Larry MacPhail was the general manager of Cincinnati (1933-36) and Brooklyn (1938-42) and was president and part-owner of the Yankees (1946-47). His son Lee MacPhail was president of the American League and his grandson Andy MacPhail was the general manager of the Twins (1985-94) and the president of the Cubs (2000-02), the Orioles (2007-2015), and the Phillies (2015-present).
Ronald Williamson was a catcher in the Oakland organization from 1971-1973. In 1988, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. He was cleared in 1999 through DNA testing and became the subject of John Grisham’s first non-fiction book, “The Innocent Man.” Williamson passed away from cirrhosis in 2004.
Outfielder B. J. Garbe was chosen by the Twins with the fifth pick of the 1999 draft. He was with the Twins through 2004, ended his career in 2006, and never got higher than AA.
Right-hander Freddie Lee Toliver was with Minnesota from 1988-1989. He was born in Natchez, Mississippi, but went to high school in San Gorgonio, California. The Yankees drafted Toliver in the third round in 1979. He was in the Yankees' organization for three years, pitching pretty well but never rising higher than Class A. After the 1981 season, Toliver was sent to Cincinnati in a deal that brought Ken Griffey (Senior) to New York. He was promoted to AAA in 1982, got a September call-up in 1984, and had his first good year at AAA in 1985, going 11-3, 3.24 in Denver. In August of that year, however, Toliver was again a player to be named later, going to Philadelphia in a deal that involved Bo Diaz. He was a Phillie for most of 1986 and 1987, although he spent time in the minors both seasons. Shortly before the 1988 season, Toliver was traded to Minnesota for Chris Calvert. He started the season in AAA, but came up to the Twins in mid-June and did not do too badly, going 7-6, 4.24 in 21 appearances, 19 of them starts. He started 1989 for the Twins, but did poorly, making only seven appearances, five of them starts, before being sent back to the minors. He was then traded to San Diego in late June for Greg Booker. Toliver was with the Padres the rest of the season, then was once again a player to be named later, going to the Yankees. He then spent three years back in the minors: he was released by the Yankees in April of 1990 signed with California in late May, stayed in the Angels' system through 1991, started 1992 playing for an independent team, and went to the Pittsburgh organization in late July, 1992. Toliver stayed with the Pirates' organization through 1993, spending about six weeks of 1993 in the Pirates' bullpen. Toliver's career was basically over after that season, although he pitched briefly in the independent Western League in 1998. For a guy who never had a full season in the majors, he didn't have a bad career: 78 appearances, 37 starts, and a lifetime ERA of 4.73. As a Twin, Fred Toliver went 8-9, 4.95 in 28 appearances, 24 of them starts. He was, for a while, the pitching coach, at Los Angeles City College. At last report, it appeared that Fred Toliver was living in Winter Garden, Florida. He was affiliated with a company called Player Development LLC, along with James Lofton and Derrel Thomas, but it appears that company is now out of business.
Left-hander Joseph Charles Klink was with the Twins for a couple of months at the start of the 1987 season. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he went to St. Thomas University, one of seven players that university has produced. He was drafted by the Mets in the 36th round in 1983. He was a reliever in Class A for the Mets for three seasons and pitched pretty well. Before the 1986 season, however, Klink was traded with Billy Beane and Bill Latham for Pat Crosby and Tim Teufel. He had a good year in AA in 1986 and made the Twins out of spring training in 1987. He made twelve appearances out of the bullpen and wasn't that awful, really, but an outing in late May in which he gave up eight runs skews his numbers. He went back to AAA in early June, and just before the 1988 season started was traded to Oakland for a player to be named later (Russ Kibler). Klink split 1988 and 1989 between AA and AAA and pitched well. He made the Athletics at the beginning of the 1990 season and stayed there two years, pitching pretty well in relief. He suffered an injured elbow in 1991, however, and did not play at all in 1992. He became a free agent after that season and signed with Florida for 1993. He was with the Marlins all year but did not pitch well and was released after the season. He signed with the Dodgers for 1994 but was sent to the minors and released in June. Klink went to Cleveland for 1995 and had a good year at AAA, but did not get a shot at the majors. He signed with Seattle for 1996 and was with the big club for about two weeks in May, pitching well in three appearances, but then was released and his career was over. As a Twin, Joe Klink was 0-1, 6.65 in 23 innings. Klink went 90 consecutive appearances without allowing a home run, the most by a left-hander since at least 1957. No information about what Joe Klink is doing now was readily available.
Right-hander Scott Edward Klingenbeck pitched for the Twins in 1995 and 1996. He was born in Cincinnati, went to high school there, and then attended Ohio State. He was drafted by Baltimore in the fifth round in 1992. He pitched very well in the Orioles' minor league system. He made an emergency start in June of 1994, but made his "real" debut in June of 1995, when he stayed in the big leagues for the rest of the season. It wasn't all with Baltimore, though, because in early July Klingenbeck was traded to Minnesota with a player to be named later (Kimera Bartee) for Scott Erickson. He made 18 appearances for the Twins, four of them starts, and did not pitch well. He did pitch very well in Salt Lake in 1996, but again flopped in ten appearances (three starts) in the majors. He was sent to Cincinnati in April of 1997, where he pitched fairly well in AAA, but not well enough to get back to the big leagues. He pitched very well in AAA in 1998, and made four starts for the Reds in June, his last appearances in the majors. Klingenbeck was released by Cincinnati in early July, finished out the season with Pittsburgh, went back to AAA for 1999, and then his career was over. As a Twin, he was 1-3, 8.30 in 77 innings pitched over 28 games, seven of them starts. At last report Scott Klingenbeck was living in Delhi, Ohio.
First baseman/outfielder Lucas Christopher Duda was with the Twins for about six weeks in spring training in 2019. He was born in Los Angeles, went to high school in Riverside, California, attended the University of Southern California, and was drafted by the Mets in the seventh round in 2007. He had a very successful minor league career, got a September call-up in 2010, and made the team as a pinch-hitter and outfielder at the start of 2011. He went 2-for-17 and was quickly sent back to AAA. He did very well there, came back to the Mets in June, and stayed the rest of the season, finishing with a .292 average and an .852 OPS. He was the Mets' starting right fielder at the start of 2012, but had a disappointing year and was sent back to AAA for a month before finishing the season in New York. He was a semi-regular in 2013 but finally got a regular job at first base in 2014. He held the job until he was traded to Tampa Bay at the July deadline of 2017. He did not hit for a high average but he did show power, hitting 30 homers in 2014 and 27 in 2015. He missed much of 2016 due to injury, but came back to hit 30 homers in 2017 in a season split between the Mets and the Rays. That was the last good year of his career. He was a free agent after the 2017 season and signed with Kansas City, but had a mediocre season and was sold to Atlanta at the August deadline. The Twins signed him in February of 2019, but they really didn't have a spot for him and released him in mid-March. He went back to Kansas City, did very little, was released in late July, was signed by Atlanta, and was released again in late August, bringing his playing career to and end. It wasn't a bad career, really: he played in the majors for all or part of ten seasons, he got over 3500 plate appearances, and hit 156 home runs. His numbers are .239/.334/.448, not great but not awful by any means. At last report, Lucas Duda had returned to Riverside, California.
No comments:
Post a Comment