May 7

Mickey Doolan (1880)
Tom Zachary (1896)
Dick Williams (1929)
Claude Raymond (1937)
Steve Whitaker (1943)
Manny Hernandez (1961)
Brook Fordyce (1970)
Conor Jackson (1982)
James Loney (1984)

Right-hander Manuel Antonio (Montas) Hernandez did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for most of 1989.  He was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic, and signed with Houston as a free agent in 1978.  He was very young, of course, and as a result he was in rookie ball for two years and Class A for three more.  He pitched well in every year except 1982.  He jumped to AAA Tucson in 1984 and stayed there most of the next five seasons, getting some cups of coffee in Houston in 1986 and 1987.  His numbers in AAA were neither good nor terrible, but he never really seemed to improve while he was there.  He made fifteen appearances with the Astros, seven of them starts, and went 2-7, 4.56 in 49.1 innings.  He became a free agent after the 1988 season and signed with Minnesota for 1989.  He did all right in Portland, going 9-8, 3.91 with a 1.15 WHIP.  He was sold to the Mets on August 1 and got back to the majors for one inning, retiring all three batters he faced.  That was his swan song in the majors.  He remained in the Mets’ organization in 1990, split 1991 between the Mets and Brewers organization, and then his playing career was over.  No information about what Manny Hernandez has done since that time was readily available. 

May 6

Bonesetter Reese (1855)
Walton Cruise (1890)
Mike McCormick (1917)
Willie Mays (1931)
Russ Gibson (1939)
Bill Hands (1940)
Masanori Murakami (1944)
Steve Staggs (1951)
Larry Andersen (1953)
Al Williams (1954)

John “Bonesetter” Reese worked with many baseball players and other famous people in the first part of the twentieth century.  “Bonesetting” is a Welsh term for the treatment of muscle and tendon strains.

Infielder Steve Staggs was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 1970, but did not sign.

Right-hander William Alfred Hands pitched for the Twins for most of two seasons in 1973 and 1974.  He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, went to high school in Rutherford, New Jersey, and signed with San Francisco as a free agent in 1959.  Hands struggled early in his minor league career, and as a result he spent a full year in Class D, Class C, Class B, and Class A.  After a fine season in 1962 at Class A, however, he was jumped to AAA Tacoma.  He struggled his first year there, but did well in 1964 and even better in 1965.  Hands made four apperances with the Giants in 1965, then was traded to the Cubs with another future Twin, Randy Hundley, for Don Landrum and Lindy McDaniel.  He did not do well in his first season with the Cubs, and in 1967 he was used primarily out of the bullpen.  He had a good year there, and was placed in the Cubs rotation in 1968, where he stayed for five seasons.  His best year as a Cub was probably 1969, when he went 20-14, 2.49 with a 1.14 WHIP in 300 innings.  He continued to be a solid member of the rotation through 1972.  After that season, Hands was traded to Minnesota with Bob Maneely and Joe Decker for Dave LaRoche.  Hands pitched fairly well for the Twins in 1973, but his won-lost record did not reflect it, and when he got off to a slow start in 1974 he was pulled from the rotation and sent to the bullpen.  He pitched very well there, posting an ERA of 2.93 and a WHIP of 1.09 in 61.1 innings as a reliever.  The Twins gave him four starts in August and he still did well, going 2-1, 3.44, but after a bad start on September 1 they surprisingly placed him on waivers.  The Rangers snapped him up and put him in their rotation, where he pitched well through 1975.  He was traded to the Mets early in spring training of 1976, but opted to retire instead.  After retiring from baseball, he moved to Orient, Long Island where he purchased a service station and started a retail oil business, both of which proved successful.  At last report, Bill Hands was still living in retirement in Orient.

Right-hander Albert Hamilton (DeSouza) Williams pitched for the Twins from 1980-1984.  He was born in Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua and signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in 1975.  He pitched in the Pirates' organization for a year and a half without particular distinction and was released in July of 1976.  He then returned to Nicaragua, where he fought in the Nicaraguan Revolution.  He did not play in organized baseball for three years.  He snuck out of the country, as the Nicaraguan government would not grant him a visa, and in January of 1980, Williams signed with Minnesota.  He made fifteen starts in Toledo, going 9-3, 2.10 with a WHIP of 0.95, and was called up to the majors.  He was used both as a reliever and a starter and did well, going 6-2, 3.51.  He was in the starting rotation beginning in 1981 and stayed there through 1983, not doing great but not doing terribly, either.  He started 1984 in the rotation as well, but got off to a bad start and was sent back to AAA Toledo in early May.  He came back a month later and did somewhat better, but got injured in early July and missed the next two months, coming back in September.  The Twins released Williams after the season.  He signed with the Yankees, had a mediocre season in AAA Columbus, and then his playing career came to an end.  No information about Al Williams since that time was readily available.

May 5

Chief Bender (1884)
Bob Cerv (1926)
Bing Russell (1926)
Red Robbins (1928)
Jose Pagan (1935)
Tommy Helms (1941)
John Donaldson (1943)
Larry Hisle (1947)
Ron Oester (1956)
Charles Nagy (1967)
Hideki Irabu (1969)
Mike Redmond (1971)

Better known for his role as Deputy Clem Foster on “Bonanza”, outfielder Bing Russell played minor league baseball from 1948-1949.  He is the father of actor (and minor league player) Kurt Russell and the grandfather of major league player Matt Franco.

Spencer “Red” Robbins was a minor league player for fourteen years.  He then spent many years in the Twins’ organization, most of them as a scout (1963-1986).

Infielder John David Donaldson did not play for the Twins, but began his professional career in their minor league system.  Born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, he signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1963.  He played for Class A Orlando that year, hitting .251, and was chosen by the Kansas City Athletics in the first year player draft.  He hit .315 at Class A in 1964, and was promoted to AAA the next year.  He struggled at first, but he hit .298 in Vancouver in 1966, earning his first promotion to the majors in late August.  He started out 1967 batting .339 in Vancouver and was promoted to Kansas City in early June.  He was the regular second baseman the rest of the way and hit fairly well, but when the team moved to Oakland the next year he apparently left his bat behind.  Donaldson slumped to .220, lost his starting job, and was traded in June of 1969 to the Seattle Pilots.  He did not do much better there, started 1970 in the minors, and was traded to Oakland in May.  He was seldom used and spent all of 1971 at AAA, being traded to Detroit in May.  He was traded to Baltimore in February of 1972 and sold to San Diego of April that year.  Donaldson did not get back to the majors until 1974.  He was sent back to Oakland before the 1974 season and started the year with the Athletics, but was sent back down in early May and did not play in the majors again until the last game of the season, when he was allowed to make a farewell appearance before ending his playing career.  There are a lot of people named "John Donaldson" in this world; wikipedia lists entries for eleven of them.  What you do find about John Donaldson in regard to baseball is about the great Negro League pitcher John Wesley Donaldson.  No information about this John Donaldson was readily available.

Outfielder Larry Eugene Hisle played for the Twins from 1973-1977.  Born and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio, Hisle was drafted by Philadelphia in the second round in 1965.  He began his career with Huron, South Dakota, in the Northern League, where he hit .433 in 60 at-bat sin 1966.  Moved up to Class A Clearwater in 1967, he hit .302 with 23 homers.  He was jumped to the majors in 1968 and stayed for two weeks, going 4-for-11, but the Phillies wanted him to play every day and sent him to AAA San Diego, where he continued to hit.  Hisle was the regular center fielder for the Phillies in 1969 at age 22 and hit .266 with 20 homers, finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting.  In 1970, however, he slumped to .205, and when he did no better at the beginning of 1971 he was sent to the minors in late May.  He again bashed the ball in the minors, and was only 24, but was traded to the Dodgers after the 1971 season.  Hisle hit .325 with 23 homers for AAA Albuquerque in 1972, but not only did the Dodgers not promote him, they traded him to St. Louis after the season.  He never played with the Cardinals, however, as they sent him to Minnesota with John Cumberland for Wayne Granger in November.  Hisle won a starting outfield job for the Twins in 1973 and held it for five years.  He played primarily left field for the Twins, but saw a fair amount of action in center and also played right on occasion.  He had some fine years for the Twins, playing regularly except for 1975, when he missed a couple of months with injuries.  His best year as a Twin was his last one, 1977, when he hit .302 with 28 homers and a league-leading 119 RBIs.  He made his first all-star team that year and finished 12th in MVP voting.  Hisle became a free agent after the season and signed with Milwaukee.  He had an equally strong season with the Brewers in 1978, hitting .290 with 34 homers and 115 RBIs.  He made his second all-star team that year and was third in MVP balloting.  In April of 1979, however, he suffered a torn rotator cuff and was able to play only sporadically after that.  Hisle kept trying to come back, but finally ended his career after the 1982 season, having had only 274 at-bats in the last four seasons.  As a Twin, Larry Hisle hit .286/.354/.457 in 662 games.  Hisle stayed in baseball, and was the hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1992-1995.  He is currently employed by the Milwaukee Brewers, for whom he is the Manager of Youth Outreach.  He is also the president of Major League Mentoring, a youth mentoring program in Milwaukee.  He appears to be working very hard in both positions.

Catcher Michael Patrick Redmond was with the Twins from 2005-2009.  He was born in Seattle, went to high school in Spokane, Washington, and attended Gonzaga University.  He signed with Florida as a free agent in 1992.  He showed no power in the minors, never hitting more than four home runs in a season.  His averages were decent but not outstanding, ranging from the .250s to the .280s.  He reached AA in 1995, AAA in 1997, and made his debut in the majors at the end of May, 1998.  He was always a part-time player, never getting more than 256 at-bats with the Marlins.  Redmond did well in that role, however, hitting over .300 four times.  He stayed with Florida for seven seasons before becoming a free agent after the 2005 campaign.  Redmond signed with the Twins and remained a part-time player, although he set a career high in at-bats in 2007 with 272.  He again did a good job in a part-time role, hitting over .300 twice more.  As a Twin, Mike Redmond hit .297/.339/.359 in 863 at-bats.  He dropped to .237 in 2009, however, and was allowed to become a free agent again.  Redmond signed with Cleveland, again as a part-time catcher, but was released in mid-July, ending his playing career.  He has stayed in baseball, however, and is currently the manager of the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Toronto affiliate in the Florida State League.

May 4

Charley Hickman (1876)
Jack Tobin (1892)
John Tsitouris (1936)
Rene Lachemann (1945)
Ken Oberkfell (1956)
Rick Leach (1957)
Tim Tschida (1960)
Eddie Perez (1968)
Joe Borowski (1971)
Miguel Cairo (1974)
Ben Grieve (1976)
Jason Michaels (1976)
Robinson Cancel (1976)
Ryan Jorgensen (1979)Matt Tolbert (1982)Kevin Slowey (1984)

Catcher Ryan Wayne Jorgensen played a total of three innings for the Twins in 2008.  He was born in Jacksonville, Florida, went to high school in Kingwood, Texas, and attended LSU.  He was then drafted by the Cubs in the seventh round in 2000.  He really never had a productive offensive season in the minors above Class A; his best was 2004, when he hit .259 with eight homers for AAA Albuquerque.  The Cubs traded him to Florida in March or 2002 in a trade that involved Dontrelle Willis, Antonio Alfonseca, and Matt Clement.  Jorgensen does not seem to have been a regular catcher even in the minors; once he got above Class A, he never got as many as 250 at-bats in a minor league season.  He was with the Marlins for about two weeks, presumably when one of their catchers was injured.  He got four at-bats in four games and was 0-for-4.  Jorgensen was traded to Cincinnati in March of 2006 and got another two weeks or so in the majors with the Reds in 2007, going 3-for-15.  He became a free agent after the 2007 campaign and signed with Minnesota.  He hit .247 in Rochester and got a September call-up, going 0-for-1 in two games.  He signed with Cincinnati for 2009, but decided to retire instead.  No current information about Ryan Jorgensen was readily available.

Infielder Christopher Matthew Tolbert has been with the Twins since 2008.  He was born in McComb, Mississippi, went to high school in Centreville, Mississippi, and attended the University of Mississippi.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the sixteenth round in 2004.  He has generally hit for a decent average in the minors, but with little power and only an average number of walks.  He has hit over .300 in the minors twice:  in rookie ball in 2004, when he hit .308, and in a half-season at Ft. Myers in 2006, when he hit .303 in 155 at-bats.  After hitting .293 at Rochester in 2007, Tolbert spent most of 2008 with Minnesota, although he was injured part of the time.  He hit .283 that season in 113 at-bats.  He was with the Twins for a little over half of 2009, but hit only .232 in 198 at-bats.  He began 2010 with AAA Rochester, but was called up in mid-May and spent most of the rest of the season in Minnesota.  He was with the big club almost all of 2011 as a futility infielder, batting .198 with an OPS of .518.   A free agent after 2011, he signed with the Cubs and is currently playing for AAA Iowa. As a Twin, he hit .230/.288/.319 in 605 at-bats.  He turns 30 today.  His future does not look particularly bright, but he hustles and he plays a lot of positions. It's possible that his major league career is already over, but it's equally possible that he'll still be around several years from now.

Right-hander Kevin Michael Slowey has pitched for the Twins since 2007.  He was born in Conroe, Texas, attended high school in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, and attended Winthrop University.  He was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 2005.  He was tremendous in the minors:  his highest season-long ERA was 2.12 and his highest WHIP was 0.96.  Slowey pitched only 7.2 innings of rookie ball in 2005 before being moved up to Beloit, where he posted an ERA of 2.24 and a WHIP of 0.78 in 64.1 innings.  He made 14 starts at Ft. Myers in 2006 and was almost unhittable, going 4-2, 1.01 with a 0.68 WHIP before being promoted to New Britain.  He was 10-5, 1.89 in 20 starts in Rochester in 2007.  Slowey made his major league debut that year, going 4-1, 4.73 in 13 games, eleven of them starts.  He was fairly good in 2008, but missed half of 2009 with a wrist injury.  He was in the starting rotation in 2010, and did okay, going 13-6, 4.45, 1.29 WHIP in 28 starts.  He was injured much of 2011 and was ineffective when he did pitch.  After the season, he was traded to Colorado for a player to be named later (Daniel Turpen).  He did not play for the Rockies, however, as he was traded to Cleveland about six weeks later.  He is currently pitching for AAA Columbus and has gotten off to a slow start.  As a Twin, he was 39-29, 4.66 with a WHIP of 1.30.  He appeared in 100 games, 90 of them starts, and pitched 532.2 innings.  He's 28 today, has yet to establish himself, and has had injury problems.  Kevin Slowey still could have a solid major league career, but time is starting to run out on him.

May 3

George Gore (1857)
Garry Herrmann (1859)
Eppa Rixey (1891)Red Ruffing (1905)Goose Tatum (1921)
Chuck Hinton (1934)
Chris Cannizzaro (1938)
Davey Lopes (1945)
Dan Iassogna (1969)
Darren Dreifort (1972)
Ryan Dempster (1977)
Ben Revere (1988)

Better known as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Goose Tatum played in the Negro Leagues for several years in the 1940s.

Outfielder Ben Daniel Revere was a September call-up for the Twins in 2010.  He was born in Atlanta, went to high school in Lexington, Kentucky, and was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2007.  He mostly rose one level at a time, playing in rookie ball in 2007, Class A in 2008, advanced A in 2009, AA in 2010, and AAA in 2011 before being called up to the big club because of injuries. He has hit over .300 each season, with a high of .379 in Beloit in 2008.  He hit ten triples in each of his first two seasons in the minors, but only hit four in each of the next two seasons.  He has little power and does not draw a lot of walks (his high is 40 in 2009).  He does have speed, stealing around forty bases a year.  He wasn't terrible with Minnesota in 2011, but he wasn't great, either, hitting .267/.310/.309.  He started 2012 in Minnesota as a fourth outfielder, but has been sent back to Rochester.  Much of his value lies in his ability to hit for a high average and steal bases.  How successful he is at those two things in the major leagues will go a long way to determining whether he has much of a major league career.

May 2

Eddie Collins (1887)
Bing Crosby (1904)
Joe Falls (1928)
Eddie Bressoud (1932)
Gates Brown (1939)
Clay Carroll (1941)
Keith Moreland (1954)
Dr. A (1956)
Felix Jose (1965)
Paul Emmel (1968)
Jerrod Saltalamacchia (1986)
Neftali Feliz (1988)

Entertainer Bing Crosby was part-owner and a vice president of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1947 into the 1960s.

It appears that no players with connections to the Minnesota Twins were born on this day.

May 1

Frank Foreman (1863)
George McQuillan (1885)
Victor Starfin (1916)
Johnny Berardino (1917)
Al Zarilla (1919)
Von Joshua (1948)
Rudy Meoli (1951)
Roy Lee Jackson (1954)
Charlie O'Brien (1960)
Jose Lind (1964)
Armando Reynoso (1966)

Born in Russia, Victor Starfin was Japanese baseball’s first 300-game winner.

Infielder Johnny Berardino played in the major leagues for eleven years and appeared in 912 games, but is best known as

Dr. Steve Hardy on General Hospital, a role he played from 1963-1996.

Infielder Rudolph Bartholomew Meoli did not play for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for a couple of months in 1979.  He was born in Troy, New York, went to high school in Covina, California, and was drafted by California in the fourth round in 1969.  He hit .351 in rookie ball, but after that his averages, while solid enough, are not that impressive, especially when combined with the fact that he had little power.  He did, however, draw quite a few walks, giving him very good OBPs.  He moved steadily up the ladder, reaching AA in 1971 (a year when he got a September call-up) and AAA in 1972.  He was in the majors for all of 1973, a year in which he was they Angels’ “most regular” shortstop, starting 87 games.  He did not hit, batting only .223, and spent much of 1974 in the minors, coming back to California at the end of July.  He got another full year in the majors in 1975 as a utility player, batting .214 in 126 at-bats.  The Angels gave up on him at that point, and he started moving around.  California traded him to San Diego after the 1975 season, but he was traded again, this time to Cincinnati, before the 1976 season started.  He was in AAA Indianapolis for two seasons, then was sold to the Cubs before the 1978 campaign.  He started the season as a utility infielder for the Cubs, but hit even worse than previously and was sent back to AAA in early July.  The Cubs released him after the season and he signed with Philadelphia for 1979.  He got back to the big leagues for about six weeks, but again did nothing offensively and was sold to Minnesota in late June.  He was in AAA the rest of the season, batting .265/.360/.365 in 189 at-bats.  He was released by the Twins prior to the 1980 season, signed with San Francisco, but was released at the end of spring training and his playing career ended.  There was obviously something teams liked about him, because he kept getting chances, but he hit .212/.289/.267 in 626 major league at-bats spread over six seasons.  He is apparently alive and well and fondly remembered in his original home town of Troy.  One report indicated that perhaps Rudy Meoli was living in the Los Angeles area and was working in the solar energy industry, but this could not be confirmed.

Right-hander Roy Lee Jackson made 28 appearances for the Twins in 1986.  Born and raised in Opelika, Alabama, he attended Tuskegee University and signed with the Mets as a free agent in 1975.  He was a starter early in his minor league career and pitched well, reaching AAA in 1977.  He pitched well in AAA for four consecutive years, consistently posting ERAs in the mid-threes, but got only brief chances in the majors until 1980, when he began shifting to the bullpen.  He was with the Mets for the second half of the season that year and was pretty average.  After the season, Jackson was traded to Toronto.  He was a pretty valuable man in the Blue Jays' bullpen for four seasons.  His best year was probably 1982, when he was 8-8, 3.06 with a 1.11 WHIP in 97 innings.  Jackson was still pitching well for Toronto in 1984, but was released late in spring training in 1985.  He did not sign for a month and then went to AAA with Baltimore.  The Orioles traded him to San Diego in late June.  He pitched well for the Padres, but was released again late in spring training of 1986.  The Twins signed him the same day.  He made 28 appearances as a Twin and actually pitched fairly well, posting a 3.86 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP in 58.1 innings.  Still, the Twins let him become a free agent, and he signed with Milwaukee for 1987.  Jackson made four appearances at AAA for the Brewers, did poorly, and his playing career came to a sudden end.  Perhaps he was a jerk, or perhaps his numbers were deceiving, but he sure seemed to get released a lot for a pitcher who wasn't that bad.  The Museum of East Alabama, located in "historic downtown Opelika", has "a large selection of memorabilia from Roy Lee's Career", so if you're ever in historic downtown Opelika, be sure to stop by.  Roy Lee Jackson is currently living in Auburn, Alabama and gives private pitching instruction.