Submarine-style pitcher Webster McDonald pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1940.
Joe Reichler was a long-time sportswriter and later worked in the commissioner's office. He was the editor of several editions of The Baseball Encyclopedia.
Roy Majtyka was a long-time minor-league manager, winning 1,832 games.
Rick Albert was a minor-league coach or manager in the Braves' organization.
We would like to wish a very happy birthday to mrs. bhiggum and to Mrs. Beau.
Utility player Sherrard Alexander Robertson was the Twins’ farm director in their first decade of existence. He was the nephew of Clark Griffith and the brother of Calvin Griffith and became the Joe Cronin’s brother-in-law. Born in Montreal, Canada, he attended the University of Maryland and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1939. Robertson did not hit much in the minors, but still got brief trials with Washington in 1940 and 1941. He appears to have been in the big leagues for all of 1943, and then lost a couple of years to military service. An infielder in the minors and early in his major league career, Roberson began playing some outfield in 1947, and did both the rest of his career. He was primarily a reserve for his entire career; the closest he got to regular play was in 1949, when he appeared in 110 games and had 374 at-bats. He also set a career high in home runs that year with 11. Washington placed him on waivers in May of 1952 and he was selected by the Philadelphia Athletics, with whom he finished that season. His playing career ended after that; in parts of ten major league seasons, he hit .230/.323/.342 in 1,507 at-bats. Robertson then joined the Washington front office. He became farm director in 1958, and came to Minnesota with the team in 1961. He remained farm director through 1970. On October 23, 1970, Sherry Robertson was killed in a car accident near Houghton, South Dakota, where he had gone on a hunting trip. He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. In his honor, the Twins created the Sherry Robertson Award, given annually to their minor league player of the year.
Infielder William Lamar Bethea played briefly for the Twins in 1964. He was born in Houston and attended the University of Texas. St. Louis signed him as a free agent in 1963. He hit very well in Class A in 1963, although less well when promoted to AA at mid-season. Minnesota drafted him in the 1963 first-year draft. He had a fairly undistinguished 1964 campaign in AA Charlotte, but still received a September call-up, hitting .167 in 30 at-bats. He got off to a poor start in AA in 1965, was placed on waivers, and was selected by the Yankees. He continued to not hit for two more years in the Yankees organization, and after the 1967 season, he moved on to the California system. He had a better year in 1968 at AA El Paso, but again did not hit when moved up to AAA in 1969, and his playing career came to an end. He then became an assistant baseball coach at the University of Texas, a position he held from 1970-1989. Bethea then became the head baseball coach at Arkansas State, a job he held until his retirement in 2002. He was inducted into the University of Texas Hall of Fame in 1986. At last report, Bill Bethea was living in the Jonesboro, Arkansas area.
Left-hander Dallas Keuchel appeared in ten games for the Twins in 2023. Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he attended the University of Arkansas and was drafted by Houston in the seventh round in 2009. He was really nothing special in the minors, but he still made his major league debut in 2012. He was there for over half the season, but it did not go well. He posted an ERA of over five, but still spent all of 2013 in the majors, again posting an ERA of over five. In 2014, however, something kicked in, as he went 12-9, 2.93. 2015 was even better, as he went 20-8, 2.48 and won the Cy Young Award. He struggled in 2016, but bounced back for two more good seasons before becoming a free agent after the 2018 season. He did not sign until June of 2019, but had a solid season with Atlanta. He pitched well in the abbreviated 2020 season, but that was the last good year he had. He struggled in 2021 and was released in June of 2022. He signed with Arizona, but was released about six weeks later. He finished out the season with Texas. He went unsigned until June of 2023, when he caught on with the Twins. He went to St. Paul, but came up to the Twins in early August. He did about what he should have been expected to do, going 2-1, 5.97 in 37.2 innings (six starts, four relief games). He signed with Seattle for 2024, went to AAA, was released, signed back again, was sold to Milwaukee, was released again, and finished the season in Japan. He was okay, but nothing special, in AAA and Japan, but did nothing in four major league starts. He turns thirty-seven and has not had a good season since 2020. We wish him well, but it appears that it's time for Dallas Keuchel to think about what he wants to do in the next phase of his life.
Outfielder/first baseman LaMonte Aaron Wade, Jr. was with the Twins from 2019-2020. He was born in Baltimore, went to high school in Brooklandville, Maryland, attended the University of Maryland, and was drafted by the Twins in the ninth round in 2015. He did well throughout the low minors and reached AAA in 2018. He didn't hit all that well in AAA, although he drew a lot of walks. He put up a line of .238/.366/.346 in 151 Twins AAA games. Despite that, he was with the Twins for about ten days from late June to early July of 2019 and then came back as a September call-up. He then played in sixteen games in 2020. He did about what you'd expect--walk a lot but not hit much. As a Twin, in 113 plate appearances he had a line of .211/.336/.347. The Twins traded him to San Francisco before the 2021 season for Shaun Anderson. Wade spent all but a month of 2021 with the Giants, was a mostly regular outfielder, and had a better season than anyone would've expected, batting .253/.326/482 with 18 home runs. He could not repeat that in 2022, however, batting just .207 with eight homers and spending a couple of weeks in AAA. He bounced back in 2023, though, and reclaimed a starting job, this time at first base. He had another unspectacular but decent season in 2024. He turns thirty-one today. He doesn't have the power one expects from a first baseman, but it seems likely that we'll see LaMonte Wade in the majors for at least a couple more years yet.
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