went down and the ERA went up, although his other numbers were similar enough to make one believe it may have been a change in luck more than anything. The Indians didn't look at it that way, however, and when Perry got off to a slow start in 1963 they traded him to the Twins for Jack Kralick. Perry was primarily a "swing man" for the Twins through 1968, but was placed in the rotation in 1969, at age 33, and went on to have his best years. Perry pitched over 260 innings each of the next three seasons. He won 61 games over that period, including 24 in his Cy Young season of 1970. He also led the league in starts that year with 40. He won only 13 games in 1972, but still had a fine year, with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He was 37 years old, however, and the Twins were looking both to get younger and to save money, so in March of 1973 Perry was traded to Detroit for Dan Fife and cash. He had another solid year for the Tigers, but was traded to Cleveland as part of a three-team trade that also involved the Yankees. He had another strong year in 1974, winning 17 games with a 2.96 ERA and pitching 252 innings at age 38. That was to be his last good year, however; Perry struggled at the start of 1975, was traded to Oakland in May, was released in August, and retired. Jim Perry pitched for the Twins for nearly ten years, going 128-90 with a 3.15 ERA and 61 complete games. He did some scouting for Oakland for a while, signing Terry Steinbach, among others. He also worked for Dial-Net, a long-distance telephone service. Perry sponsors the Jim Perry Legends Golf Classic to raise money for Alzheimer's and dementia care services. His son, Chris, was a golfer on the PGA tour. He is a member of the Twins Hall of Fame. Campbell University has named its baseball stadium in his honor. At last report, Jim Perry was living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Greensboro, North Carolina.
Shortstop Alfonso (Gonzalez) “Houston” Jimenez played for the Twins in 1983 and 1984. He was born in Mexico City. He played in Class A in the Cubs organization in 1975, hitting only .217 as a 17-year-old but drawing 105 walks. He then apparently spent a few years in the Mexican League. He shows up in AA briefly in 1978, playing in 13 games for the White Sox' organization. The Twins signed him in October of 1980, but sold him to Reynosa of the Mexican League near the end of 1981 spring training. The Twins bought him back from Reynosa in July of 1982 and sent him to Toledo. Jimenez never hit much: in parts of seven minor league seasons, his batting average was .227 with little power. He was considered a very good defensive player, however, and came up to the Twins in June of 1983. He was the semi-regular shortstop for the Twins in 1984, but hit about like you'd expect someone with a .227 average in the minors to hit, and was sent back down for 1985. The Twins released him in April of 1986. He presumably went back to Mexico that year, but he was with the AAA team of Pittsburgh in 1987 and Cleveland in 1988, getting 27 more at-bats in the big leagues in those years. As a Twin, Houston Jimenez had 384 at-bats and hit .195/.231/.247. After his playing career ended, he turned to coaching and managing. He has won over eight hundred games as a manager in the Mexican League. He is a member of the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.
Right-hander Byron Lee Tunnell made ten appearances for the Twins in 1989 at the end of a fairly respectable major league career. Born in Tyler, Texas, Tunnell attended Baylor and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round in 1981. He moved through the Pirates' system quickly; after going 12-9 with a 3.46 ERA for AAA Portland in 1982, he received a September call-up. He spent most of the next three years in Pittsburgh, with mixed results. After a solid year as a starter for the Pirates in 1983, in which he won 11 games and finished ninth in Rookie of the Year voting, Tunnell was moved to the bullpen for 1984, but did not do well there. He went back to the starting rotation in 1985 and pitched decently, but his record was 4-10, and that was apparently all Pittsburgh was interested in. The Pirates sent him down to AAA Hawaii for 1986, and after a poor year there they sold him to the Cardinals. He split 1987 between AAA and St. Louis, doing an adequate job out of the Cardinals bullpen. Returned to the starting rotation, he spent all of 1988 at AAA Louisville and was released after the season. The Twins signed him for 1989, and he pitched well for AAA Portland, spending about a month in the big leagues. Minnesota released him after the season, and he appeared in the minor leagues for Houston, Colorado, and Detroit and also spent three years pitching in Japan before calling it a career. As a Twin, Lee Tunnell pitched in 10 games, all in relief. He went 1-0 with an ERA of 6.00 in 12 innings. He always did fairly well as a starter; perhaps nothing would have changed, but one can't help but wonder how his career might have gone if the Pirates had just left him in their rotation in 1984. He got into coaching after his playing career ended. He was the minor league pitching coordinator of the Milwaukee Brewers until late July of 2012, when he became the Brewers' bullpen coach, a position he held through 2018. He was the Cincinnati Reds bullpen coach from 2019-2022. At last report, Lee Tunnell was a recruiting specialist for Baylor University. He also works with the OKC Ambassadors, an organization which lists as its goals helping baseball players develop as followers of Christ and helping those players be seen by major league and college scouts to advance their careers.
Right-hander Mark Steven Portugal began what turned into a substantial career with the Twins, pitching for them from 1985-1988. Born in Los Angeles, he went to high school in Norwalk, California and signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1980. He did well throughout his minor league career, coming to the Twins in August of 1985. He was with the Twins for most of 1986 and did a decent job as a sometimes starter, sometimes reliever. 1987, however, was a disaster. Portugal started the season with the Twins, and went 1-3 with an ERA of 7.77. Sent to AAA Portland, he went 1-10 with an ERA of 6.00 the rest of the year. He got straightened out in 1988, and again was with the Twins most of the year, doing a decent job as a middle reliever. The Twins, however, apparently decided he was never going to develop, and traded him to Houston in December of 1988 for Todd McClure. The Twins were wrong. Portugal started 1989 with AAA Tucson, but reached Houston by June and stayed there for five years. Used mostly as a starter, Portugal won 52 games for the Astros, three times posting ERAs under 3.00. His best year in Houston was 1993, when he made 33 starts, won 18 games, and posted an ERA of 2.77. He finished sixth in the Cy Young voting that year. Portugal became a free agent after that season, and signed with the Giants. His ERA went up when he left Houston, but he pitched fairly well for a year and a half with San Francisco. He was then traded to Cincinnati, for whom he posted an ERA just under 4.00 for another year and a half. He became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with Philadelphia. Portugal was injured much of 1997, but came back in 1998 to be an average starting pitcher. He moved on to Boston for 1999, but posted an ERA of 5.51 and was released. Cincinnati gave him another shot in 2000, but he failed to make the team and retired . As a Twin, Mark Portugal appeared in 72 games, 26 of them starts. He was 11-19 with a 5.13 ERA. For his career, however, he played in 15 seasons, won 109 games, had a 4.03 ERA and an ERA+ of 100, which is not too shabby. At last report, Mark Portugal was living in Barrington, Rhode Island.
Shortstop Jason Alan Bartlett played for the Twins from 2004-2006. and again in 2014. He was born in Mountain View, California, went to high school in Stockton, California, attended the University of Oklahoma, and was drafted by San Diego in the 13th round in 2001. He hit well at Class A in 2001, but after a slow start in 2002 he was traded to the Twins for Brian Buchanan. He worked his way up the system, hitting .296 at AA in 2003 and .331 at AAA in 2004. He spent about two weeks with the Twins in 2004, and was the regular shortstop for them for about six weeks in 2005. He hit only .240, however, and was returned to Rochester. After hitting .332 there, he was brought back to Minnesota late in the season and was the regular shortstop for the Twins the rest of the way. The Twins were still reluctant to trust him with the job, however, and come April of 2006, Bartlett was back in Rochester while Juan Castro played in Minnesota. After again hitting over .300, Bartlett was brought back to Minnesota, and this time did not return to the minors. He hit .309 the rest of the way, helping the Twins' improbable run into the playoffs. In 2007, however, he slumped to .265 and was traded that off-season, along with Eduardo Morlan and Matt Garza, to Tampa Bay for Brendan Harris, Jason Pridie, and Delmon Young. As a Twin, Jason Bartlett hit .272/.341/.362. He had three strong seasons for Tampa Bay, being named the MVP of the Devil Rays' World Series team in 2008 and making the all-star team in 2009. In 2010, however, his average fell to .254 and his OPS to .675. Traded to San Diego in 2011, he fell even farther, hitting .245 with an OPS of .615. In 2012, he appeared in only 29 games, batting .133, was released in August, and did not play in 2013. At that time, we wrote, "he turns 34 today, hasn't played since 2012, and hasn't played well since 2009. It is probably time for Jason Bartlett to move on to the next phase of his life." It was, but he didn't know it yet and neither did the Twins' front office. He signed with Minnesota for 2014 and made the Twins' roster out of spring training, but after a misbegotten attempt to make him an outfielder he retired in mid-April. At last report, Jason Bartlett was splitting time between Fort Myers and San Diego.
Outfielder Shane Michael Robinson played for the Twins in 2015. Born and raised in Tampa, he attended Florida State and was drafted by St. Louis in 2006. He didn't hit much until 2008, when he hit .352 in 244 at-bats in AA. Promoted to AAA, he didn't do much his first couple of years there, although he still spent a couple of weeks in St. Louis in May of 2009. He had a better year in AAA in 2010 and finally broke through in 2011, batting .299 in AAA and getting a September call-up. He has mostly been in the majors ever since. He has been a reserve outfielder all of that time. He was with the Cardinals through 2014, but they released him after that season and he signed with Minnesota. He was again a reserve outfielder for them, but got his first full season in the big leagues. He had 180 at-bats and hit .250/.299/.322, numbers that are actually a little better than his career numbers in the big leagues. He became a free agent after the season and signed with Cleveland for 2016. He was released in late March but signed with the Angels two days later. He was often used as a pinch-runner and/or defensive replacement, playing in 65 games but getting only 98 at-bats. He started 2017 in AAA but was called up in late May and had the same role with the Angels the rest of the season, playing in 20 games but getting just 31 at-bats. He signed with the Yankees for 2018 and was mostly at AAA, spending a little over a month in the majors and again serving as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement. He signed with Philadelphia for 2019 and had a solid season in AAA but did not get called up. He signed with Atlanta for 2020 but did not play for the Braves. He appeared in five games in the Mexican league in 2021, but that brought his playing career to an end. Shane Robinson was a coach for the San Antonio Missions in 2022 and was the outfield/baserunning coordinator for the Mets in 2023.
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