May 14

J. L. Wilkinson (1878)
Ed Walsh (1881)
Alex Pompez (1890)
Earle Combs (1899)
Joe Lewis (1906)
Bob Thurman (1917)
Les Moss (1925)
Dick Howser (1936)
Tony Perez (1942)
Dick Tidrow (1947)
Dave LaRoche (1948)
Dennis Martinez (1955)
Hosken Powell (1955)
Pat Borders (1963)
Joey Cora (1965)
Larry Sutton (1970)
Roy Halladay (1977)

Outfielder Robert Burns Thurman did not play for the Twins, but was briefly in their farm system at the end of his career.  Born in Kellyville, Oklahoma, he played semipro ball until 1941, when he went in to the Army for World War II.  Upon leaving the Army, he became a victim of baseball’s color barrier, playing in the Negro Leagues from 1946-1949 and playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, where he became a star.  The Yankees purchased his contract in July of 1949, and he hit .317 the rest of the year in the International League.  He played in AAA for the Cubs in 1950, then spent two seasons playing for San Francisco in the Pacific Coast League.  He continued to play winter ball in Puerto Rico in those years.  Then, in 1954, the Dominican Summer League attempted to compete with the major leagues.  Thurman signed with the DSL, and was again on the wrong side of a major league blacklist.  He spent two years there before the DSL became a part of organized baseball.  He continued to play winter ball in Puerto Rico in those years, becoming the all-time leader in home runs and RBIs in the Puerto Rican Winter League.  In 1955 he signed with Cincinnati, and on April 15, at the age of 38 (he had given his age as four years younger), Bob Thurman made his major league debut.  He was with the Reds for four seasons as a pinch-hitter and reserve outfielder, getting 139-190 at-bats per season.  His best year was 1956, when he hit .295/.340/.532.  He started 1959 with the Reds, but was sent to the minors in April and never returned.  He was in AAA with Cincinnati and St. Louis in 1959 and St. Louis and Washington in 1960.  When the Washington franchise moved to Minnesota he was still in the organization, playing 21 games for Class A Charlotte and hitting .267/.276/.453.  For his major league career, he hit .246/.314/.465 in 663 at-bats.  He remained in the Twins’ organization as a scout for some time, and also scouted in the Kansas City and Cincinnati organizations.  He is said to have been instrumental in signing several players who became part of the Big Red Machine, including Johnny Bench and Hal McRae.  After leaving baseball, he became a partner in Marketing Associates of Wichita.  Bob Thurman passed away of Alzheimer’s Disease in Wichita, Kansas on October 31, 1998 at the age of 81.

Left-hander David Eugene LaRoche pitched for the Twins in 1972.  He was born in Colorado Springs, went to high school in Torrence, California, and attended UNLV.  He was born David Garcia, but changed his name to LaRoche after his stepfather.  He was drafted by California in the fifth round of the January secondary draft in 1967.  He was a reliever all of his career, making only twelve minor-league starts.  He pitched very well in the minors and was off to a tremendous start in AAA Hawaii in 1970, going 6-0, 1.24 with five saves and a WHIP of 0.86 in 58 innings, when he was called up to the Angels in mid-May.  He had two strong years in the California bullpen, and came to Minnesota after the 1971 season in exchange for Leo Cardenas.  He was the left-handed part of a closer platoon with Wayne Granger in 1972.  LaRoche again pitched well, going 5-7, 2.83 with ten saves and a WHIP of 1.16.  He appeared in 62 games, pitching 95.1 innings.  After the season, a year to the day after which they had acquired LaRoche, the Twins traded him to the Cubs for Bob Maneely, Joe Decker, and Bill Hands.  He had two poor years for the Cubs and was traded to Cleveland in February of 1975.  He rebounded with the Indians, posting an ERA around 2.20 and recording 38 saves over the next two seasons.  He got off to a bad start in 1977 and was traded back to California in mid-May.  LaRoche pitched very well for the Angels through 1978, going 16-14 with 38 saves.  He followed that up with a couple of down years, and was released on April 1, 1981.  The Yankees signed him and he had a couple of good years for them.  LaRoche was out of baseball at the start of 1983, but tried to come back with the Yankees, signing in late July.  It did not go well, however, and after the season his playing career ended for good.  Today, he is probably best remembered for “LaLob”, an eephus-like pitch he developed later in his career.  LaRoche then became a pitching coach, working in both the majors and minors.  Dave LaRoche was currently the pitching coach for the Las Vegas 51s in the Toronto organization from 2009-2010.  He is currently retired and was living in Joplin, Missouri at last report.  His son Adam is a first baseman for the Washington Nationals and his son Andy is an infielder in the Cleveland organization.

Outfielder Hosken Powell played for the Twins from 1978-1981.  Born in Selma, Alabama, he attended Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Florida and was chosen by Minnesota with the third pick of the June Secondary draft in 1975.  Powell advanced rapidly through the Twins' system.  He had little power, but hit for a high average and drew quite a few walks in the minors.  In 1977, he hit .326/.427/.429 at AAA Tacoma, and in 1978 he was the starting right fielder in Minnesota.  He hit only .247 (although with an OBP of .323), however, and in 1979 fell into a platoon role, sharing time with Willie Norwood and Dave Edwards.  He had his best season, hitting .293 with an OBP of .360, and in 1980 was back as the starting right fielder.  He dropped back to .262 and went back to a part-time role in 1981.  This time, however, he did not respond, and Powell was traded after the season to Toronto for a player to be named later (Greg Wells).  Powell did okay as a reserve in 1982, but hit only .169 in the first half of 1983 and was released.  Milwaukee signed him, and he played in AAA for the Brewers for a year and a half before his career came to an end after the 1984 campaign.  Hosken Powell is currently the head baseball coach at Pensacola High School in Pensacola, Florida.

Catcher Patrick Lance Borders was with the Twins for the last month of 2004.  He was born in Columbus, Ohio, went to high school in Lake Wales, Florida, and was drafted by Toronto in the sixth round in 1982.  It took him a long time to advance, as he did not reach AA until 1986 and then only for twelve games.  He never hit much above AA, but still made the majors in 1988.  He stayed with the Blue Jays through 1994 and was their regular catcher from 1990-1993.  He was the MVP of the World Series in 1992, but the only really good season he had as a regular was in 1990, when he hit .286 with 15 homers and an OPS of .816.  His OPS never topped .700 in any other season as a regular, and Borders was allowed to become a free agent after the 1994 season.  He was a much-traveled reserve catcher for the next couple of years, playing for Kansas City and Houston in 1995 and for St. Louis, California, and the White Sox in 1996.  He found a home in Cleveland for a couple of years, serving as their backup backstop in 1997-1998.  He spent much of 1999 at AAA for the Indians and was released in August, signing with Toronto.  He signed with Tampa Bay for 2000 and played in AAA for them, also playing for the gold-medal Olympic team that season.  The Devil Rays sold Borders to Seattle in August of 2001.  He went to spring training with Texas in 2002, but was released and went back to Seattle, where he stayed through August of 2004.  Most of that time was spent in AAA, but he got a few at-bats with the Mariners each season.  He was traded to Minnesota on August 31, 2004 for B. J. Garbe.  Borders appeared in 19 games as a Twin, going 12-for-42 for a line of .286/.302/.381.  He was a free agent after the season and started moving around again.  He signed with Milwaukee for 2005, was sold to Seattle in May, and was released in July.  He signed with the Dodgers for 2006, played in AAA, and retired in late May.  He had a seventeen-year career and played 1,099 games.  He apparently was a coach in the Braves organization for a while.  Currently, Pat Borders is a high school baseball coach in Winter Haven, Florida.  His son, Levi, graduates from high school this year and has signed to play baseball for the University of South Florida.

Outfielder/first baseman Larry James Sutton did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for a couple of months in 2001.  He was born in West Covina, California, went to high school in Santa Ana, California, and attended the University of Illinois.  He was drafted by Kansas City in the twenty-first round in 1992.  He was almost exclusively a first baseman as he was coming up.  He posted solid numbers in the low minors but progressed very slowly, spending a full year at low A and a full year at high A (hitting .306 with 26 homers) before finally getting to AA in 1995.  He missed a lot of 1995 with injuries and repeated AA in 1996, hitting .296 with 22 homers there.  He had another good year in AAA in 1997, posting an OPS of .921 before finally being called up in mid-August.  By this time he had a lifetime minor league average of .293 and had hit 94 homers in basically four seasons.  Unfortunately, he was also 27 years old.  He did well in his late-season call-up in 1997.  The Royals decided Jeff King was their answer at first base, though, and tried to convert him to outfield.  The Royals already had Jeff Conine, Jermaine Dye, and Johnny Damon in the outfield, as well as Shane Mack on the bench and Carlos Beltran almost ready to come up, so the decision did not make a lot of sense.  The combination of learning a new position in the majors and getting inconsistent playing time was more than Sutton could overcome, as he hit only .245 with five homers in 310 at-bats.  He started 1999 in the majors, but when he did no better he was sent back to AAA, coming back for a September call-up.  He signed with St. Louis as a free agent for 2000 but spent most of the season with AAA Memphis, again coming back for a September call-up.  He did quite well in that call-up and started 2001 in St. Louis, but was sent back to AAA in late May and about a month and a half later was sent to the Twins for Hanley Frias.  He finished the season in Edmonton, hitting .251/.352/.402 in 147 at-bats.  A free agent after the season, he again spent most of the season in AAA and was released after the season.  He signed with Boston for 2003 but was released late in spring training and did not play in 2003.  He came back with Florida and again was mostly in the minors, getting only five at-bats with the big club.  He then spent three seasons in Korea playing for clubs sponsored by auto makers (two for Hyundai, one for Kia) before ending his playing career.  Maybe he wouldn’t have done much anyway, but one has to wonder what might have happened if the Royals had just put him at first base when he was younger and let him play.  Since ending his playing career, he has been the batting coach for the Royals entry in the Dominican Summer League.

May 13

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Catcher John Junior Roseboro was with the Twins from 1968-1969, near the end of his career.  Born and raised in Ashland, Ohio, Roseboro signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers as a free agent in 1952.  He hit very well for two years in the low minors, then missed a year due to military service.  It took Roseboro a while to get going upon his return, but he hit .273 with 25 homers at AAA Montreal in 1956.  He started 1957 in Montreal, but was brought up to Brooklyn in mid-June as a seldom-used backup to Roy Campanella.  That off-season, however, Campanella's career ended suddenly in an automobile accident, and Roseboro became the regular catcher of the then Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958.  He hit .271 with 14 home runs that season and made the all-star team for the first time.  He was rather up-and-down at the plate in his Dodger career, hitting as high as .287 in 1964 and as low as .213 in 1960.  His best offensive year may have been 1961, when he hit 18 home runs with a .251 batting average and walked a career-high 56 times.  He made his second all-star team that year, won his first Gold Glove, and finished 19th in MVP voting.  Roseboro made three all-star teams for the Dodgers, won two Gold Gloves, and received MVP consideration three times, with his highest finish being thirteenth in 1966.  He had decent speed for a catcher, hitting 44 triples in his career.  Roseboro remained the regular catcher for the Dodgers through the 1967 season, at which time he was traded to Minnesota with Bob Miller and Ron Perranoski for Mudcat Grant and Zoilo Versalles.  He did not hit much in 1968, but he bounced back in 1969 to make his fourth all-star team as the Twins won the Western Division title.  That was to be Roseboro's last hurrah, however, as the Twins released him after the season.  As a Twin, Johnny Roseboro hit .239/.316/.316 in 741 at-bats.  He signed with Washington, but struggled to adapt to a reserve role and was released in mid-August, ending his playing career.  Roseboro went on to coach for the Senators and the Angels, and later served as both a batting instructor and a catching instructor for the Dodgers.  Johnny Roseboro passed away on August 16, 2002 in Los Angeles from complications resulting from a stroke.

Shortstop Leonardo Lago Faedo was with the Twins for the first half of the 1980s.  Born and raised in Tampa, Faedo was drafted by Minnesota in the first round of the 1978 draft.  He was not a great batter in the minors; his best year was 1979, when he hit .271 with AA Orlando.  He hit .240 there in 1980, the year he made his big-league debut as a September call-up.  He was apparently loaned to the Cleveland organization for part of 1981, as he split that season between AAA Charleston and AAA Toledo before being promoted to the Twins after the strike ended in August.  1982 was Faedo's only first season in the majors, as he was the semi-regular at shortstop, sharing the job with Ron Washington.  He won the starting job in 1983 and played well, hitting .305 on May 6 before injuries started to bother him.  Faedo played sporadically for a month, then was shut down in early June, missing half the season before coming back in September.  When he came back, he could not duplicate his earlier success, hitting only .231 the rest of the way.  He started the 1984 season as the Twins shortstop and was not playing that badly, at least not compared to the alternatives the Twins had, but they soured on him and not only sent him to the minors in late April but again loaned him to other organizations, as he finished the season in AAA for Detroit and Texas.  The Twins finally released Faedo just before the 1985 season and he signed with Kansas City.  He played two more seasons in the minors, one in the Royals' organization and one in the Dodgers' chain, before his playing career ended after the 1986 campaign.  In parts of five seasons in the majors, all with the Twins, Lenny Faedo hit .251/.284/.316 in 529 at-bats.  It is unclear what Lenny Faedo has done since his playing days, but he appears to have moved back to Tampa and has made some appearances on behalf of the Cal Ripken Foundation.

Right-hander John Baptiste Cressend pitched for the Twins from 2000-2002.  He was born in New Orleans and went to high school in Mandeville, Louisiana.  He then attended Tulane, and signed with Boston as a free agent in 1996.  He pitched well in the low minors, but struggled in the Red Sox' organization when promoted to AA.  Boston waived him in late April of 1999, and Cressend was selected by Minnesota.  He had always been a starter to this point, but the Twins moved him to the bullpen in 2000 and he had a decent season in AAA, coming up to the majors at the end of August of that year.  He began the 2001 season in AAA, but came up to Minnesota in mid-May and stayed the rest of the season.  He was a pretty valuable reliever that season, going 3-2, 3.67 with a WHIP of 1.17.  He started 2002 with the Twins, but could not duplicate his success of the previous year, became injured, and was placed on waivers after the season.  As a Twin, Jack Cressend was 3-3, 4.59 in 102 innings spread over 78 games.  The Indians selected him off waivers, and Cressend spent the next two years bouncing back and forth between Cleveland and the minors.  He pitched well in half a season for them in 2003, but again could not sustain his success the next season, and was released after the 2004 campaign.  He signed with Boston and pitched in Pawtucket in 2005, but it did not go well and his playing career came to an end.  After that, Jack Cressend became a scout for Tampa Bay from 2006-2008.  He was the pitching coach for Tulane University from 2009-2010, and is currently the pitching coach for the University of Houston.

May 12

Chicken Wolf (1862)
Lave Cross (1866)
Jumping Joe Dugan (1897)
Hank Borowy (1916)
Ed Runge (1918)
Yogi Berra (1925)
Felipe Alou (1935)
Ted Kubiak (1942)
Vic Albury (1947)
Bob Heise (1947)
Joe Nolan (1951)
Lou Whitaker (1957)
Kevin Bass (1959)
Willie Lozado (1959)
Mark Clark (1968)
Wes Helms (1976)
Felipe Lopez (1980)
Evan Meek (1983)

Infielder Willie Lozado was drafted by Minnesota in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1978, but did not sign.

Left-hander Victor Albury pitched for the Twins from 1973-1976.  Born and raised in Key West, Albury was drafted by Cleveland in the ninth round in 1965.  He was a first baseman then, and spent a year at Class A Dubuque hitting .233.  He then went into the military for three years, and when he came back he was a pitcher.  Somewhere along the line, Cleveland transferred his rights to the Cubs.  He pitched for them in Class A in 1969 and did well, posting an ERA of 2.32.  Despite that, the Cubs transferred him to San Diego, for whom he had a bad year split between Class A and AAA.  Minnesota selected him in November of 1970 in the minor league draft.  He had a tremendous year at AA Charlotte in 1971, going 12-7, 1.72 with a WHIP of 1.20.  The next year, he was mostly injured, pitching only 18 innings at AAA Tacoma.  He came back in 1973, put up an ERA of 3.99 at Tacoma, and was promoted to the Twins in August, pitching out of the bullpen the rest of the season.  He was with Minnesota for the next three seasons.  He started the 1974 season in the bullpen, went into the starting rotation for about three months, then went back to the bullpen again.  He was much better as a starter, going 7-9, 3.77, so he started 1975 in the rotation again.  He didn't do all that badly, but the Twins had no patience with him, and switched him back to the bullpen in late May.  This time, he did quite a bit better as a reliever, going 3-0, 3.00 in that role.  In 1976 he was a full-time reliever, going 3-1, 3.58 in 50.1 innings, although with a WHIP of 1.49.  The Twins decided that was not good enough and he spent 1977 pitching in AAA for the Yankees.  He did poorly there, was out of baseball in 1978, then tried to come back with AAA Tacoma, by then in the Cleveland organization, in 1979.  He did poorly there, too, and his playing career came to an end.  In his major league career, all of which came with Minnesota, he was 18-17, 4.11 in 372.2 innings.  He appeared in 101 games, 37 of them starts.  Albury stayed in baseball for a while, coaching in the Indians organization at Waterloo in 1983.  There’s a Vic Albury who was born in Key West and is now living in Tampa; while you wouldn’t think there’d be a ton of them, it could not be verified that he is the same one.

Right-hander Evan David Meek did not pitch for the Twins, but was drafted by them.  He was born in Bellevue, Washington, went to high school in Kenmore, Washington, and was drafted by Minnesota in the 11th round in 2002.  He had an outstanding season at Elizabethton in 2003, going 7-1, 2.47 with a 1.12 WHIP.  He followed that with two outstandingly bad seasons at Elizabethton, Quad Cities, and Beloit, and the Twins released him in June of 2005.  He signed with San Diego in September and was in Class A for them for most of 2006 before being traded to Tampa Bay in late August.  Meek did somewhat better in AA in 2007 and was chosen by Pittsburgh that winter in the Rule 5 draft.  He began the year in Pittsburgh, but the Pirates then purchased him from Tampa Bay and sent him to AA Altoona.  He pitched very well both there and in AAA Indianapolis.  What seems to have changed the most is that Meek learned how to throw strikes, which he had not done most of his time in the Twins' organization.  He was in the Pirates' bullpen for most of 2009 and pitched quite well, posting a 3.45 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP although in only 47 innings over 41 appearances.  He did even better in 2010, his first full season in the majors, going 5-4, 2.14, 1.05 WHIP in 80 innings over 70 appearances and making the all-star team.   He was injured much of 2011, making only 20 appearances, and his control problems returned when he was able to pitch.  He is off to a slow start in 2012.  He turns 29 today, so it will be important for him to show he can stay healthy and throw strikes again.

May 11

Charlie Gehringer (1903)
Rip Sewell (1907)
Eddie Chiles (1910)
Jack Lang (1921)
Nestor Chylak (1922)
Vern Rapp (1928)
Milt Pappas (1939)
Frank Quilici (1939)
Jerry Martin (1949)
Dane Iorg (1950)
Mark Huismann (1958)
Walt Terrell (1958)
Trent Hubbard (1964)
Bobby Witt (1964)
Kerry Ligtenberg (1971)
Francisco Cordero (1975)

This is also the birthday of Twins’ farmhand Miguel Sano (1993).

Infielder/manager/broadcaster Francis Ralph Quilici has been associated with the Twins for a long time.  He was born and raised in Chicago, attended Loras College of Dubuque, Iowa, one of two major league players that school has produced (Red Faber), then transferred to Western Michigan.  Quilici signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1961.  He was not a great batter in the minors, but had a decent season at AA Charlotte in 1964 and was hitting .277 in AAA Denver when he was called up to the majors in mid-July of 1965.  He only hit .208 in Minnesota that year but started in the World Series in place of the injured Jerry Kindall.  Quilici was back in Denver for all of 1966 and was a seldom-used reserve in 1967.  In 1968 he got the most playing time of his career, starting 34 games at second and 24 at third and getting 229 at-bats.  He didn't do much with the playing time, and by 1969 he was essentially Harmon Killebrew's late-inning defensive replacement at third.  In 1970, he was given another chance at second when Rod Carew was out, but he didn't do much with it and was released in April of 1971.  That ended Quilici's playing career; he hit .214/.281/.287 in 682 at-bats.  He became a coach with the Twins in 1971, and when Bill Rigney was fired in July of the following year Quilici became the youngest manager in the major leagues.  He remained the manager through the 1975 season, when he was replaced by Gene Mauch.  Quilici then joined the Twins' broadcasting crew, calling games for the team on radio from 1976-1977 1980-1982 and on television in 1987.  Quilici was nominated as a candidate for the College World Series Legends Team.  At last report, he was living in Burnsville, Minnesota, was a member of the board of directors of the Twins Community Fund, and participates in Twins' fantasy camps.  In August of 2011, a baseball field in North Minneapolis was renovated and re-named "Frank Quilici Field" in his honor.  It serves as home to the North Minneapolis RBI program.

May 10

Chippy McGarr (1863)
Ed Barrow (1868)
Klondike Douglass (1872)
Harry Salsinger (1885)
Allan Roth (1917)
Hideo Fujimoto (1918)
John McMullen (1918)
Herb Carneal (1923)
Jim Hickman (1937)
Ken Berry (1941)
John Cumberland (1947)
Chris Berman (1955)
Joey Meyer (1962)
Robby Thompson (1962)
Pete Schourek (1969)

A great baseball broadcaster was born on this day, and it ain’t Chris Berman.  For some of us, Herb Carneal will always be the Voice of the Twins.

Left-hander John Sheldon Cumberland did not play for the Twins, but went to spring training with them in 1973.  He was born in Westbrook, Maine, attended the University of Maine, and signed with Philadelphia as a free agent in 1966.  He had a mediocre season in Class A, but the Yankees thought they saw something in him and selected him in the minor league draft.  He had a decent in 1967 in AAA and a solid 1968 there, making his major league debut in the latter season as a September call-up.  He was not as good in 1969 but was not terrible, either, and made two more major league appearances.  He started 1970 with the Yankees and was doing okay, but was traded to San Francisco in mid-July.  1971 was his first full season in the majors and it was his best one:  he went 9-6, 2.92, 1.12 WHIP in 185 innings.  He made 45 appearances, 21 of them starts.  That was as good as it would get for him.  He struggled at the start of 1972, was traded to St. Louis in mid-June, continued to struggle, and after the season was traded to Minnesota with Larry Hisle for Wayne Granger.  That turned out to be a good trade for the Twins, but not because of Cumberland—he was released at the end of spring training.  He signed with the Giants again a couple of weeks later, was released at the end of June, and signed with California.  He made it back to the majors at the end of May and pitched fairly well for the Angels for two months, but was sent back to the minors at the end of July.  His playing career came to an end after the season.  For his major league career, he was 15-16, 3.82, 1.24 WHIP in 334.1 innings.  He appeared in 110 games, 36 of them starts.  He stayed in baseball for a while as a coach, most recently working for the Kansas City Royals from 2002-2004.  His son Chris was in the minors for 12 seasons, two of them in the Twins’ organization, but did not make the major leagues.  No information about what John Cumberland has been doing recently was readily available.

First baseman Tanner Joe Meyer did not play for the Twins, but went to spring training with them in 1991.  He was born in Honolulu, went to high school in Kailua, Hawaii, attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and was drafted by Milwaukee in the fifth round in 1983.  A big man (listed at 6' 3", 260), he crushed the ball in the minors, averaging thirty home runs a season over his first four seasons and hitting over .300 in three of those seasons.  He was in the majors all of the 1988 season, but was used as a part-time player, mostly at DH, as the Brewers preferred giving playing time to Greg Brock and Billy Joe Robideaux to seeing what their young slugger could do playing every day.  He wasn’t terrible in part-time duty, hitting .263 with 11 homers in 327 at-bats.  In 1989 he got even less playing time, as he continued to lose time to such stalwarts as Brock and George Canale.  He managed to hit seven homers in 147 at-bats, but his average declined.  The Brewers released him after the season, he went to Japan for 1990, then came back to the Twins for 1991.  They got rid of him at the end of spring training, but they at least had a better excuse, as they had Kent Hrbek to play first and Paul Sorrento at AAA.  Also, they did not just release him, but traded him to Pittsburgh for Greg Sims.  He played part-time at AAA in the Pirates’ organization in 1991, then his playing career came to an end.  He was a big guy who struck out a lot, but given his minor league record, one has to wonder what he might have done if someone had just given him regular playing time in the big leagues.  At last report, Joey Meyer was a municipal maintenance supervisor in Honolulu, with his primary responsibility being the overseeing of painting, construction, and landscaping work for the local hospital system.

May 9

Frank Bancroft (1846)
Tommy Clarke (1888)
Billy Jurges (1908)
Tony Bartirome (1932)
Ron Jackson (1953)
Tom Chism (1954)
Tony Gwynn (1960)
Aaron Harang (1978)
Prince Fielder (1984)

First baseman Ronnie Damien Jackson played for the Twins from 1979-1981.  Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, he was drafted by California in the second round in 1971.  He was primarily a third baseman in the minors.  He had good but unspectacular minor league seasons with the exception of 1974, when he hit .328 with 11 home runs at AA El Paso.  He made his major league debut as a September callup in 1975 and started 1976 with the Angels.  He began as a bench player, but by mid-May Jackson was the regular third baseman.  He did not hit, however, and was down to part-time status in 1977.  He played more first base than third in 1978 and had a pretty good year, batting .297 in 387 at-bats.  After the season, Jackson was traded with Danny Goodwin to Minnesota for Dan Ford.  He was the Twins' regular first baseman in 1979 and was fairly decent, hitting .271 with 14 home runs.  He was the mostly regular in 1980 as well, but slipped a little and fell to part-time status in 1981 before being traded to Detroit in August for a player to be named later (Tim Corcoran).  Jackson became a free agent after the season and did not sign until mid-April of 1982, going back to the Angels.  He hit .331 in only 142 at-bats for California in 1982, but slid back after that.  California released him in August of 1984 and he finished the season with Baltimore.  Jackson played in AAA for St. Louis in 1985 and briefly in AAA for the White Sox in 1988.  He played for a couple of years in the Seniors League, but then his playing career ended.  Since then, he has consistently been employed as a batting coach, either in the majors or in the minors.  From 2007-2009, he was the batting coach for the Round Rock Express.  He has made a series of instructional videos under the general title "Ron Jackson's Hitting Factory."

First baseman Thomas Raymond Chism did not play for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for a brief time in 1980.  He was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, attended Brandywine Junior College, went to Widener University (the only major league player to have gone to that school), and was drafted by Baltimore in the fourth round in 1974.  He did quite well in the minors, hitting .300 more often than not and posting an OPS over .800 every year.  He got a September call-up in 1979, appearing in six games and going 0-for-3.  Unfortunately for Chism, the Orioles had a first baseman named Eddie Murray, so there was no room for Chism. After the season, the Orioles traded him to Minnesota for Dan Graham.  That seemed to be a turning point in his career; he never made the majors again, and his averages in the minors fell into the .250s.  He moved on to the Detroit organization after 34 AAA games for the Twins, and finished the year back in the Orioles’ chain.  He stayed there for 1981, but then his playing career was over.  One wonders if an injury was involved; it seems odd that such a promising career fell apart so quickly.  He apparently remained with the Orioles’ organization in some capacity for a while, because he received a World Championship ring from them in 1983, a ring that was later stolen.  The thief was caught, but the ring was never recovered.  At last report, Tom Chism was living in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania.  His son, T. J. Chism, is a pitcher in the Mets’ organization.

May 8

Dan Brouthers (1858)
Edd Roush (1893)
Turkey Stearnes (1901)
Mike Cuellar (1937)
Steve Braun (1948)
Orestes Destrade (1962)
Todd Greene (1971)
John Maine (1981)
Adrian Gonzalez (1982)

Mike Cuellar pitched in AAA in the Twins’ organization in 1961.  He does not seem to have belonged to the Twins, however.  It may be that he was temporarily loaned to them, a practice which was not uncommon in the 1960s.

Left-handed hitter Stephen Russell Braun played for the Twins from 1971-1976.  He was born in Trenton, New Jersey, went to high school in Pennington, New Jersey, and was drafted by the Twins in the tenth round in 1966.  He was in rookie ball for two years, doing nothing special, and then missed two years to military service.  He came back to hit .279 at Class A Lynchberg in 1970 and started 1971 with the Twins.  He was used mostly as a pinch hitter at first, but gradually worked his way into a more-or-less regular role.  Braun is not the type of player normally thought of as a "utility player", but he played mutliple positions with the Twins, spending time in both the infield and the outfield.  He was primarily used as an infielder in 1971-1973, used mostly at third but also starting games at second and short as well as a few in the outfield.  He was primarily a left fielder in 1974-1975, but played some third and first.  In 1976 he was mostly used at DH, but again saw time in the outfield and at third base.  At all of these positions, he was a solid batter, regularly posting batting averages in the .280s and OBPs of .360 or higher.  His best year as a Twin was probably 1975, when Braun hit .302 with 11 home runs and 66 walks.  He was still a productive player in 1976, but the Twins left him unprotected in the expansion draft and he was chosen by Seattle.  Perhaps the Twins knew something, because even though he was not yet thirty, 1977 was Braun's last year as a regular.  Used at left field and DH, he was a disappointment to the Mariners, and was traded to Kansas City in June of 1978.  He then embarked on a relatively long career in which he was used primarily as a pinch-hitter.  Braun was with the Royals until he was released in June of 1980.  He finished that season with Toronto, then signed with St. Louis, where he played the final five years of his career.  He never got as many as 100 at-bats in any of his last six seasons, but he remained relatively consistent, batting in the .270s in each season from 1982-1984.  As a Twin, Steve Braun hit .284/.376/.381 in nearly 2500 at-bats.  He remained in baseball after his playing career ended, including some time as the hitting coach for the Cardinals.  More recently, he was hitting coach for the Trenton Thunder from 1999-2004.  Steve Braun currently owns Steve Braun Baseball, a baseball instructional school located in West Windsor, New Jersey.  Among other things, his bio on the school's website says "Steve is one of the most experienced coaches in the Mercer County, New Jersey area".