Bob Clear was in baseball from 1945-1987 as a minor league player and manager, major league coach, and as a scout.
Outfielder Thomas Peter Whisenant was one of the original Minnesota Twins, although he didn't stay long. He was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and signed with the Boston Braves as a free agent in 1947. He began his professional career as a 17-year-old, and naturally needed a few years to get going. In 1950, however, he had a big year for Class A Denver, hitting .312 with 24 home runs. Whisenant did not play at all in 1951 due to military service. He split 1952 between Boston and AAA, although he did not particularly excel at either level. Whisenant was in AAA through May of 1955, but when he hit .333 with 13 homers in two months at Toledo, he was traded to St. Louis. The Cardinals promoted him to the big leagues, but he struggled and was traded again after the season, this time to the Cubs. Whisenant got by far the most playing time of his career that season--it was the only time he played in over 90 games (103) or had more than 210 at-bats (314). He didn't do much with it, though, hitting .239 (the highest season average of his career) with 11 homers, and after the year he was on the move again, this time traded to Cincinnati. He stayed with the Reds through April of 1960, was sold to Cleveland, and two weeks later was traded to the Washington Senators for Ken Aspromonte. He came to Minnesota with the Twins in 1961. He played in ten games for them, going 0-for-6 with a walk, and was released in mid-May of 1961. He was signed by Cincinnati, batted 15 times in three months, and then was released, his career over. Looking at his stats, it's hard to figure out how he hung around so long; not only does he not seem to have any one outstanding skill, he really doesn't even appear to have been average at anything. That's probably too harsh, because there has to be some reason he got nearly 1000 at-bats in the big leagues, but that reason is not readily apparent. After his retirement he became a coach for the Reds for a while; nearly twenty years later, he came back to baseball, managing in the Oakland system in the early 1980s. Pete Whisenant passed away in Port Charlotte, Florida on March 22, 1996.
Left-handed pitcher James Ivan Roland played for Minnesota in the 1960s. Born in Franklin, North Carolina, Roland went to high school in Raleigh and signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1961. A starting pitcher in the minors, Roland had a couple of fine years with Class B Wilson, getting a September call up in 1962, when he pitched two scoreless innings. He was with the Twins for all of 1963 and 1964, but probably suffered some injuries both years, as he went for long stretches without being used both years. Despite pitching well enough when he did pitch, Roland was sent to AAA Denver for all of 1965 and nearly all of 1966. He had a poor year in 1966, losing 19 games and posting a 4.80 ERA with a 1.59 WHIP. Roland again apparently battled injuries at the beginning of 1967, and when he returned he was in the Minnesota bullpen. He pitched well there for two years, posting ERAs in the low to mid threes and WHIPs of 1.3 to 1.4. In February of 1969, Roland was sold to Oakland. He was in the Athletics bullpen for a little over three years and did even better, with an ERA of 2.51 and a WHIP of 1.21. In late April of 1972 he was again sold, this time to the Yankees. He pitched poorly in limited duty over four months in New York, was traded to Texas in late August, and was out of baseball after the season. As a Twin, Jim Roland was 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP in 244.2 innings. Following his playing career he worked for E. C. Frazier & Associates, a sporting goods wholesaler. Jim Roland passed away from cancer on March 6, 2010 in Shelby, North Carolina.
Catcher Jerry Lee May did not play for the Twins, but he went to spring training with them in 1974. He was born in Staunton, Virginia, and signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 1961. He had a couple of very good years in Class D ball, but never hit very much when he advanced to higher levels. He was reputed to be a very good defensive catcher, which is how he managed to have a substantial major league career despite a weak bat. He got a September call-up in 1964, another in 1965, and then was in the majors to stay. He was the third catcher for the Pirates in 1966, behind Jim Pagliaroni and Jesse Gonder, but became the mostly regular in 1967, when he had his best year at bat, hitting .271. He got the most playing time of his career in 1968, but slumped to .219 and was never a regular catcher again. He played for several more years, though, backing up Manny Sanguillen in 1969 and 1970, then getting traded to Kansas City, where he shared catching duties with several players. He was sold to the Mets in May of 1973, was released in July, and was picked up by Pittsburgh for the remainder of the season. Most of that season was spent in AAA, however, and he was let go after the campaign was over. Minnesota signed him for 1974, but he could not beat out such luminaries as Glenn Borgmann, Phil Roof, and an aging Randy Hundley. He failed to make the team, and his playing career was over. Jerry May apparently retired to his home state of Virginia. He passed away in Swoope, Virginia, in 1996 at age 52 as the result of a farming accident.
Catcher Marcus Christian Jensen was with the Twins for the first four months of the 2000 season. A native of Oakland, he went to high school there and was drafted by San Francisco in the first round in 1990. He spent a year in rookie ball and four years in A ball before being promoted to AA in 1995 and AAA in 1996. He played briefly (nine games) in the big leagues in 1996, and for six years after that he spent part of each year in the majors and part in AAA. He was with a lot of organizations during that time. Jensen was traded to Detroit in July of 1997, was released six days later, was re-signed four days after that. He was released by the Tigers again in March of 1998 and signed with Milwaukee for that season. He moved on to St. Louis in 1999, became a free agent after the season, and signed with Minnesota for 2000. He was with the Twins through the end of July, hitting .209/.325/.338 in 139 at-bats. It was the most he would ever play in a major league season. He was then sent back to AAA Salt Lake, and once again became a free agent at the end of the year. He played for the 2000 Olympic team, and went to spring training with Dodgers, but failed to make the team. Boston picked him up, then waived him in mid-June. He was selected by Texas finished 2001 there, and then went to Milwaukee for 2002. He got 64 more big-league at-bats during that time, four for Boston, 25 for Texas, and 35 for the Brewers. Jensen moved on to the Phillies organization for 2003, but was traded to the Yankees' organization before the season started. He played in the Mexican League in 2004 and then spent two years with independent teams before finally hanging up his spikes. He had 343 major league at-bats spread over seven seasons, with a lifetime batting average of .184. Marcus Jensen managed the AZL Athletics in the Arizona League from 2009-2013, was the minor league batting coordinator for the Athletics in 2014, and has been a coach in the majors for Oakland since 2015. He was their bullpen coach from 2021-2022 and is currently their quality control coach.
Left-hander David Kenneth Gassner made two starts with the Twins in 2005. Born in Hortonville, Wisconsin, he went to Purdue, getting a degree in education. He was drafted by Toronto in the 24th round in 2001. He pitched pretty well in the Blue Jays' organization for three years, reaching AA in 2003 and also making two starts at AAA. After that year, he was sent to the Twins as the player to be named later in the deal that also sent Shannon Stewart to Minnesota for Bobby Kielty. He had a very good season for Rochester in 2004, going 16-8, 3.41 with a 1.18 WHIP. His two starts in 2005 came in April; he pitched very well against Cleveland, then was blasted by Kansas City. Gassner was 1-0, 5.87 in 7.2 innings in what were his only major league games. Things went downhill for him after that: he had a poor year at Rochester in 2005, was out much of 2006 with a left elbow strain, had another poor year in 2007, and was allowed to become a free agent. Gassner signed with Cincinnati for 2008, but was released in spring training. He pitched seven games for the independent York Revolution before the Red Sox' organization picked him up in early June. He did not do well for AA Portland, however, and was released again. He once again pitched for York in 2009, but a muscle strain in his neck limited his effectiveness, and he announced his retirement after the season and returned to Wisconsin. At last report, Dave Gassner was a physical education teacher and baseball coach at Appleton West High School in Appleton, Wisconsin for some years, and at last report was a pitching coach for XLR8 Sports Training in Menasha, Wisconsin.
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