July 15

John Clapp (1851)
Dan McGann (1871)
Bubbles Hargrave (1892)
Shirley Povich (1905)
Bill Byrd (1907)
Jake Powell (1908)
Red Kellett (1909)
Bruce Edwards (1923)
Donn Clendenon (1935)
Mike Shannon (1939)
Kirt Manwaring (1965)
Brett Merriman (1966)
James Baldwin (1971)
Miguel Olivo (1978)
Chris Denorfia (1980)
Sherman Johnson (1990)

Shirley Povich was a sportswriter for the Washington Post from 1923-1993.  He continued to write for them for twenty-five years after he "retired".

Right-hander Brett Alan Merriman pitched for the Twins in 1993 and 1994.  He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, went to high school in Nevada, Missouri, attended Grand Canyon University, and was drafted by Cleveland in the ninth round in 1988.  He did not pitch that badly in two years in the minors, although he had problems with his control, but was released by the Indians late in 1990 spring training.  California signed him a few days later, converted him from a starting pitcher to a reliever, and he pitched well in their system for three season, rising as high as AAA.  He was left unprotected in the expansion draft and was chosen by Colorado in November of 1992.  During spring training of 1993, Merriman was traded to Minnesota for Rob Wassenaar and Gary Wayne.  He started the season with the Twins, but was sent down after a month with an ERA of 19.00.  He went to AAA Portland, had a good season there, and came back for the last month of the season, pitching substantially better.  He got off to a bad start in 1994 in Salt Lake but was called up to the Twins anyway, staying for nearly two  months and not pitching very well.  A free agent after the season, he signed with San Diego for 1995, pitched poorly in AAA for them, and then his playing career was over.  In his major league career, all with the Twins, Brett Merriman was 1-2, 8.39 in 44 innings spread over 34 appearances.  At last report, it appeared that Brett Merriman was a sales consultant with NexusTek, a managed IT services provider, and living in Gilbert, Arizona.

Right-hander James Baldwin, Jr. made ten appearances for the Twins in 2003.  He was born in Pinehurst, North Carolina, went to high school in Southern Pines, North Carolina, and was drafted by the White Sox in the fourth round in 1990.  He started slowly in the minors, but came on strong in 1992 and reached AAA in mid-season of 1993.  He got a full year there in 1994 and was in the majors for about a month of 1995.  He had a bad year in 1995, but after two strong AAA starts in 1996 he was in the majors for good.  He went into the White Sox’ rotation and stayed there until he was traded in mid-2001.  He did so despite the fact that he really was not very good:  his ERA was over five for three consecutive years, 1997-1999, and the lowest ERA he ever posted for the White Sox was 4.42 in 1996.  He had some good won-lost records, though, going 11-6 in 1996 (when he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting), 13-6 in 1998, and 14-7 in 2000.  He made the all-star team in 2001, despite not pitching any better then than he had any other time, and was traded to the Dodgers in late-July of that season.  He was a free agent after the season, went to Seattle for 2002, pitched about the same as he had before, and became a free agent again.  He signed with Kansas City for 2003, went to AAA, was released June 1, and signed with Minnesota ten days later.  He made five starts in Rochester, then came up to the Twins.  He was in the bullpen for about five weeks, going 0-1, 5.40 in 15 innings. Minnesota released him in mid-August.  He signed with the Mets for 2004, made two major league starts for them, and was released in mid-May.  He was in AAA for Detroit the rest of the season.  In 2005, he signed with Baltimore, was chosen off waivers by Texas in late July, and was chosen off waivers by Baltimore again in late August.  He went to Toronto for 2006 and was released in late April, finally ending his career.  He pitched for a long time and got a couple of honors, which isn’t bad for a guy who never really had a good year.  James Baldwin was a coach for the Cincinnati Reds' entry in the Arizona Summer League from 2016-2017, was the pitching coach for the AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the Reds' organization in 2018, and was the Reds' minor league rehabilitation coach in 2019.  He was slated to be the pitching coach for the AAA Louisville Bats in 2020, but he was not retained in that position in 2021.  At last report, he was  offering baseball instruction under the name James Baldwin Baseball.  His son, James Baldwin III, was a minor league outfielder for five seasons, never getting above Class A.

Infielder Sherman Lee Johnson did not play for the Twins, but he was in their minor league system.  Born and raised in Tampa, he attended Florida State and was drafted by the Angels in 2012.  He went up about a level a season, reaching AAA in 2016.  He drew a lot of walks, leading to a good on-base percentage, but has never hit for much of an average.  His high was .276 in 2014 at High-A.  He got a September call-up with the Angels in 2018 and went 0-for-10 with a walk, giving him a line of .000/.091/.000.  Those turned out to be his career major league numbers, as he did not make it back to the bigs.  He became a free agent after the 2018 season and signed with Cincinnati.  He spent a few months in AAA with them and was released in late July.  He signed with Pittsburgh, but was released in early June.  The Twins signed him in mid-May of 2021.  They sent him to Wichita, where he didn't hit, then promoted him to St. Paul, where he continued to not hit.  He did, however, continue to draw walks--he had a combined batting average of .202, but a combined OBP of .353.  His career AAA batting line is .237/.349/.363.  He became a free agent after the 2021 season, played independent ball for Kane County in 2022, and still did not hit.  That brought his playing career to an end.  If he could've even hit at the lower end of "adequate" he might've had a real major league career, but he couldn't.  Proving the adage that those who can't do, teach, he was the hitting coach for the Bowie Bay Sox in 2023 and is the upper-level hitting coordinator for the Baltimore Orioles in 2024.