May 26

Jim Frey (1931)
Joe Altobelli (1932)
Jim McKean (1945)
Darrell Evans (1947)
Kevin Kennedy (1954)
Rob Murphy (1960)
Jason Bere (1971)
Chris Latham (1973)
Travis Lee (1975)
Ben Zobrist (1981)
Kevin Mulvey (1985)

Among other things, Jim Frey was manager of Kansas City from 1980-81, manager of the Cubs from 1984-86, and general manager of the Cubs from 1988-91.

Jim McKean was an American League umpire from 1974-2001.  He also played in the CFL for five years.

Kevin Kennedy managed Texas from 1993-94 and Boston from 1995-96.  He has also been a broadcaster for FOX.

Travis Lee was drafted by Minnesota with the second pick of the 1996 draft.  However, the Twins failed to make a formal contract offer within the time designated under the Basic Agreement, and Lee was declared a free agent.

Outfielder/first baseman Joseph Salvatore Altobelli played for the Twins for about two months in 1961.  Born and raised in Detroit, Altobelli signed with Cleveland as a free agent in 1951.  He had decent but unspectacular numbers in the minors, but he certainly was there a long time; Joe Altobelli played all or part of thirteen seasons at AAA.  The best of those seasons were 1960, when he hit .255 with 31 homers with Montreal, and 1965, when he hit .295 with 20 homers with Rochester.  He got a couple of shots at the majors with Cleveland, hitting .200 in 75 at-bats in 1955 and .207 in 87 at-bats in 1957.  He also played in the Pittsburgh organization in 1957, in the White Sox’ chain in 1958, for independent Toronto in 1959, and in the Dodgers’ organization in 1960.  His big season at Montreal that year got the attention of the Twins, and Altobelli was traded to Minnesota with Ed Palmquist for Ernie Oravetz and cash.  Altobelli came up to the Twins on August 1 and stayed the rest of the season.  He was a part-time left fielder for the Twins, hitting .221/.312/.358 in 95 at-bats over 41 games.  The Twins released him after the season.  He went back to the Dodgers’ organization in 1962, then moved to the Baltimore chain in 1963.  This started a long association of Altobelli with the Orioles’ organization, and an even longer associations with the city of Rochester, where the Orioles’ AAA team was at the time.  Altobelli played in Rochester for four seasons.  He then began managing in the Baltimore chain (although he was briefly activated in 1967 and 1970), staying with them through 1976.  For the last six of those seasons, he was the manager of the Rochester Red Wings.  Altobelli then got his first shot at managing in the majors, running the San Francisco Giants from 1977-1979.  He was back in AAA in 1980, managing Columbus, before spending two years as a Yankee coach.  After that, he went back to the Orioles as major league manager (1983-1985), winning the World Series in 1983.  He went back to the Yankees as a coach in 1986, then coached for the Cubs from 1988-1991.  He then returned to Rochester, first as general manager (1991-1993), then as special assistant to the president (1994-1997), and then as a broadcaster for the Red Wings, a position he held from 1998 until he retired in 2009.  Joe Altobelli is a member of the International League Hall of Fame.  He continues to live in Rochester and to attend games at Frontier Field.

Outfielder Christopher Joseph Latham played for the Twins in parts of three seasons in the late 1990s.  He was born in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, went to high school in Henderson, Nevada, and was drafted by the Dodgers in the eleventh round in 1991.  He was in the Dodgers’ system for five years with mixed success, but spent less than one full season above Class A and had only 18 at-bats above AA.  After the 1995 season, Latham was named as the player to be named later in a deal which also sent Ron Coomer, Greg Hansell, and Jose Parra to Minnesota for Mark Guthrie and Kevin Tapani.  Latham was in the Twins’ system for four years, most of it in AAA Salt Lake.  He hit well there, batting over .300 three times and over .320 twice, but could not translate that into major league success.  Latham was with the Twins for the first and last month of 1997, May and December of 1998, and for the first month and a half of 1999.  He did not get regular play, nor did he hit:  his line as a Twin is .152/.222/.188 in 138 at-bats.  After the 1999 season, Latham was traded to Colorado for Scott Randall.  He had a bad year with AAA Colorado Springs in 2000, became a free agent, and signed with Toronto.  Latham had a solid season in AAA in 2001 and was in Toronto for about half the season.  He was again used sparingly but hit well (.274 in 73 at-bats).  Late in 2002 spring training, however, he was placed on waivers and selected by the Mets.  He had a poor year in AAA Norfolk and was released after the season.  The Yankees signed him and he spent the first three weeks of 2003 with them, going 2-for-2, but was released in late April.  Latham went to Japan for the rest of the season, was out of baseball in 2004, played in independent ball in 2005, went to Mexico for 2006, and went back to independent ball for 2007 before his playing career ended.  He was an assistant baseball coach at the College of Southern Nevada in 2010, but resigned in the wake of allegations of wrongdoing against the head coach, Chris Sheff.  At last report, Chris Latham was the owner of a Baskin-Robbins franchise in the Las Vegas area.  He was also involved in TopRecruit.com, which creates personalized player profiles which "allows athletes and parents to take advantage of today's technology and control how players will be seen."

Right-hander Kevin John Mulvey appeared in two games for the Twins in 2009.  He was born in Parlin, New Jersey, went to high school in Edison, New Jersey, and then attended Villanova before being drafted by the Mets in the second round in 2006.  He pitched well in the minors for them for two seasons, reaching as high as AAA for one game in 2007.  Mulvey came to the Twins with Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, and Philip Humber for Johan Santana in the 2007-2008 off-season.  He had a couple of decent years for the Rochester Red Wings, going 12-17, 3.85 with a WHIP of 1.37.  He made two appearances for the Twins in July of 2009, allowing four runs on six hits in an inning and a third.  On September 1 of that year, he was sent to Arizona to complete a trade for Jon Rauch.  Mulvey made six appearances for the Diamondbacks in 2009, four of them starts.  He made two appearances for Arizona in 2010 but spent most of the year at AAA Reno, where he did not do particularly well.  He was back in Reno in 2011 and so did worse.  He was released in February of 2012 by the Diamondbacks and signed with the Mets, who sent him to AA.  He pitched in relief there, his first shot at a bullpen role, and it did not go well.  In late May, Kevin Mulvey retired.   At last report, Kevin Mulvey was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Villanova University baseball.

May 25

Al Reach (1840)
Lip Pike (1845)
Tip O’Neill (1858)
Joe Judge (1894)
Martin Dihigo (1905)
Lindsey Nelson (1919)
Bill Sharman (1926)
Jim Marshall (1931)
W. P. Kinsella (1935)
Glenn Borgmann (1950)
John Montefusco (1950)
Bob Knepper (1954)
Kerwin Danley (1961)
Dave Hollins (1966)
Bill Haselman (1966)
Joey Eischen (1970)
Todd Walker (1973)
Miguel Tejada (1974)
Chris Young (1979)
Scott Hairston (1980)
Jason Kubel (1982)
Pat Dean (1989)

Al Reach played major league baseball from 1871-1875.  He later founded the A. J. Reach Company, which was the largest sporting goods company in the United States at one time (it eventually merged with Spalding).  This company also published the Reach Guide, an influential baseball publication, from 1883-1927.

Martin Dihigo was a star in the Negro Leagues, winning 250 games as a pitcher and also winning two batting titles.

Lindsey Nelson was one of the most famous broadcasters in the country at one time.  He broadcast New York Mets games from 1962-1978 and San Francisco Giants games from 1979-1981.

Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Sharman was a minor league outfielder from 1950-1953 and in 1955, reaching AAA with St. Paul.

W. P. Kinsella has written several books on baseball, most notably "Shoeless Joe" the book on which the movie "Field of Dreams" was based.

Kerwin Danley has been a major league umpire since 1998.

Catcher Glenn Dennis Borgmann played in part or all of eight seasons for the Twins, from 1972-1979.  He was born in Paterson, New Jersey and attended the University of South Alabama.  Minnesota drafted him in the first round of the June Secondary draft in 1971.  He advanced rapidly through the minors, and after hitting .336 with 12 homers at AAA Tacoma in 1972, he got his first taste of the majors, spending the second half of the 1972 as the Twins’ regular catcher.  He did not hit in the majors, though, and was back in Tacoma for most of 1973, getting only a September call-up.  Borgmann was back as the regular catcher in 1974-1975, hitting .252 in the former year but only .207 in the latter.  After that, a combination of injuries and the emergence of Butch Wynegar as the Twins’ catcher limited Borgmann’s playing time.  He caught in only 118 games total over the next four seasons.  Borgmann became a free agent after the 1979 season and signed with the White Sox.  He was in AAA most of the year, coming up to Chicago for the last two months.  In 1981, Borgmann signed with Cleveland, but he did not get back to the major leagues and his playing career ended after that season.  After leaving baseball, he worked in the auto parts industry.  At last report, Glenn Borgmann had returned to his native New Jersey and was working for the Meadowlands race track.

Infielder David Michael Hollins was with the Twins for most of the 1996 season.  He was born in Buffalo and attended the University of South Carolina.  Hollins was drafted by San Diego in the sixth round in 1987.  He was in the Padres’ organization for three seasons, hitting for a good average with moderate power.  He advanced a level at a time, but was left unprotected after the 1989 campaign and was taken by Philadelphia in the Rule 5 draft.  He was with the Phillies all of the 1990 season but played sporadically and not very well, hitting .184.  He started 1991 in Philadelphia, still playing sparingly, and was sent down in late April to get some playing time.  He came back in mid-July and this time was ready to stay a while.  He was the regular third baseman the rest of the way and hit .298.  He never hit that high in a full season, but he stayed in the .270s as a Phillie, and developed power, hitting 27 home runs in 1992 before settling in consistently in the teens for homers.  Hollins moved to first base in 1995 to make room for Charlie Hayes and was traded to Boston in late July.  He played in only five games for the Red Sox before missing the rest of the season with an injury.  A free agent after the season, Hollins signed with Minnesota and went back to third base.  He was decent but unspectacular as a Twin, hitting .242/.364/.396 in 422 at-bats.  Hollins was traded to Seattle in late August for a player to be named later (David Arias, n/k/a David Ortiz, a true player to be named later).  He became a free agent after the season and moved to Anaheim, where he stayed for two seasons.  The first was a good one, the second not so much, and he was traded to Toronto late in spring training of 1999.  He got off to a slow start and was released by the Blue Jays in late June.  The White Sox signed him, but kept him in AAA the rest of the season.  In 2000, Hollins signed with Tampa Bay in January, was released in May, signed with Baltimore in July, was released in August, and signed the same day with Cleveland.  All of that season was spent in the minors as was all but two games of 2001.  He signed back with Philadelphia in 2002 and was in AAA with them most of the next two years, getting 17 at-bats in the majors.  His playing career ended after the 2003 campaign.  He has remained in baseball, serving as a coach at Binghamton in 2005 before becoming a scout for the Phillies.  He is also a spokesman for Chronic Care Solutions, a diabetes medical supply company based in Clearwater, Florida.  Dave Hollins is a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

Infielder Todd Arthur Walker played for the Twins in parts of five seasons from 1996-2000.  He was born in Bakersfield, California, went to high school in Bossier City, Louisiana, and then attended LSU.  He was drafted by the Twins with the 8th pick of the 1994 draft.  He hit very well in the minors, with his best year coming in 1996 when he hit .339 with 28 homers for AAA Salt Lake, getting called up at the end of August.  He started 1997 as the Twins’ starting third baseman, but was sent down in late May after hitting .194.  He came back in late August, played well in September, and replaced Chuck Knoblauch as the Twins’ second baseman in 1998.  He had a strong season, hitting .316 with 12 homers.  He was decent, although not as good, in 1999.  His defense was considered less than adequate, as was his attitude, and when he got off to a slow start in 2000 he was sent back to AAA and then traded to Colorado with Butch Huskey for Todd Sears and cash.  As a Twin, he hit .285/.341/.413 in 1,374 at-bats.  Walker resurrected his career in Colorado, batting over .300 in about a year, but was traded again in mid-season, this time to Cincinnati.  He continued to hit, but again did not stay long, this time becoming a free agent and signing with the Cubs prior to the 2004 season.  He was a Cub for two and a half years, continued to hit decently, and was traded to San Diego in late July.  The Padres released him in late March of 2007.  Walker signed with Oakland and didn’t hit badly for a bench player, but he was released in mid-May, ending his playing career.  Todd Walker was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in July of 2009, was named to the College World Series legends team in 2010, and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.  He was the head baseball coach at Calvary Baptist Academy, a private high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, from 2012-2015.  At last report, he was a baseball analyst for the SEC network.

Outfielder/DH Jason James Kubel has been with the Twins in 2004, from 2006-2011, and in 2014.  He was born in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, attended high school in Palmdale, California, and was drafted by Minnesota in the twelfth round in 2000.  He hit very well throughout the minors.  His best year was 2004, when he started by hitting .377 with 6 homers in 138 at-bats in New Britain and followed that by hitting .343 with 16 homers in 350 at-bats in Rochester.  He made his major league debut on August 31 of that year and continued to hit, batting .300 with two home runs in 60 at-bats.  Unfortunately, he then tore up his knee in the Arizona Fall League.  Kubel missed all of 2005, started 2006 in the majors, was sent back to AAA for a month, and all-in-all had a poor year, leading some to believe he might not make it back.  He proved those people wrong in 2007 and was a good major league player through 2012.  2009 was his best so far, as he hit .300 with 28 home runs and finished 24th in MVP voting.  He had a down year in 2010, but still hit 21 homers and drove in 92 runs.   He hoped to rebound in 2011, but battled injuries and played in only 99 games.   He became a free agent after the season and signed with Arizona, for whom he had a solid season in 2012.  He was hampered by injuries again in 2013, had a poor season, and was traded at the August deadline to Cleveland, for whom he continued to play poorly.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Minnesota for 2014.  Twins fans hoped it would be a successful reunion, but it was not to be and he was released in mid-June, ending his playing career.  It was a solid career, though:  as a Twin, Jason Kubel hit .269/.334/.449 with 105 home runs in 798 games.  His brother-in-law, Michael Tonkin, is currently in the Twins' organization.  At last report, Jason Kubel was living in southern California and was helping coach youth baseball.

Left-hander Patrick Michael Dean made his debut with the Twins in 2016.  He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, went to high school in Naugatuck, Connecticut, attended Boston College, and was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 2010.  He struggled when promoted to high-A in 2011 and had a rather undistinguished year there in 2012 as well.  He didn't do much in AA in 2013 or 2014 either.  His numbers would indicate that he had no business being promoted to AAA, but he was, and when he got there something clicked.  He went 12-11, 2.82, 1.15 WHIP in 2015 and was 1-1, 3.00, 1.11 WHIP there in 2016 when he was called up to the Twins in May.  At this writing, he has only made three appearances (one start) and has done okay, going 0-1, 3.86, although with a WHIP of 1.57.  He doesn't strike very many guys out, as he has been at or just below five strikeouts per nine innings at every minor league level.  He doesn't look like a great prospect, but he pitched well at AAA and earned a shot, so it's good to see him get one, and who knows?  There are guys with worse track records who had substantial major league careers.

May 24

Fred Jacklitsch (1876)
Jack Pfiester (1878)
Joe Oeschger (1892)
Willy Miranda (1926)
Ellie Rodriguez (1946)
Rob Ducey (1965)
Carlos Hernandez (1967)
Todd Rizzo (1971)
Danny Bautista (1972)
Bartolo Colon (1973)
Brad Penny (1978)
Adam Conley (1990)

Adam Conley was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-second round in 2008 but did not sign.

Infielder Guillermo (Perez) “Willy” Miranda did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in 1961 at the end of his career.  He was born in Velasco, Cuba and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1948.  He was in the Washington farm system through 1951, spending three of those four seasons at AA Chattanooga.  He did not hit much, averaging around .240, but got about six weeks in the majors as a reserve in 1951, going 4-for-9 in sparing use.  He made the big leagues for good in 1952, although he moved around for a while.  Washington traded him to the White Sox after the 1951 season, the White Sox traded him to the Browns in mid-June, the Browns put him on waivers two weeks later and he was selected by the White Sox again, he was traded back to the Browns after the 1952 season, he was sold to the Yankees in mid-June of 1953, and he was traded to the former Browns, now the Baltimore Orioles, after the 1954 season (the latter trade involved seventeen players, the largest swap between two teams in baseball history).  He was a reserve in those years, known as a slick fielder, as tremendous with the glove as he was awful with the bat (many contemporaries proclaimed him the best-fielding shortstop they’d ever seen, while at the plate one manager said that “his weakness is pitched balls.”)  The Orioles made him their regular shortstop in 1955, and he responded with his best offensive season.  He still only hit .255 with no power, but it was enough for him to retain the shortstop job in 1956.  He dropped to .217 that year, however, and his days as a regular were over.  He stayed with the Orioles as a reserve through the 1959 season, but was traded to the Dodgers in mid-March of 1960.  He spent the season in AAA and then found his way to the Minnesota system, playing at AAA Syracuse in 1961.  He hit pretty much as he always had, majors or minors:  .230/.307/.295 in 278 at-bats.  That brought his playing career to an end.  For his major league career, Willy Miranda hit .221/.282/.271 in 1,914 at-bats over nine seasons.  After his career ended, Miranda moved back to Baltimore.  Willy Miranda passed away from lung cancer on September 7, 1966.

Left-hander Todd Michael Rizzo did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system in 2000.  He was born in Media, Pennsylvania, went to high school in Concordville, Pennsylvania, and signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in 1992.  He pitched in A ball for them that season, but did not do much and was released in June of 1993.  He pitched in the Texas-Louisiana League in 1994 and caught the attention of the White Sox, who signed him for the 1995 season.  Used exclusively in relief, he climbed the ladder at a pace of a level a season, posting good ERAs with high WHIPs.  He was in AAA in 1997 and started 1998 in the majors.  The Sox appear to have tried to use him as a LOOGY, but in a small sample size left-handers absolutely murdered him (11-for-19) while he did okay against righties (5-for-20).  He went 0-0, 13.50 in 6.2 innings spread over nine appearances, which sounds worse than it was as all the runs scored on him came in three of the nine outings.  Still, he was back in the minors by the end of April.  He stayed there most of the rest of his career, getting one more brief shot at the majors for a week in July of 1999 with similar results.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota.  Rizzo was with AAA Salt Lake all of the 2000 season, going 6-4, 3.39, 1.44 WHIP in 72.1 innings (62 appearances).  He moved on after the season, pitching in the Dodgers’ and Giants’ organizations in 2001 and then playing for Camden in the independent Atlantic League from 2002-2006 with the exception of a stint in the Baltimore system in 2003.  At last report, Todd Rizzo was an instructor for Maplezone Sports Institute in the Philadelphia area.  He was also still pitching at least as of 2012, as he led Wayne to the finals of the Delco Baseball League, an amateur baseball league in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in that year.

May 23

Dummy Hoy (1862)
Deacon Phillippe (1872)
Zack Wheat (1888)
Arch McDonald (1901)
Willis Hudlin (1906)
Augie Galan (1912)
Lawrence Ritter (1922)
Clyde King (1924)
Skip Bertman (1938)
Tom Penders (1945)
Reggie Cleveland (1948)
Buck Showalter (1956)
Ricky Gutierrez (1970)
Ramon Ortiz (1973)
Mike Gonzalez (1978)
Kyle Barraclough (1990)

Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher in the first World Series game.  He lived in what would become the state of South Dakota from 1875-1896, where his family farmed near the town of Athol.

Arch McDonald was an early baseball broadcaster known for his re-creations of games.

Author Lawrence Ritter wrote the excellent book, "The Glory of Their Times".

Skip Bertman was the head baseball coach at LSU from 1984-2001.

College basketball coach Tom Penders played minor league baseball for the Indians in 1968.

Kyle Barraclough was drafted by Minnesota in the fortieth round in 2011 but did not sign.

Right-hander Ramon Diogenes Ortiz was a member of the Minnesota Twins for about four and a half months in 2007.  A native of Cotui in the Dominican Republic, Ortiz was signed by the Angels as a free agent in 1995.  He generally pitched well in the minors, although he appears to have been slowed by an injury in 1998.  He reached AAA in 1999 and after only nine starts there was promoted to the majors in August.  He was immediately thrown into the rotation, but he wasn’t ready, going 2-3, 6.52.  He split the next year between AAA and the majors, but by 2001 he was in the big leagues to stay.  He was in the Angels starting rotation for three full years, from 2001-2003.  His best year was clearly 2002, when he went 15-9, 3.77 with a WHIP of 1.18.  His ERA soared to 5.2 the next year, and when he got off to a poor start in 2004 Ortiz was sent to the bullpen.  The Angels traded him to the Reds for 2005, but while he stayed in the rotation he really did not pitch any better than he had the year before.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Washington for 2006 and again spent the entire year in the rotation despite pitching poorly.  He signed with Minnesota as a free agent for 2007.  He was again in the rotation and pitched well in his first three starts, but slipped to average for his next two and bad for his next five.  Ortiz went to the bullpen after that and was traded to Colorado in mid-August for Matt Macri.  As a Twin, he was 4-4, 5.14 in 28 appearances, ten of them starts.  He pitched 91 innings for Minnesota.  Ortiz became a free agent after the 2007 season and played in Japan for the Orix Blue Wave in 2008, where he continued to not pitch very well.  He came back to the United States for 2009, pitching at AAA Phoenix in the Giants’ organization.  He signed with the Dodgers for 2010 and made sixteen appearances in the majors, most of them poor ones.  The Dodgers released him in early June, he was in the Mets’ organization for about a month and a half, and he finished the season at AAA with Tampa Bay.  He was released by the Rays in March of 2011, but signed with the Cubs a month later and battled his way back to the big leagues, spending half the season in Chicago.  A free agent again after the season, he signed with San Francisco for 2012.  He was released near the end of spring training, but signed with the Yankees and spent the season with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he had a fine season in AAA but did not get another shot at the majors.  Once again a free agent after the season, he signed with Toronto for 2013.  He started the season in AAA but made it back to the majors for about a month.  That's the last time he's played in what we call Organized Baseball, but  he continues to  play in the Dominican League during the winter and played in Mexico from 2014-15.  He’s 43 years old today and hasn’t had a good major league season since 2004 (and even that season was really nothing to shout about), so one would think his playing career is probably over.  However, we've thought that before.

May 22

Al Simmons (1902)
Terris McDuffie (1910)
Jose Valdivielso (1934)
Ron Piche (1935)
Rich Garcia (1942)
Walt Hriniak (1943)
Tommy John (1943)
Jim Colborn (1946)
Jose Mesa (1966)
Al Levine (1968)
Julian Tavarez (1973)

Terris McDuffie pitched from 1930-1954, playing in the Negro Leagues, the Cuban Winter League, the Mexican League, the Puerto Rican League, the Dominican League, the Venezuelan League, the California Winter League, and the minor leagues.  His biography at b-r.com is worth reading.

Rich Garcia was an American League umpire from 1975-1999.

Tommy John was one of the Twins’ television broadcasters from 1994-1996.

Infielder Jose Lopez Valdivielso was one of the original Twins, playing for them in 1961.  He was born in Matanzas, Cuba.  He started in organized baseball in 1953, joining the Washington organization in 1954.  He came up to the majors in late June of 1955 and was the regular Washington shortstop the rest of the season.  He hit .221 with an OPS of .594, yet somehow got a tenth-place vote for MVP.  He was again the regular shortstop for much of 1956, although he spent a month or so in the minors.  He hit a little better, but not much.  Valdivielso then spent some time playing in other organizations, although whether he actually belonged to those other organizations is unclear.  He was at AAA with the White Sox in 1957 and with Boston and San Francisco in 1958.  He was a reserve infielder for Washington for much of 1959, also playing at AAA with Baltimore.  He then got his only two full seasons in the majors, 1960 with Washington and 1961 with Minnesota.  He was a part-time starting shortstop in 1960 and a reserve infielder in 1961.  In his one season as a Twin, he played in 76 games and got 149 at-bats.  He hit .195/.234/.248.  In his major league career, all of which was in the Washington/Minnesota organization, he hit .219/.282/.290 in 971 at-bats.  He was at AAA Vancouver for the Twins in 1962, then moved on to Indianapolis in the White Sox’ organization for two years before ending his playing career after the 1964 season.  After that, he worked in New York City as a youth recreation director before going into broadcasting.  He has done Spanish-language broadcasts for the New York Yankees, and as of a few years ago, at least, Jose Valdivielso was still the morning sports reporter at WKDM in Newark, New Jersey.

Right-hander Ronald Jacques Piche did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for part of the 1965 season.  He was born in Verdun, Quebec, Canada, and signed with Milwaukee as a free agent in 1955.  He pitched well in the minors, posting an ERA below three each year from 1955-1961.  He both started and relieved, making his record of success more remarkable.  He reached AAA in 1959 and made his major league debut with the Braves in late May of 1960.  He was used as a short reliever and pitched well, going 3-5, 3.56 with nine saves in 48 innings (37 appearances).  He began 1961 in Milwaukee, but despite the fact that he was pitching well he was sent down in mid-May, not returning until he received a September call-up.  He split 1962 between AAA and the majors, then stayed for the whole season in 1963, his only full year in the majors.  He generally struck out quite a few batters, but also walked quite a few batters, which is probably why he did not get more of a chance in the big leagues.  He was back in the minors in 1964, was traded to the Angels (with Phil Roof) before the 1965 season, and then was sent to Minnesota in June of 1965 “in an unknown transaction”.  The Twins sent him to Denver, where he pitched badly, going 3-4, 5.77 in 53 innings.  Before the 1966 season, Piche was traded to St. Louis in another “unknown transaction.”  He made it back to the majors in late July, staying for the rest of the season.  That would be the end of his major league career, however; his major league numbers are 10-16, 4.19 with 12 saves in 221.1 innings.  He appeared in 134 games, 11 of them starts.  He played for a few more years, however, staying in the Cardinals organization through 1967, going to the Cubs system in 1968-1969, playing in the Mets and Expos chains in 1970, and finishing in the Expos organization in 1972.  After leaving baseball, he moved to Montreal, where among other things he became a volunteer firefighter.  He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Ron Piche passed away on February 3, 2011 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

May 21

Fred Dunlap (1859)
Eddie Grant (1883)
Earl Averill (1902)
Hank Johnson (1906)
Mace Brown (1909)
Monty Stratton (1912)
Larry Napp (1919)
Ed Fitz Gerald (1924)
El Tappe (1927)
Moe Thacker (1934)
Barry Latman (1936)
Bobby Cox (1941)
Kent Hrbek (1960)
Bryce Florie (1970)
Tom Martin (1970)
Chris Widger (1971)
Mark Quinn (1974)
Josh Hamilton (1981)
Andrew Miller (1985)
Matt Wieters (1986)

Larry Napp was an American League umpire from 1951-1974.

El Tappe had a twin brother, Mel Tappe, who played in the minors.

First baseman Kent Allen Hrbek played his entire 14-year major league career, 1981-1994, with the Twins.  He was born in Minneapolis, raised in Bloomington, and drafted by Minnesota in the 17th round in 1978.  He hit only .203 in 59 at-bats in Elizabethton that year, but improved to .267 with 19 homers in Wisconsin Rapids in 1980.  In 1981, he hit .379 with 27 homers at Class A Visalia, and that was as much as the Twins need to see.  He came to Minnesota in late August and opened 1982 as the Twins’ regular first baseman, a position he held until he retired after the 1994 season.  He made the all-star team in his rookie year of 1982, and would have made a couple of others had he been willing to go.  He also finished second to Cal Ripken for Rookie of the Year in 1982, hitting .301/.363/.485 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs that season.  While Hrbek was a consistently good player for the Twins, his best year appears to be 1987, when he hit .285 with 34 homers and 90 RBIs and an OPS of .934.  He finished 16th in MVP voting that year, which was not his highest finish–that came in 1984, when he hit .311 with 27 home runs and 107 RBIs, finishing second in MVP balloting to Willie Hernandez.  Injuries slowed Hrbek toward the end of his career, and he retired after the players’ strike in 1994.  Kent Hrbek hit .282/.367/.481 in 6,192 at-bats.  He hit 312 doubles, 293 home runs, and drove in 1,086 runs.  He was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2000.  As you probably know, Kent Hrbek hosted an outdoors program, “Kent Hrbek Outdoors”, for several years and is active in raising money for ALS research.

May 20

Walt Burnham (1860)
Joe Harris (1891)
George Grantham (1900)
Pete Appleton (1904)
Hal Newhouser (1921)
Herman Wedemeyer (1924)
Tom Morgan (1930)
Ken Boyer (1931)
Sadaharu Oh (1940)
Bobby Murcer (1946)
Ralph Bryant (1961)
David Wells (1963)
Todd Stottlemyre (1965)
Ramon Hernandez (1976)
Jayson Werth (1979)
Austin Kearns (1980)

Walt Burham was a minor league manager from 1885-1907, winning 1,164 games.

Outfielder Herman Wedemeyer played for Class C Salt Lake City in 1950.  He was a star running back in the All-America Football Conference and later appeared in over 300 episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O, playing Sergeant Edward “Duke” Lukela.

Right-hander Tom Morgan was with Washington at the end of 1960, appearing in fourteen games with them.  On January 31, 1961, before the franchise played a game in Minnesota, he was sold to the Los Angeles Angels.

Sadaharu Oh hit 868 home runs in Japan.

Outfielder Ralph Bryant was drafted by Minnesota in the thirteenth round of the January draft in 1981, but he did not sign.

This is not connected to the Twins or baseball in any way we're aware of, but we'd like to wish a happy 89th birthday to Bud Grant.

There do not appear to be any other major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.