January 11

George Pinkney (1859)

Silver King (1868)

Elmer Flick (1876)

Max Carey (1890)

George Trautman (1890)

General Crowder (1899)

Schoolboy Rowe (1910)

Don Mossi (1929)

Gene Cook (1932)

Jim McAndrew (1944)

Jack Zduriencik (1951)

Rocket Wheeler (1955)

Lloyd McClendon (1959)

Donn Pall (1962)

Warren Morris (1974)

George Trautman was the president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs from 1947 until his death in 1963.

Gene Cook was the general manager of the Toledo Mud Hens from 1978-1998.  He is credited with convincing Jamie Farr to wear a Mud Hens cap on M*A*S*H.

Jack Zduriencik was the general manager of the Seattle Mariners from 2008-2015.

Rocket Wheeler was a manager in the low minors for about thirty years.  He was the manager of the Amarillo Sod Squad, a summer collegiate league team, in 2021--we have not been able to find out if he has remained in baseball since then.

Second baseman Warren Randall Morris was with Minnesota for about a week at the beginning of the 2002 season. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, he attended high school there and then went to LSU. To the extent he is remembered, it is for a walkoff home run he hit to win the 1996 College World Series. Morris was drafted by Texas in the fifth round in 1996. He played for the U. S. Olympic team that year, and so did not begin his professional career until 1997. He hit over .300 with double-digit home runs in each of his first two minor league seasons, but was traded to the Pittsburgh organization midway through the second one, in 1998. In 1999, Morris won the starting second baseman job for the Pirates, and would hold it for two years. He had a strong rookie year, hitting .288 with 15 homers and finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting. In 2000, however, he slumped to .259 with three home runs, and in 2001 he lost the second base job to Pat Meares. Morris spent part of that 2001 season in AAA, where he again hit well, but was released before the 2002 season. Minnesota signed him and gave him seven at-bats in the majors (he went 0-for-7) before sending him to AAA Edmonton. In mid-June, the Twins traded him to the Cardinals organization for a player to be named later (Seth Davidson), and in mid-July he was selected off waivers by the Red Sox' chain. A free agent again after the 2002 campaign, he went to the Tigers, starting in AAA but coming to the majors in early June. He was the Tigers' regular second baseman for most of the second half of the year, and responded by hitting .272. He lost the job in 2004 to Omar Infante, and spent the season in AAA Toledo. He was with the Brewers' organization for much of 2005 and finished the year in AA with Cleveland. He had minor league offers to play in 2006, but decided to call it a career. At last report, Warren Morris was a vice president with Red River Bank in Alexandria, Louisiana. He also was working with a variety of Christian-oriented sports organizations.

January 10

Harry Wright (1835)

Chick Stahl (1873)

Del Pratt (1888)

Ziggy Sears (1892)

Fats Jenkins (1898)

John Beckwith (1900)

Max Patkin (1920)

George Strickland (1926)

Jim O'Toole (1937)

Willie McCovey (1938)

Chuck Dobson (1944)

Wilfredo Sanchez (1948)

Richard Dotson (1959)

Kelvin Torve (1960)

Wally Bell (1965)

Kevin Baez (1967)

Gary Rath (1973)

Adam Kennedy (1976)

 Outfielder Ziggy Sears played in the minors for sixteen years, mostly in the Texas League.  He once drove in eleven runs in a game.  He was a National League umpire from 1934-1945.

Max Patkin was a well-known baseball clown from 1944-1995.

Wilfredo Sanchez was a star in Cuba from 1968-1986, winning five batting titles.

Wally Bell was a major league umpire from 1992-2013, when he passed away from a heart attack.

First baseman Kelvin Curtis Torve was with the Twins for about a month in 1988. Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, Torve attended Oral Roberts University, then was drafted by San Francisco in the second round in 1981. He had some solid years in the Giants' minor-league system, but appeared to top out at AA and was traded to Baltimore after the 1984 season. He again did well in AA in 1985, but less well when placed in AAA for 1986 and 1987. Torve became a minor league free agent after the 1987 campaign, and was signed by Minnesota. He hit .301 for AAA Portland in 1988 and was promoted to Minnesota in late June as a pinch-hitter and reserve first baseman. He batted only 16 times, hitting .188 with one home run (hit off Stu Cliburn) before being sent back to Portland in late July. Torve had another good year in Portland in 1989, but became a free agent after the season, signing with the Mets. He hit well for AAA Tidewater in 1990 and 1991, getting brief appearances in the majors both years. He is the last player to wear the number 24 for the Mets, having been accidentally given the number briefly after it had been unoffically retired in honor of Willie Mays. He was released by the Mets after the 1991 season, went to Japan for two seasons, and then called it a career. When asked about his hitting ability, Torve said, "I hit well enough to be employed for thirteen years." Kelvin Torve moved back to Rapid City and became the head coach of the Post 22 American Legion baseball team in 2018.  If you're not from around here, it's hard to explain to you what a big deal that team is in Rapid City.

Shortstop Kevin Richard Baez did not play in Minnesota, but was in the Twins' minor-league system for a year. A native of Brooklyn, he attended high school there and then went to Dominican College of Orangeburg, New Jersey, one of two major league players that school has produced (Frank Cimorelli). He was drafted by the Mets in the seventh round in 1988. Baez had an undistinguished minor league career, but kept getting promoted a level every season and reached AAA in 1991. He actually made his major league debut before that, getting 12 at-bats with the Mets in 1990. He made another brief major league appearance in 1992, and in 1993 was brought up in mid-June to spend the rest of the season with New York as a reserve infielder. He never hit, and should not have been expected to, as he did not hit well in the minors. In the big leagues, Kevin Baez compiled an average of .179 in 151 major league at-bats. He kept plugging away in the minors for several more years. After the 1993 season, he was traded to Baltimore. A free agent after the season, he moved to the Tigers organization for 1995-1996, and then signed with the Twins for 1997. He actually had a pretty good year in AAA Salt Lake, hitting .274. He moved back to the Tigers for 1998, but was traded to Cincinnati before the season started. He went back to the Mets' organization early in 1999, staying there through 2001. He then played independent ball through 2005, going back to the Reds organization briefly in 2003. Kevin Baez was the manager of the Long Island Ducks from 2011-2018 and was the manager of the Rockland Boulders in the Frontier League from 2019-2020.  At last report he was working at the Play Like a Pro baseball facility in Hauppage, Long Island.

Left-hander Alfred Gary Rath made five appearances, one of them a start, for Minnesota in 1999. He was born in Gulfport, Mississippi and went to high school in Long Beach Mississippi. Rath then attended Mississippi State and was drafted by the Dodgers in the second round in 1994. He basically topped out at AA; he never had an ERA under four at any level higher than that. In 1998, after three not very good years at AAA, Rath made his major league debut with the Dodgers, pitching 3.1 innings over three games and giving up four earned runs. He became a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota. He was having another poor year at AAA in 1999 when the Twins brought him up for a start in late May. He gave up five runs in three innings, taking the loss. Rath then made four relief appearances before being sent back to Salt Lake. As a Twin, he was 0-1, 11.57 in 4.2 innings. He finished out the year in Salt Lake and then again became a free agent. He appeared briefly in the Boston and Arizona organizations in 2000 and also pitched some independent ball. He then began pitching overseas, pitching in South Korea in 2001-2002, 2004, and 2008; in Japan in 2003 and 2005; in Venezuela in 2006; and in Taiwan in 2007. In 2009, Gary Rath became the head baseball coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, a position he held until resigning in May of 2014.  At last report, Gary Rath was an insurance agent with State Farm in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

January 9

Bill Thomas (1905)

Jonas Gaines (1915)

Johnny Washington (1916)

John Kibler (1928)

Julio Navarro (1936)

Ralph Terry (1936)

Masaaki Mori (1937)

Al Clark (1948)

Joe Wallis (1952)

Ivan DeJesus (1953)

Otis Nixon (1959)

Stan Javier (1964)

Jay Powell (1972)

Gabriel Moya (1995)

Bill Thomas pitched in the minors from 1924-1952. He set records for games pitched (1,016), wins (383), losses (347), innings (5,995), hits allowed (6,721), and runs allowed (3,098).

Outfielder/first baseman Johnny Washington played in the Negro Leagues for nearly twenty years.

John Kibler was a National League umpire from 1963-1989.

Masaaki Mori was involved with twenty-seven pennant winners in Japan, sixteen as a player, three as a coach, and eight as a manager.

Al Clark was a long-time American League umpire.

Outfielder Otis Junior Nixon was with Minnesota in 1998, near the end of his long career. A native of Columbus County, North Carolina, Nixon was chosen by the Yankees with the third pick of the 1979 draft. His minor league career showed what Nixon would become at his best--he had no power whatsoever, but hit for a high average, drew a lot of walks, and stole a lot of bases. His best year in the minors was 1982, a year which he split between AA Nashville and AAA Columbus. Combined, he hit .282, drew 108 walks, and stole 107 bases. He remained in the minors for 1983, however (with the exception of 14 big league at-bats), and that off-season was traded to Cleveland. Nixon made the Indians out of spring training in 1984, but hit only .154 and found himself back in the minors by mid-June. He was a seldom-used reserve outfielder in 1985 and 1986, was back in the minors much of 1987, and then became a free agent, signing with Montreal. The Expos finally gave him a chance to play, making him a semi-regular, but he didn't do much; he hit only .237 in three years with Montreal, although he did steal 133 bases. In April of 1991, the now 32-year-old Nixon was traded to Atlanta. His lifetime batting average at that point, in over eleven hundred at-bats, was .228. There was certainly no reason to think that he would suddenly learn to hit, but he did, batting over .290 in each of his first two seasons with the Braves. Nixon was a Brave for three seasons, stealing 160 bases in that time. A free agent after the 1993 season, he signed with the Red Sox. He had a good year in Boston in 1994, but was traded to Texas after the season in a deal involving Jose Canseco. He was with the Rangers for 1995, went to Toronto in 1996, and was traded by the Blue Jays to Los Angeles in August of 1997. A free agent again after that season, he signed with Minnesota for 1998. Now 39, Nixon did everything the Twins could have expected him to do that season, hitting .297/.361/.344 with 37 stolen bases despite missing a month with a broken jaw. He signed with Atlanta for 1999, but hit only .205, and his career was over. After hitting .228 through age 31, Nixon batted .284 from ages 32-39. His career spanned 17 seasons, and he stole 620 bases, stealing more bases in the 1990s than anyone else. He is tied for the major league record with six stolen bases in a game.  His brother, Donell, also played in the major leagues. Otis Nixon was the CEO of On-Track Promotions, working with several communities to provide baseball camps with a Christian emphasis throughout the southeast United States.  He also started the Otis Nixon Foundation, assisting formerly incarcerated and homeless individuals to re-assimilate into society.  His book "Keeping It Real", was released in October of 2009.  Unfortunately, Nixon had trouble keeping it real.  He was implicated in a fraud scheme in 2013 in which he allegedly promised that he could help prisoners get early parole for a fee.  He also was arrested in May of 2013 for possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia.  The results of those legal troubles could not be found, but he apparently was arrested for violating probation in January of 2014, was arrested again on drug charges in September of 2014, and was arrested again for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and permitting an unlicensed person to drive in November of 2015.  He was reported as missing in April of 2017, but was found a few days later with no explanation made public for where he had been.  At last report, Otis Nixon was living in Woodstock, Georgia, and was working as a life coach and motivational speaker.

Left-hander Gabriel Jose (Barrios) Moya played for the Twins in 2017-2018.  He was born in Cabimas, Venezuela and signed with Arizona as a free agent in March of 2012.  He has been a reliever throughout his minor league career except for 2014, when he was a starter.  That was the only bad year of his minor league career, so the powers that be put him back in the bullpen.  He was promoted to Class A in 2016, soon proved himself to be too good for the Midwest League, and spent most of the year in high-A.  He was in AA most of 2017, although he was clearly too good for that league, too, going 6-1, 0.77, 24 saves, 0.77 WHIP with 87 strikeouts in 57.1 innings.  Arizona traded him to the Twins at the trade deadline in 2017 for John Ryan Murphy.  The Twins gave him a September call-up and he did well other than giving up a couple of home runs. He started 2018 in the majors but again was hurt by the gopher ball and was sent to Rochester after just five appearances.  He dominated in AAA and came back to the Twins in July, where he did much better.  At that time, we said, "One expects that he will be in the Twins' bullpen at the start of the 2019 season."  If one expected that, one was wrong--he was injured in spring training, went on the disabled list, and had an awful year in Rochester.  He became a free agent after the season and did not pitch in 2020.  He played for Lancaster in the Atlantic League in 2021 and had an outstanding year.  In 2022, however, playing for Kentucky in the Atlantic League, he was awful, and his playing career came to an end.   As a Twin (and for his career) he is 3-1, 4.64, 1.29 WHIP.  No information about what Gabriel Moya is doing now was readily available.

January 8

Bob Clarke (1903)

Walker Cooper (1915)

Jim Busby (1927)

Gene Freese (1934)

Reno Bertoia (1935)

Bruce Sutter (1953)

Ramon Romero (1959)

Randy Ready (1960)

Brian Boehringer (1969)

Jason Giambi (1971)

Mike Cameron (1973)

Carl Pavano (1976)

Jeff Francis (1981)

Jeff Francoeur (1984)

Chris Paddack (1996)

Jhoan Duran (1998)

Three players named Jeff were born on this day.  In addition to the two listed above, this is also the birthday of Jeff Hoffman of the Philadelphia Phillies.

One of the original Twins, infielder Reno Peter Bertoia was with Minnesota for about two months at the beginning of the 1961 season. He was born in St. Vito Udine, Italy, the most successful of six Italian-born major league players. When he was 22 months old, his family moved to Windsor, Ontario, which is where Bertoia grew up. He attended Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts and was signed by the Detroit Tigers in 1953 as a "bonus baby", meaning he had to spend two years in the majors, rather than going to the minor leagues. In fact, he did not see the minors until mid-May of 1956. This was probably a negative for his career, as he was seldom used--he had only 171 at-bats in the majors through the 1956 season. He played well at AAA Charleston in 1956, which moved him up to semi-regular status with the Tigers for 1957 and 1958. 1957 was probably his best year in the majors, as he hit .275 with 16 doubles in 295 at-bats. After the 1958 season, he was traded to Washington with Jim Delsing and Ron Samford for Rocky Bridges, Neil Chrisley, and Eddie Yost. He remained a semi-regular in 1959, but was given the regular third base job in 1960, his only year as a regular in the big leagues. He had one of his best years, hitting .265 with 17 doubles and 7 triples. He remained the regular when the team moved to Minnesota in 1961, but slumped early, hitting only .212 in 104 at-bats. On June 1, he was traded to Kansas City with Paul Giel and cash in exchange for Bill Tuttle and a player to be named later (the player to be named later turned out to be Paul Giel, meaning Bertoia was essentially traded with cash for Tuttle). He did a little better for the Athletics, but not a lot, and was traded back to Detroit in early August. He played a little for the Tigers at the start of 1962, mostly as a pinch-runner, and then went to the minors. He also spent time in the Senators and Mets organizations that year. He was back in AAA with Detroit in 1963 and hit .322 in 121 at-bats for Syracuse, but it did not get him back to the majors. He played in Japan in 1964, then returned to Windsor, where he became a college teacher and scout.  He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.  Reno Bertoia passed away from lymphoma in Windsor on April 15, 2011.

Left-hander Ramon (De Los Santos) Romero did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 1986. He was tall and thin, standing 6’4” but weighing only 170 pounds. He was born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic and signed with Cleveland in 1976. He was primarily a relief pitcher in the minors, although he made a few starts almost every year. He struggled early on, partly with his control and partly with being too hittable. The control always remained an issue, but he became less hittable, having his first good year in 1980 at Class A Waterloo. His wildness meant he rose through the minors very slowly, not reaching AAA until 1984. He got a September call-up that year and made one appearance, pitching three perfect innings with three strikeouts against Seattle. He spent about half the 1985 season with the Indians, with two months of that time spent in the starting rotation. It did not go well: he went 2-3, 6.58 in 64.1 innings. While his control continued to be a problem, his main trouble in the majors was the home-run ball, as he allowed 13 round trippers. That off-season, Cleveland traded Romero to Minnesota along with Roy Smith for Bryan Oelkers and Ken Schrom. He went 8-4, but with a 6.25 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP in a season mostly spent in AA. His playing career came to an end after that. He moved to the New York area and died from a fall on October 13, 1988 at the young age of twenty-nine.

Right-hander Carl Anthony Pavano pitched for the Twins in 2009-2012. Born in New Britain, Connecticut, he went to high school in Southington, Connecticut. He was drafted by Boston in the 13th round in 1994. Pavano pitched quite well throughout his minor league career, but after the 1997 season was traded to Montreal as part of a deal for Pedro Martinez. He was rather up-and-down as an Expo, with his best year coming in 2000, when he was 8-4, 3.06 in 15 starts. He had injury problems that year, as would happen often in his career. In July of 2002, Pavano was traded to Florida as part of a multi-player trade. He had some fine years with the Marlins, due partly to the fact that he was able to stay healthy. The best one was 2004, when he was 18-8, 3.00 with a 1.17 WHIP. He made the all-star team for the only time that year and finished sixth in Cy Young voting. A free agent after that season, he signed with the Yankees. As is well known, that did not go well. Pavano was injured for much of his time as a Yankee, and did not pitch very well when he could pitch. He was a free agent again after the 2008 season and signed with Cleveland. On August 7, 2009, the Indians traded Pavano to Minnesota for a player to be named later (Yohan Pino).  He pitched well in 2010, but less well in 2011, although he pitched over 200 innings for the second consecutive year.  He missed much of 2012 due to injury, however, and did poorly when he tried to pitch. As a Twin, he went 33-33, 4.32, 1.30 WHIP in 579.2 innings (88 starts).  In February of 2013, he ruptured his spleen while shoveling snow and nearly died.  He had hoped to come back, but could never get healthy enough to do so, and retired in February of 2014.  At last report, Carl Pavano was living in Vermont.  He has founded the Pitch In Foundation, which has the goal of improving the lives of families and creating hope for children in need.

Right-handed starter Christopher Joseph Paddack pitched for the Twins in 2022.  He was born in Austin, Texas, went to high school Cedar Park, Texas, and was drafted by Miami in the eighth round in 2015.  He was excellent in the low minors but missed all of 2017 due to injury.  He came back to be excellent again in a 2018 season split between Class A and AA.  He started 2019 in the majors and was there to stay.  It was not with the Marlins, however--at the end of June in 2016 he was traded to San Diego for future Twin Fernando Rodney.  He had a fine debut season in 2019, going 9-7, 3.33, 0.98 WHIP in 26 starts.  He struggled in the COVID season of 2020 and did not do well in 2021, going 7-7, 5.07.  He did, however, have a WHIP of 1.27 and a FIP of 3.78, indicating he may have had some bad luck.  Just before the 2022 season he was traded to Minnesota with Emilio Pagan and a player to be named later (Brayan Medina) for Taylor Rogers, Brent Rooker, and cash.  Unfortunately, he was able to make only five starts before being injured and missing the rest of the season.  He remained injured in 2023, making just two appearances  He started 2024 in the Twins' rotation, but was injured again and missed the second half of the season.  He had hoped to be healthy enough to pitch in the playoffs, but of course that turned out not to be an issue.  As a Twin, he is 7-5, 4.82, 1.36 WHIP in 24 games (22 starts).  If healthy, he will certainly be given a chance to be in the Twins' rotation in 2025.

Right-handed reliever Jhoan Manuel Duran has played for the Twins since 2022.  He was born in Esperanza, Dominican Republic, and signed as a free agent with Arizona in 2014 at age sixteen.  His numbers in the Diamondbacks system are unimpressive, but he was always very young for his league.  His strikeout numbers were nothing to shout about early on, but took a big jump in 2018.  He was traded in late July of 2018 with Ernie De La Trinidad and Gabriel Maciel for Eduardo Escobar.  He had not been beyond Class A at this point, and had always been a starter.  The Twins started him in Class A as well, and kept him starting.  He pitched well in six starts for low-A Cedar Rapids in 2018 and again pitched well at the start of 2019 for high-A Fort Myers.  He missed the 2020 COVID season and also missed most of 2021 due to injury.  Despite that, the Twins started him in the majors in 2022, switching him to the bullpen, and it paid off bigly.  He became the Twins' closer in 2023 and has done a solid job in that role.  As a Twin Jhoan Duran is 11-19, 58 saves, 2.59, 1.09 WHIP 239 strikeouts in 184.1 innings.  Barring injury, he will in the Twins' bullpen again in 2025.

January 7

Kitty Bransfield (1875)

Al Todd (1902)

Johnny McCarthy (1910)

Johnny Mize (1913)

Alvin Dark (1922)

Dick Schofield (1935)

Jim Hannan (1940)

Jim Lefebvre (1942)

Tony Conigliaro (1945)

Joe Keough (1946)

Ross Grimsley (1950)

Bob Gorinski (1952)

Jeff Montgomery (1962)

Craig Shipley (1963)

Allan Anderson (1964)

Rob Radlosky (1974)

Alfonso Soriano (1976)

Eric Gagne (1976)

Brayan Pena (1982)

Francisco Rodriguez (1982)

Edwin Encarnacion (1983)

Jon Lester (1984)

Jhoulys Chacin (1988)

Tucker Barnhart (1991)

Outfielder Joseph William Keough did not play for the Twins, but he went to spring training with them in 1974. Born and raised in Pomona, California, he attended Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California and was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the fourth round in 1965. His best minor league year was 1967, when he hit .294 with 18 homers with Class A Leesburg. He never showed that kind of power again, but his average stayed high the rest of his minor league career. He reached the majors for the first time in 1968, when he was with Oakland for the last two months of the season as a part-time player and hit a home run off Lindy McDaniel in his first major league at-bat. He was left unprotected in the expansion draft and was chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He was there most of the season, with his highlight coming on opening day, when he delivered a pinch-hit, game-winning single. His best major league year, and in fact his only good major league year, came in 1970, when he hit .322 with an OPS of .839 in 183 at-bats until a broken leg ended his season on June 28. He was the starting right fielder in 1971, but hit .248 and gradually lost the playing time. He was mostly a pinch-hitter in 1972 and was traded to the White Sox after the season. He spent nearly the entire 1973 season in the minors, coming up for about two weeks in July and playing in five games, four as a pinch-runner and one as a pinch-hitter. He was sold to Minnesota after the season, but did not make the team in 1974 and his playing career came to an end.  He is a member of the Mt. San Antonio College Hall of Fame.  He is the brother of big-league outfielder Marty Keough and the uncle of big-league pitcher Matt Keough.  After retirement, he was a real estate agent for many years.  Joe Keough passed away on September 9, 2019, in Miami.

Outfielder Robert John Gorinski played for Minnesota in 1977. His uncle, Walt Gorinski, played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bob was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, went to high school in Calumet, Pennsylvania (where he played shortstop), and was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 1970. He was primarily a power hitter in the minors, hitting 30 homers in Class A Wisconsin Rapids in 1971 and 23 homers in Class A Lynchburg in 1972. Presumably, he was held in Class A that long despite the homers due to a low batting average and a high strikeout total. His best year in the minors came in 1976, when he hit .285 with 28 homers and 110 RBIs for AAA Tacoma (he also struck out 130 times). Surprisingly, he did not get a September call-up that year, but he was with the Twins for all of 1977, his only year in the majors. He was used sporadically as a pinch-hitter and reserve outfielder, which is not the best way for a strikeout-prone slugger to find his stroke. The results showed that--he hit .195/.226/.322 with three home runs in 118 at-bats. He went back to AAA Toledo in 1978, had a poor year, and was released. Gorinski spent 1979 with the AAA teams of the Mets and the Cubs, did not hit well, and his playing career was over. He returned to his home state of Pennsylvania, settling in Mount Pleasant (the home town of Twins prospect Alex Kirilloff), and coached little league there for many years while working for Pepsi and Rolling Rock.  At last report, he was still living in the Mount Pleasant area.  He was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic League Hall of Fame in 2022.

All of left-handed pitcher Allan Lee Anderson's major league career, 1986-1991, was with Minnesota. He was born in Lancaster, Ohio and attended high school there. Anderson was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 1982. He had an outstanding year in 1984 for Class A Visalia, going 12-7 with a 2.86 ERA in 188 innings. He was jumped to AAA the next year and struggled for a while there, but despite what appears to have been a poor start at Toledo in 1986, he was called up to the Twins in mid-June. He did not pitch well that year, nor did he do well the next year in a season mostly spent in AAA. In 1988, however, Anderson had his career year. Called up to the Twins in late April, he went 16-9, leading the league in ERA (2.45) and ERA+ (166). He did not pitch the last day of the season to preserve his ERA title, which caused some controversy, but he did pitch over 200 innings that season. Anderson did not repeat that year in 1989, but he still had a good year, going 17-10, 3.80. His luck ran out after that, however, and after a couple of sub-par seasons in 1990 and 1991 he became a free agent. Anderson signed with the Yankees, but was injured for almost the entire season, making one rehab appearance in Ft. Lauderdale. He split 1993 between the AAA teams of Texas and Cleveland, but could never come back, and his career was at an end. Allan Anderson was 49-54, 4.11 for his career. He pitched in 148 games, 128 of them starts, working 818.2 innings. At last report, our Allan Anderson had returned to his home town of Lancaster where he was a realtor and auctioneer for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.  He also owned AASports, an indoor baseball training facility.

Right-handed reliever Robert Vincent Radlosky was with Minnesota for about a month in 1999. He was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, but attended high school in West Haven, Connecticut. He was drafted by the Twins in the 22nd round in 1993. A starter in the minors, his numbers are up-and-down for his minor league career. His best year was 1997, when he posted a 2.59 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP in 128 innings at Fort Myers, his second year there. Radlosky pitched in AA in 1998 and AAA in 1999, not pitching badly but not really looking particularly impressive, either. As has been observed before, the late-90s Twins were desperate for pitching, so even a pitcher who was mediocre in AAA had a good chance of being called up. In late May of 1999, when Eddie Guardado went on the disabled list, Radlosky was called up. He made seven relief appearances for Minnesota, pitching 8.2 innings and giving up 12 runs (seven home runs), for an ERA of 12.46. Back in the minors in 2000, the Twins released him part-way through the season. He signed with Boston, finished out the season there, and then his career was over. After baseball, Rob Radlosky was employed by Diamond Mind, Inc., maker of baseball simulations games, in Beaverton, Oregon.  At last report, he was living in Boynton Beach, Florida.

January 6

George Shoch (1859)
Phil Masi (1916)
Jiro Noguchi (1920)
Early Wynn (1920)
Ralph Branca (1926)
Lenny Green (1933)
Lee Walls (1933)
Ruben Amaro (1936)
Don Gullett (1951)
Norm Charlton (1963)
Dan Naulty (1970)
Marlon Anderson (1974)
Brian Bass (1982)
Anthony Slama (1984)
Kevin Gausman (1991)

Jiro Noguchi was one of the greatest pitchers in the early days of Japanese professional baseball, winning 237 games with an ERA of 1.96.

Right-hander Early Wynn did not play for the Twins, but he did play for the Washington Senators and was the Twins pitching coach in the 1960s.  Born and raised in Hartford, Alabama, he signed with Washington as a free agent in 1937.  His minor league numbers are really not very impressive until 1941, when he went 16-12, 2.56, 1,26 WHIP for Class A Springfield.  Minor leagues went all the way to Class D, so Class A is not as low as it may sound.  He made three starts for Washington in 1939, five more in 1941, and reached the majors to stay in 1942.  For a Hall-of-Famer, his early years were not that consistent.  His best season as a Senator was 1943, when he went 18-12, 2.91, 1.23 WHIP in 256 innings.  His worst was 1948, when he was 8-19, 5.82, 1.48 WHIP.  After that season, Washington traded him to Cleveland, where he played for ten years.  His best season as an Indian was probably 1954, when he went 23-11, 2.73, 1.14 WHIP in a league-leading 270.2 innings.  He pitched well for the Indians through 1956, but slumped in 1957 to 14-17, 4.31, 1.42 WHIP.  Now 37 years old, the Indians may have thought he was done, and so traded him to the White Sox.  He was not a lot better in 1958, but in 1959 he bounced back to go 22-10, 3.17, 1.26 WHIP.  He pitched well again in 1960 and did all right in 1961 when healthy, but at age 41 he was only able to make 16 starts.  He had a poor year in 1962 and was released by the White Sox after the season.  Sitting at 299 wins, he desperately wanted to get to 300, but could not find a team to take him.  Finally, it late June, Cleveland signed him and placed him in the rotation through July 13, when he finally won game number 300.  He was a seldom-used relief pitcher after that, although he did well when called upon.  He was not afraid to pitch inside--it was said that he would throw at his own grandmother if she was digging in at the plate.  He retired after the 1963 season and became a pitching coach, first for Cleveland and later for Minnesota.  He became the Twins' pitching coach in 1967, but when he left them is unclear.  He also was a minor-league manager for Minnesota.  The Twins considered activating him in 1972 as a publicity stunt, but decided against it.  He later became a broadcaster, first for Toronto and then for the White Sox.  Early Wynn passed away on April 4, 1999 in Venice, Florida.

Outfielder Leonard Charles Green was one of the original Minnesota Twins and stayed with them until 1964. He was born in Detroit and attended high school there. He was signed as a free agent by Baltimore in 1955. He hit for a good average with a high number of doubles for most of his minor league career. Green made his major league debut in late August of 1957 with the Orioles and was with them for much of the 1958 season. He did not play a lot in those years, and did not hit well when he did play. Eventually, Baltimore gave up on him, and in May of 1959 traded him to Washington for Albie Pearson. He began to hit better, earning more playing time. By late July of 1960, Green was the starting center fielder. He hit .294 that year, his best season in the major leagues. He came to Minnesota with the team as the starting center fielder, and continued to hit well in 1961 and 1962. In 1963, however, he slumped to .239. He lost the starting job to Jimmie Hall in 1964, and in June of 1965 was part of a three-team trade in which the Twins traded Green and Vic Power to the Angels and received back Frank Kostro from the Angels and Jerry Kindall from Cleveland. In September the Angels sold Green to Baltimore, and in March of 1965 he was sold to Boston. He got a starting center fielder job back in 1965, and responded by hitting .276. It would be his last year as a regular. He was a reserve for the Red Sox in 1966, and was released after the season. Green signed with Detroit and played with the Tigers for a year and a half, spending much of his time in AAA Toledo before being released in July of 1968, which ended his career. As a Twin (including his Washington stats), he hit .270/.359/.384 for an OPS+ of 99 in just over two thousand at-bats. After his playing career Green decided he'd had enough of baseball, and instead remained in Detroit, where he had grown up, and took a job as a security supervisor for the Ford Motor Company.  Lenny Green passed away on January 6, 2019, his eighty-sixth birthday, in Detroit.

Right-handed reliever Daniel Donovan Naulty played parts of three seasons for Minnesota in the late '90s. He was born in Los Angeles and attended high school in Huntington Beach, California. He then went to Cal State-Fullerton, and was drafted by Minnesota in the 14th round in 1992. A starter for most of his minor-league career, Naulty did not pitch all that well, although he did have a good strikeout total. He made the Twins out of spring training in 1996 and had both his only full year and his only good year in the majors that season. He pitched 57 innings over 49 appearances, going 3-2, 3.79 with a 1.37 WHIP. In 1997 his WHIP actually went down to 1.27, but his ERA soared to 5.87, thanks largely to giving up eight homers in only 30.2 innings. He suffered through injuries both in that season and in 1998. Naulty was traded to the Yankees after the 1998 season for Allen Butler. He stayed in the big leagues most of 1999 and pitched decently in a mop-up role. He was traded to the Dodgers after the season, but failed to make the team. In 2000 he mostly pitched in independent ball, signing with AAA Omaha for four appearances at the end of the season. Those appearances brought his playing career to a close. As a Twin, Dan Naulty was 4-5, 4.61 with a 1.37 WHIP and an ERA+ of 106. After his career ended, he admitted to having used performance-enhancing drugs beginning in 1996 and continuing through 1999. He became a Christian in 2000. He received a Ph. D. in Biblical Studies from Iliff School of Theology, a fine United Methodist institution, and was the pastor of a couple of churches in Southern California.  He then moved to Michigan, and at last report he was a pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Jenison, Michigan.

Right-hander Brian Michael Bass was with Minnesota for much of the 2008 season. Born in Pinehurst, North Carolina, he went to high school in Montgomery, Alabama. He was drafted by Kansas City in the sixth round in 2000. He pitched fairly well in the low minors, but did not get above Class A until 2004. He did not have a good year above Class A until 2007, when he went 7-3, 3.48 for AAA Rochester. A starter most of his minor league career, he began relieving in that 2007 season, although he still made ten starts. He made the Twins out of spring training in 2008 as a long reliever/mop-up man, and wasn't bad for a pitcher in that role, going 3-4, 4.87. In early September, though, he was traded to Baltimore. He remained with the Orioles in 2009, his first full season in the majors, and pitched about the same way that he had in 2008: not bad for a long reliever/mop-up guy, but not well enough that you'd move him into a larger role. Pittsburgh signed him for 2010 and he spent most of the season in AAA, making four appearances with the Pirates. He signed with Philadelphia for 2011, spending the entire season in AAA.  He became a free agent after the season and went unsigned until late May, when Houston took a chance on him.  Unfortunately, he pitched poorly for AAA Oklahoma City.  In 2013 he pitched, but not well, for Camden of the Atlantic League, and retired in mid-July.  At last report, Brian Bass was the managing director of wealth management at McLean Asset Management in Reiserstown, Maryland.

Right-handed reliever Anthony Thomas Slama made seven relief appearances for Minnesota in 2010-2011. He was born in Orange, California, went to Santa Ana Community College and the University of San Diego, and was drafted by Minnesota in the 39th round in 2006. He has pitched very well throughout his minor league career, generally pitching as a closer. In six minor league seasons, he is 15-10, 1.99, 1.09 WHIP with 100 saves in 254 appearances (325 innings). At AAA Rochester, from 2009-2012 he was 6-6, 2.27, 1.16 WHIP with 36 saves in 123 appearances (54.1 innings). Slama was with the Twins briefly in 2010 and 2011, going 0-1, 5.14. He gave up four runs on six hits and seven walks in seven innings, striking out eight.  Given some of the guys who were in the Twins bullpen over that time, it's hard to understand why they didn't give Slama more of a shot, but they didn't.  In 2013, he battled injuries, pitched poorly in Rochester, and was released in mid-June.  No one picked him up, so it would appear that other teams shared the Twins' opinion of him.  He signed with York of the Atlantic League and finished out the season there.  He was having an excellent season for Southern Maryland of the Atlantic League when he was signed by the Dodgers in early August.  He made five AAA appearances for them and his playing career came to an end.  It appears that Anthony Slama is currently president of The Harth Group in Garden Grove, California.  He is also a sales manager with Pura Naturals, LLC of Lake Forest, California.

January 5

Ban Johnson (1864)

Bob Carruthers (1864)

Bill Dahlen (1870)

Jack Norworth (1879)

Art Fletcher (1885)

Rube Foster (1888)

Riggs Stephenson (1898)

Luke Sewell (1901)

Jack Kramer (1918)

Earl Battey (1935)

Bud Bloomfield (1936)

Charlie Hough (1948)

Jim Gantner (1953)

Bob Dernier (1957)

Ron Kittle (1958)

Milt Thompson (1959)

Henry Cotto (1961)

John Russell (1961)

Danny Jackson (1962)

Jeff Fassero (1963)

Brian Runge (1970)

Fred Rath (1973)

Mark Redman (1974)

Eduardo Escobar (1989)

C. J. Cron (1990)

Jose Iglesias (1990)

Danny Ortiz (1990)

Ban Johnson was one of the founders of and the first president of the American League.

Jack Norworth wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Rube Foster was a player, manager, and owner in the Negro Leagues, eventually becoming president of the Negro National League.

Brian Runge was a major league umpire from 1999-2012.  He is the son of major league umpire Paul Runge and the grandson of major league umpire Ed Runge.

Oddly, there are three players born on this day who go by their initials:  J. P. Arencibia, C. J. Cron, and A. J. Cole.

Earl Jesse Battey played for the Twins from 1961-1967 and was the best catcher the Twins ever had until Joe Mauer came along. He was born in Los Angeles and attended high school in Watts, California. Battey was signed as a free agent by the White Sox in 1953. A fine defensive player, he did not hit all that well in the minors. Still, he got brief major league time in both 1955 and 1956, was with the White Sox most of 1957, and made the majors to stay in 1958. Battey never got much of a chance with the White Sox, mainly because they had perennial all-star Sherm Lollar behind the plate at the time. Just before the 1960 season, Battey was traded to Washington with Don Mincher for Roy Sievers. Given the starting catcher job in Washington, Battey blossomed immediately, hitting .270 with 15 homers, winning the Gold Glove, and finishing eighth in MVP voting. He came to Minnesota with the team the following year and remained their starting catcher until 1967, when injuries slowed him down and eventually forced his retirement.  He then worked for Consolidated Edison in New York in public relations until his retirement. As a Twin, Battey made the all-star team four times, won two more Gold Gloves, and twice finished in the top ten in MVP voting. He hit .300 once, in 1961, and hit over 20 homers once, belting 26 in 1963. His career numbers for the franchise (including his year in Washington) are .277/.354/.412 with 91 homers. Earl Battey died of cancer in Ocala, Florida on November 15, 2003.

Clyde Stalcup "Bud" Bloomfield was an infielder who played in seven games for the Twins in 1964. He was born in Oklahoma City and attended the University of Arkansas and the University of Tulsa (not at the same time) before signing with St. Louis as a free agent in 1957. He rose slowly through the minors, spending two years at Class D and two more at Class B. His best year in the minors came in 1962 with AA Tulsa, when he hit .287. He repeated AA in 1963 and hit .260, but got a September call-up, appearing in one game for the Cardinals as a defensive replacement but not coming to bat. He was chosen by Minnesota that off-season in the minor league draft. Placed in AAA, he hit only .217. The Twins saved him from Moonlight Graham status by calling him up for a handful of games in May and June. As a Twin, he was 1-for-7 with a run scored. Bloomfield was released after the season, and his playing career was over. He then moved back to Benton County, Arkansas, where his family had moved when he was 14. He owned a restaurant in Rogers, Arkansas from 1977-2000 and then retired there.  Bud Bloomfield passed away in Huntsville, Arkansas on December 21, 2011.

Right-hander Frederick Helsher Rath, Jr. was drafted by the Twins, but never played for them. He was born in Dallas, went to high school in Tampa, Florida, and attended the University of South Florida. Minnesota signed him as a free agent in 1995. A reliever throughout his minor league career, Rath pitched extremely well for three minor league seasons, compiling a 2.02 ERA in 187 minor-league innings, although only 61 of those innings were higher than Class A. The Twins apparently had no faith in him, because when he was promoted to AAA in 1998 and struggled, they quickly placed him on waivers in June, where he was claimed by Colorado. He got a brief call-up to the majors, pitching 5.1 innings in two games. Rath finished 1998 with Colorado and then came back to the Twins, pitching in AAA Salt Lake in 1999. He had a fairly good year, but never made it back to the majors. He started 2000 in Salt Lake and pitched well in 12 games, but was let go, moving to Pittsburgh and then St. Louis. He was in the Cardinals organization again in 2001, but then his career was over. His two games for the Rockies in 1991, in which he gave up only one run, were the sum and substance of his major league career. We'll never know, but given his record, it seems like he might have been able to help someone if he'd been given the chance. Since leaving baseball, Fred Rath has returned to Tampa and works for Rath/Harper Associates, a real estate development firm founded by his father, who is also named Fred Rath and who was also a major league baseball player.

Left-hander Mark Allen Redman began what turned into a fairly substantial major league career with Minnesota. Born in San Diego, he attended high school in Escondido, California, and then went to the University of Oklahoma. Redman was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 1995. He pitched well in the low minors, but appeared to be topping out at AA, as he struggled with AAA in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Despite that, he got a couple of brief trials with the Twins in1999 and was with them for the entire season in 2000. He did not do too badly, winning 12 games with an ERA of 4.76, a performance which allowed him to finish sixth in Rookie of the Year voting. Redman was pitching better in 2001, but was traded at the end of July to Detroit for Todd Jones. He pitched fairly well for the Tigers through 2002, then was traded to Florida for the 2003 season. 2003 was to be Redman's best season--he went 14-9 with a 3.59 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. After that Redman, who had already bounced around quite a bit in his young career, really started moving. He was traded to Oakland for 2004, was traded to Pittsburgh for 2005, and traded to Kansas City for 2006. In none of those years did he come close to matching his 2003 campaign, and instead got slowly but surely worse every year. Incredibly, he made the all-star team for the only time in 2006, with an ERA over five. A free agent after 2006, Redman signed with Atlanta for 2007, but was released in late May. He signed with Texas, pitched poorly for their AAA team, and was released again in mid-July. He went to the Toronto organization for a couple of weeks, was released a third time, and signed with Colorado, where he pitched fairly well in a few appearances. Redman opened 2008 with the Rockies, but was quickly sent back to the minors, and was released after the season, ending his playing career.  At last report, Mark Redman was living in Tulsa and was the owner of the Triple Play Express Car Wash.

Infielder Eduardo Jose Escobar played for the Twins from 2012-2018.  He was born in Villa de Cura, Venezuela, and signed with the White Sox in 2006 at age seventeen.  He spent two years in foreign summer leagues.  He reached AA in 2010 and AAA in 2011.  He got a September call-up in 2011 after hitting .266 at AAA and played in nine major league games, never starting one and going 2-for-7.  He made the White Sox as an extra infielder in 2012 and was hitting .207 on July 28 when he was traded to Minnesota along with Pedro Hernandez for Francisco Liriano.  The Twins initially sent him to AAA Rochester, but gave him a September call-up.  He posted some half-way decent batting averages in the minors, generally hitting in the .260s, but did not draw very many walks and had very little power.  He mostly played shortstop in the minors, although he has also played some second base and a little third base.  He started the 2013 season in Minnesota but predictably did not hit well in part-time duty and was sent to Rochester in mid-July.  He hit surprisingly well there, batting .307/.380/.500 in 166 at-bats.  He got a September call-up and hit .324/.343/.412 in 34 at-bats.  He started 2014 as a reserve for the Twins but gradually took over the starting shortstop job and showed he could handle it, hitting .275 with 35 doubles.  The Twins tried to make Danny Santana the starting shortstop in 2015, making Escobar a utility player, but Escobar was back as the starting shortstop by late July and again showed that he could handle the position.  Escobar kept the shortstop job at the start of 2016, but was injured in May, lost the job to Eduardo Nunez, and went back to being a utility player again.  He was slated to be a utility player again in 2017, but ended up starting at third base for about half the season due to an injury to Miguel Sano.  He replaced Sano again at third base for much of the 2018 season and did well there, batting .300 as late as June 20.  In late July, with the Twins out of the pennant race, he was traded to Arizona for Ernie De La Trinidad, Jhoan Duran, and Gabriel Maciel.  He continued to play well for the Diamondbacks for the rest of the season.  In 2019 he was the starting third baseman for Arizona and had a fine year, posting an OPS of .831 and leading the league in triples.  He remained their starting third baseman in 2020, but had a poor season, batting just .212.  He bounced back in 2021, making his first all-star team, and also bounced to Milwaukee, traded there in late July.   A free agent after the season, he signed with the Mets and had a solid 2022 season.  He began 2023 as the Mets' starting third baseman, but after a poor April he fell to a utility role and was traded to the Angels in late June.  He was a utility player for them as well and became a free agent after the season.  He signed with Toronto in 2024 but was released in spring training.  He did not play in 2024 but is playing winter ball. As a Twin, Eduardo Escobar batted .258/.308/.421 in 2520 at-bats.  He turns thirty-six today.  It appears that it's time for Eduardo Escobar to decide what the next phase of his life will be.

First baseman Christopher John Cron played for the Twins in 2019.  He was born in Fullerton, California, went to high school in Phoenix, attended the University of Utah, and was drafted by the Angels in the first round in 2011.  He reached AA in 2013, went to AAA at the start of 2014, and made his major league debut on May 3, 2014.  He was a part-time player most of the rest of the season and did okay, though nothing spectacular.  His 2015 was similar--he did really well in about a month in AAA, but was pretty average in the majors.  2016 was his first full year in the majors (except for a rehab assignment) and while he was a little better nobody was still too excited.  In 2017 he still appeared to be treading water, so in February of 2018 the Angels traded him to Tampa Bay for a player to be named later. The Rays made him their regular first baseman in 2018 and he responded with his best season, posting an OPS over .800 for the first time.  His power numbers were the only thing that improved, really--he hit thirty homers and had twenty-eight doubles, but his average and OBP were pretty much in line with what they had been before.  The Rays waived him after the season and Minnesota claimed him.  He was their starting first baseman in 2019 and had a fine first half, but injuries hampered him in the second half of the season.  Still, as a Twin he batted .253/.311/.469, numbers which are only slightly below his career numbers.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Detroit for 2020.  He was able to play only thirteen games, however, before suffering a season-ending injury.  He signed with Colorado for 2021 and had an excellent season, hitting 28 homers and posting an OPS of .905.  He remained with the Rockies in 2022 and did not do as well, but still had a solid season and hit 29 home runs.  He was again the Rockies' starting first baseman in 2023, but missed a month and a half due to injury and was traded to the Angels at the July deadline.  He played for them for about two weeks and was injured again, missing the rest of the season except for one game in September.  He signed with Boston for 2024, but was released in spring training and did not sign with anyone.  We assume C. J. Cron's playing career is over, and we wish him well with whatever his future holds.

Outfielder Daniel Ortiz did not play for the Twins, but was drafted by them and was in their farm system for eight years.  He was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, and was drafted by Minnesota in the fourth round in 2008.  He played in the GCL in 2008, did not play in 2009, and was with Elizabethton in 2010.  He did fairly well in those years.  but struggled when promoted to Class A Beloit in 2011.  He was just twenty-one, however, and had a solid 2012 with Fort Myers.  He kept getting promoted a level at a time and each year did okay--not bad, but nothing special.  He reached Rochester in 2014 and played there again in 2015.  In his two seasons there, he batted .251/.292/.435 with 25 home runs.  Again, not bad, but nothing to really catch your eye, either.  He became a free agent after that season and signed with Pittsburgh.  He didn't do much in AAA in 2016 but had a better year there in 2017, batting .270/.303/.457.  He got a little over a week in the majors in May, going 1-for-12 in nine games.  A free agent, he signed a minor league contract with Philadelphia for 2018.  He spent the season in AAA and hit fifteen home runs, but was otherwise unimpressive.  He again was a free agent, went unsigned, and has played in the Mexican League since then, where he's done quite well.  He turns thirty-five today.  It's baseball, and strange things happen, but there's no reason to think we'll see him in a major league uniform again.  If he wants to play in Mexico or somewhere else for a couple more years, though, he probably can.

January 4

Tommy Corcoran (1869)
Ernest Lanigan (1873)
Al Bridwell (1884)
Ossie Vitt (1890)
George Dixon (1896)
George Selkirk (1908)
Gabe Paul (1910)
Herman Franks (1914)
Don McMahon (1930)
Tito Fuentes (1944)
Charlie Manuel (1944)
Ken Reynolds (1947)
Paul Gibson (1960)
Daryl Boston (1963)
Trey Hillman (1963)
Ted Lilly (1976)
Willie Martinez (1978)
Kevin Pillar (1989)
Raisel Iglesias (1990)
Kris Bryant (1992)
Michael Lorenzen (1992)
Blake Cederlind (1996)

Ernest Lanigan was the nephew of the Spink brothers who founded The Sporting News.  He worked for the publication from the time he was 15.  Among other things, he compiled baseball's first encyclopedia, published in 1922, and served as curator, historian, and director of the Hall of Fame from 1946 until his death in 1962.

Gabe Paul was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians (twice), and the New York Yankees.

Trey Hillman was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2008-2010.

Blake Cederlind was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 2015, but he did not sign.

Right-hander Donald John McMahon did not play for the Twins, but he was their pitching coach from 1976-1978. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he signed with the Boston Braves as a free agent in 1950. His career got off to a good start, but then he missed to full years in military service, from May of 1951 to May of 1953. While he did some starting in the minors, he was primarily a relief pitcher. He struggled in his first couple of shots at AAA, but had a fine year with Wichita in 1957, going 6-2, 2.92 in 71 innings. He made his major league debut that year with the Milwaukee Braves and was one of the first true relief specialists. His best year as a Brave was 1959, when he led the league in games finished (49) and saves (15), going 5-3 with a 2.57 ERA. He had an off year in 1960, but bounced back in 1961. He began 1962 with the Braves, but was sold to Houston in early May. After two seasons there he was sold again, this time to Cleveland. He had over two solid seasons there (1964-1966), then was traded to Boston in early June of 1966. He pitched well for the Red Sox, but after exactly one year he was traded again, this time to the White Sox. He did even better there, going 7-1, 1.77 with a 0.96 WHIP in 137.2 innings (77 appearances), but after a little more than a year he was on the move again, this time going to Detroit. He continued pitching well, but in August of 1969 he was traded once more, this time to the Giants. He found a home in San Francisco, staying there the rest of his playing career. His best year as a Giant was 1970, when he went 9-5, 2.96, 1.22 WHIP with 19 saves in 94.1 innings (61 appearances). He retired after the 1972 season to become the Giants pitching coach, but returned as an active player in mid-season in both 1973 and 1974. In 1973, at age 43, he went 4-0, 1.48, 0.92 WHIP with six saves in 30.1 innings (22 appearances). He remained as a coach for the Giants through 1975, then was the pitching coach for the Twins from 1976-1978. He went back to the Giants from 1980-82, then was the pitching coach for Cleveland from 1983-1985. He then went to work for the Dodgers as a special assignments scout. He was throwing batting practice for the Dodgers in July of 1987 when he suffered a heart attack. Don McMahon passed away on July 22, 1987 in Los Angeles, California.

Most of outfielder Charles Fuqua Manuel's major league career came as a member of the Minnesota Twins, for whom he played from 1969-1972. Born in Northfork, West Virginia, he attended high school in Buena Viasta, West Virginia. Minnesota signed him as a free agent in 1963. He hit .358 in rookie ball in 1963, then spent the next four years at Class A. He struggled much of that time, but finally hit .313 with 15 homers at Wisconsin Rapids in 1967, earning a promotion to AA. He had a solid year at AA and found himself in the majors for all of 1969. The 1969 Twins had some pretty good bats, and that, along with an injured ankle, left Manuel with a tough time finding playing time. Mostly playing left field, he got only 164 at-bats and hit .207. With Minnesota for all but a month in 1970, he played even less, getting only 64 at-bats and hitting .188. He was with the Twins for 2 1/2 months in 1971 and all of 1972, getting about the same amount of playing time with about the same results. As a Twin, he hit .199/.276/.265 in 366 at-bats spread over four seasons. The Twins kept Manuel at AAA in 1973 and then traded him to the Dodgers after the season along with Glenn Ezell for Mike Floyd and Jim Fairey. The Dodgers also kept Manuel at AAA for almost all of 1974-1975, giving him only 18 at-bats in the big leagues. He then went to Japan, where he found success. He remained in Japan through 1981. After his playing career, Manuel was hired by the Twins, working as a scout, a hitting instructor, and a minor league manager. In 1988, he moved on to the Cleveland Indians, and served as their manager from 2000-2002, reaching the playoffs in 2001. He then went to the Philadelphia organization and became their manager in 2005, a position he held until mid-August of 2013. The Phillies had reached the playoffs in five consecutive seasons prior to 2012, reaching the World Series in 2008-2009. Charlie Manuel managed the Phillies to a World Series victory in 2008.  After he was relieved of his duties as manager, he became a senior advisor for the Phillies.  In August of 2019, he became the team's batting coach.  He remained in that position until the end of the season, then returned to his senior advisor position.

Left-hander Kenneth Lee Reynolds did not play for the Twins, but he went to spring training with them in 1973. He was born in Trevose, Pennsylvania, then attended New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, the only major league player to attend that institution. He was drafted by Philadelphia in the fourth round in 1966. He began his professional career in Huron, South Dakota, where he had a fine year in the Northern League. He never looked like a star, but he put up solid numbers wherever he was, reaching AA in 1969 and AAA in 1970. He got a September call-up in 1970, then spent the next two full seasons in the majors, the only two full seasons he had as a big leaguer. He was mostly a starting pitcher, although he made a number of relief appearances both seasons. His ERA as a Phillie was 4.34 and his WHIP was 1.45. Those numbers are not particularly good, but his won-lost record made him look even worse: he was 7-24, going 2-15 in 1972 despite an ERA of 4.26 and a WHIP of 1.35, numbers which aren’t great but would seem to have deserved a better fate than he got. After the 1972 season he was traded to Minnesota with Ken Sanders and Joe Lis for Cesar Tovar, much to the consternation of Twins manager Frank Quilici, who had envisioned Tovar as his starting center fielder. Reynolds was traded to Milwaukee in late March of 1973 for Mike Ferraro. He had a solid year in AAA, but made only two appearances in the majors and then was traded again, this time to St. Louis. He stayed in the Cardinals’ organization for two seasons, returning to the majors in 1975 for a little more than a month. He did well there in 17 innings, going 0-1, 1.59, 1.35 WHIP. He was traded to San Diego after the season and split 1976 between the majors and the minors. He pitched poorly in the majors, though, and his major league career ended. He hung around for a few more years, pitching in AAA for Cleveland in 1977 and for Toronto in 1978-1979, then his playing career was over. Ken Reynolds was a popular physical education teacher at Marlborough High School in Marlborough, Massachusetts for many years until his retirement.  He said that he enjoyed teaching kids to play baseball much more than he enjoyed playing professionally.

Left-hander Paul Marshall Gibson did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system from 1982-1983. He was born in Southampton, New York, went to high school in Moriches, New York, and was drafted by Cincinnati in the third round of the January draft in 1978. He was in Class A with the Reds for three season, pitching well for the first two but having a poor year in 1980. The Reds released him at the end of spring training of 1981 and he was signed by Detroit in late May. The Tigers converted him from a starter to a reliever. He had a good year in Class A in 1981 and another one in AA in 1982, but the Tigers left him unprotected and he was chosen by Minnesota in the Rule 5 draft. The Twins worked something out to keep him in the minors, sending him to AA Orlando for two years. He was pretty awful in 1983, better but not great in 1984, and then he became a free agent. He signed back with the Tigers, who showed quite a bit of patience with him. He finally reached AAA in 1986 and was converted back to full-time starting in 1987. He had a fine season at AAA, going 14-7, 3.47, 1.29 WHIP. He began 1988 with the Tigers and stayed there through 1991. He was primarily a reliever and alternated good years with bad, pitching well in 1988 and 1990 and not well in 1989 and 1991. After the 1991 season he was traded to the Mets. He was there for the next year and a half, also spending time in the minors. He didn’t do much for the Mets, who released him in mid-June of 1993. The Yankees signed him and kept him until the end of August, 1994, when he was sent to Milwaukee. A free agent after the season, he was in the minors for all of 1995, first with Toronto and then with Pittsburgh. The Yankees signed him for 1996 and he made four more big league appearances, but was released at the end of May, bringing his playing career to an end. Paul Gibson is currently the owner of Paul Gibson’s All Pro Sports Academy, “Where Winners Come to Grow”, in Bellport, New York. Other former major leaguers on the staff include Kevin Baez, John Habyan, and Bill Pulsipher.  He also is the director of pitching performance for the Kansas City Royals.

Right-hander William Jose Martinez did not play for the Twins, but he was at AAA for them in 2001. Born and raised in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, he signed with Cleveland as a free agent in 1995. He struggled in rookie ball, had a couple of good years in Class A, but never had a full season in which he recorded an ERA under four after that. He was a starting pitcher throughout his minor league career, reaching AA in 1998 and AAA at the end of 1999. In 2000, he went 8-5, 4.46, 1.47 WHIP at AAA Buffalo. He made his only major league appearance that season, a three-inning relief appearance on June 14 against the White Sox. Martinez entered the game at the start of the third inning with the Indians already trailing 10-4 and held Chicago in check pretty well, allowing just one run on a hit and a walk in his three innings of work. Unfortunately, the Cleveland offense could do nothing further, and the Indians lost 11-4. Cleveland waived him after the season and he signed with Minnesota, who sent him to AAA Edmonton for 2001. While there, he went 7-8, 5.61, 1.66 WHIP in 112.1 innings. He moved on to the Cincinnati organization for 2002, made four appearances for AA Chattanooga, and then his playing career was over. He then went into coaching.  He was in the Braves organization from 2008-15, but no information about what he has done since then was readily available.

January 3

Barney Gilligan (1856)
Warren Brown (1894)
Gus Suhr (1906)
Frenchy Bordagaray (1910)
Sid Hudson (1915)
Eddie Einhorn (1936)
Bob Gebhard (1943)
Dick Colpaert (1944)
Larry Barnett (1945)
Gary Lavelle (1949)
Jim Dwyer (1950)
Darren Daulton (1962)
Luis Rivera (1964)
Luis Sojo (1965)
A. J. Burnett (1977)
Michael Restovich (1979)
Alex Meyer (1990)

Warren Brown was a long-time sportswriter, mostly in Chicago.  He coined Babe Ruth's famous nickname, "The Sultan of Swat".

Eddie Einhorn was a part-owner of the Chicago White Sox.  He was the founder of the TVS networks, which syndicated sports regionally and nationally in the days before twenty-four hour sports stations.

Larry Barnett was a major league umpire from 1969-1999.

Right-handed reliever Robert Henry Gebhard appeared in 30 games for the Twins over two years in 1971-1972. A native of Lamberton, Minnesota, Gebhard went to high school in Lamberton and then attended the University of Iowa. He was chosen by the Twins in the 44th round of the draft in 1965. A starter early in his minor league career, he pitched very well in 1965, but not so well in 1966. He was shifted to the bullpen after that, and reeled off four pretty good years, two in Class A, one in AA, and one in AAA. He did some starting in Portland in 1971, and did less well, but was still called up to the Twins for the final two months of the season. Gebhard battled injuries in 1972, and did not pitch well when he could pitch. He was back in AAA in 1973, continued to not pitch well, and was released after the season. Montreal signed Gebhard, put him back into the bullpen full time, and he responded with a couple of very good seasons at AAA Memphis. He made one final appearance with Montreal, in 1974, but retired after not getting back to the big leagues in 1975. As a Twin, Bob Gebhard was 1-3, 6.00 in 41 innings of relief. Gebhard has remained in baseball after his playing career ended, first as a coach and then as a member of the front office. He was an assistant general manager for the Twins from 1988 through 1991, and then became the first general manager of the Colorado Rockies, a position he held through 1999. He has also worked for St. Louis Cardinals and until 2009 was the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He suffered a mild heart attack in February of 2010, but appears to have made a full recovery. Bob Gebhard was a vice president and special assistant to the general manager for the Diamondbacks through 2016, then took a similar role for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017 until his retirement in 2020.  He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.

Right-hander Richard Charles Colpaert did not play for the Twins, but was briefly in their farm system, at least on paper. He was born in Fraser, Michigan, and signed with Baltimore as a free agent in 1961. He had a good year in 1962 as a reliever for Class D Appleton, then was selected by Pittsburgh in the first-year player draft. He spent the next ten years in the Pirates’ organization, putting up good ERAs every year but getting little chance for advancement. He reached AA in 1962 and stayed there through 1968. He made 245 appearances in AA, going 24-24 with a 3.41 ERA in 412 innings. Finally, in 1969, Colpaert was promoted to AAA, again posting good numbers but not getting moved up. His sole time in the big leagues was about three weeks in late July-early August of 1970, when he made eight relief appearances for the Pirates. He was 1-0, 5.91, 1.59 WHIP in 10.2 innings. After the 1972 season, he was sold to Kansas City, but was left unprotected and chosen in the Rule 5 draft by Cleveland. He had a poor year in AAA in 1973 and was traded to Minnesota with Bill Butler after the season for Mike Brooks and Jim Strickland. Before the 1974 season, however, the Twins sent him to Boston “in an unknown transaction.” It was known to the people involved, at least, because Colpaert started 1974 in AAA for the Red Sox. After 12 ineffective relief appearances, however, he was released in July, ending his playing career. His minor league numbers are not mind-blowing, especially when considered in the context of the 1960s, but he seems at least as good as a lot of other players who got a lot more of a shot than he did. He was a major league scout for many years after his playing career ended, including working for the Major League Scouting Bureau.  He was living in Shelby Township, Michigan when he passed away on April 6, 2021.

Outfielder/DH James Edward Dwyer played for the Twins for part of the 1988, 1989, and 1990 seasons.  He was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, went to high school in Oaklawn, Illinois, and attended Southern Illinois University.  He was drafted by St. Louis in the eleventh round in 1971.  He was always a high-average hitter in the minors, posting an average of over .300 in every year in which he played more than eight games.  He first reached the majors in 1973, but bounced back and forth between St. Louis and AAA until he was traded to Montreal in July of 1975.  He finished the season with the Expos and did fairly well, but when he started poorly in 1976 he was on the move again, traded to the Mets in July.  Most of his time there was spent in the minors and then he was once again traded, this time to the Cubs.  Dwyer hit .332 with 18 homers and 12 triples for AAA Wichita for an OPS of 1.041 in 1977.  All it got him was a release as soon as the season was over.  Now heading into his age 28 season, he signed with St. Louis.  Dwyer finally got his first full season in the majors, but it wasn’t all with the Cardinals; he was traded to San Francisco in mid-June.  He didn’t get much chance to play with either team, and did not do much with the chances he had.  In March of 1979, the Giants sold him to Boston.  He was a part-time player for the Red Sox for two years and did fairly well, posting his best major league season up to that time.  He became a free agent after the 1980 season and moved to Baltimore, where he finally found a home.  He was never a regular, but he was a part-time outfielder for the Orioles for the next seven years, helping the Orioles win a world championship in 1983.  He started an eighth year, 1988, with Baltimore, but played little and was traded in late August to the Twins for a player to be named later (Doug Kline).  He finished the season with Minnesota, hitting .293 with 2 homers in 41 at-bats.  Dwyer was with the Twins most of 1989 and again hit well, posting an average of .316 as a left-handed DH, but was traded back to Montreal in late August for a player to be named later (Alonzo Powell).  He was traded back to the Twins that off-season for Jim Davins.  Now 40, he got off to a slow start in 1990 and elected to retire in late June.  As a Twin, Jim Dwyer hit .289/.387/.380 in 329 at-bats (145 games).  He was never a star, and in fact was never a regular; the highest number of at-bats he got in a season was 260.  Still, he was a big league ball player for all or part of eighteen seasons, and there are not a lot of people who can say that.  After his playing days ended, Jim Dywer was a coach and manager in the Twins organization, coaching at Portland (1991), managing at Ft. Wayne (1992) and Kenosha (1993-1994), coaching at New Britain (1995-1996), serving as minor league hitting coordinator (1997-2005), and coaching at Ft. Myers (2006-2016) until his retirement.  At last report, he was living in Cape Coral, Florida.

Outfielder Michael Jerome Restovich played for the Twins at various times from 2002-2004. He was born in Rochester, Minnesota, and went to high school there. Restovich was chosen by the Twins in the second round in 1997. He was tremendous in his first couple of minor-league years, which were spent in rookie and Class A ball. He was less tremendous, but still pretty good, at higher levels. He averaged over 20 homers a year in AAA from 2002-2004, a figure that is even more remarkable when you remember that he also was in the majors for a substantial part of those seasons. The Twins never gave Restovich anything approaching regular playing time in the big leagues, but he still hit .274/.364/.442 in 113 at-bats spread over three years. Despite all that, Minnesota put Restovich on waivers just before the 2005 season, and he was selected by Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays put him on waivers a week later, and he moved on to Colorado. Restovich was hitting .290 in part-time play for the Rockies when he was on the move again, this time going to Pittsburgh in mid-May. Restovich remained with the Pirates the rest of the season, his only full year in the majors, but was released once the season ended. He was with the Cubs in 2006 and Washington in 2007, getting brief appearances in the majors both years. He was signed by Philadelphia in November of 2007, but was released two weeks later. He went to Japan for 2008, then came back to the United States. Restovich played for Charlotte in the White Sox' organization in 2009 and for Albuquerque in the Dodgers’ chain in 2010, continuing to hit well.  In 2011 he played in the White Sox and Diamondbacks organizations, but did not hit well, and his playing career came to an end.  In eight AAA seasons, he hit .278/.346/.498 with 148 home runs.  It's hard to understand why no one wanted to give him a chance to show what he could do in the majors, but no one did.  After leaving baseball Michael Restovich went to law school and then joined his family's law firm. Restovich, Braun & Associates, in Rochester, Minnesota.

Right-hander Alex John Meyer appeared in two games for the Twins in 2015 and two more in 2016.  Born and raised in Greensburg, Indiana, he attended the University of Kentucky and was drafted by Washington in the first round in 2011.  He had a good year in Class A in 2012 but was traded to Minnesota after that season for Denard Span.  He missed time in 2013 due to injury, but pitched well when he did pitch.  He had a fairly good season in Rochester in 2014 but did not pitch well there in 2015, despite which he made two appearances for the Twins in June.  It did not go well for him, as he gave up five runs on four hits and three walks in 2.2 innings.  He had been a starter for his entire minor league career through 2014, but pitched mostly out of the bullpen in 2015, making 30 relief appearances and only eight starts.  He made two more appearances with the Twins in 2016, which did not go much better, and then was traded to the Angels on August 1 with Ricky Nolasco and cash for Hector Santiago and Alan Busenitz. He got a September call-up, went into the rotation, and didn't do too badly.  He spent about half of 2017 with the Angels and did well in twelve starts, but then was injured again and was unable to pitch in 2018.  The Angels placed him on waivers after the 2018 season, but then signed him to a minor-league contract for 2019.  Unfortunately, he was still unable to pitch and announced his retirement in June.  As a Twin, he was 0-1, 14.21, 3.00 WHIP in 6.1 innings.  He might have had a good career if he'd been able to stay healthy, but that's not the way it went.  At last report, Alex Meyer had moved back to his hometown of Greensburg and was working in sales for BSN Sports.  He is also the baseball coach of Greensburg Community High School.