Also posted at wgom.org Bob Allison (1934) John Sevcik (1947) Yorman Bazardo (1984) Bryan Augenstein (1986) Outfielder William Robert ”Bob” Allison played his entire career with the Washington/Minnesota franchise, beginning in 1958 and ending in 1970. Born and raised in Raytown, Missouri, he attended the University of Kansas (where he starred in football as well as baseball) and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1955. His minor league numbers were not all that impressive, although
Also posted at wgom.org Marty Cordova (1969) Outfielder Marty Cordova played for the Twins from 1995-1999. Born and raised in Las Vegas, he was drafted by Minnesota in the tenth round in 1989. He was young and took a few years to get going, but hit .341 with 28 homers for Class A Visalia in 1992. He stumbled a little when promoted to AA the next year, but came back with a bang, hitting .358 with 19 homers and an OPS of 1.018 for AAA Salt Lake in 1994. He was the Twins’ starting left fielde
Also posted at wgom.org Wally Post (1929) Hal Haydel (1944) Steve Luebber (1949) Outfielder Walter Charles Post had 47 at-bats for the Twins in 1963, near the end of a solid career. He was born in St. Wendelin, Ohio and signed with Cincinnati as a free agent in 1946. Perhaps because of his youth, he did not play much in the minors in his first few seasons, but as he got older he played more and played well. He hit .306 with 21 homers for AAA Buffalo in 1951 and .289 with 33 homers for AAA I
Due to a family situation, I have not been able to publish Twins birthday biographies. I hope to be back doing so Monday or Tuesday. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Also posted at wgom.org Chuck Stobbs (1929) Samuel Deduno (1983) Rene Tosoni (1986) Left-hander Chuck Stobbs was an original Twin, appearing in twenty-four games for them in 1961. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, went to high school in Norfolk, Virginia, and signed with Boston as a free agent in 1947. He pitched very well that season for Class B Lynn, going 9-2, 1.72, got a September call-up at age 18, and never went back to the minors again. He may have been injured in 1948, as he a
Also posted at wgom.org Justin Huber (1982) First baseman/outfielder Justin Huber had two at-bats with the Twins in 2009. He was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia and was signed by the Mets in 2000. He hit well throughout his early minor league career, reaching AAA briefly in 2004. He was then traded to Kansas City, for whom he reached the majors for a week in June and then received a September call-up in 2005. He had been a catcher in the Mets’ system, but was moved to first base
Also posted at wgom.org Al Newman (1960) Mark Grudzielanek (1970) Infielder Al Newman played for the Minnesota Twins from 1987-1991. He was born in Kansas City, attended San Diego State, and was drafted by Montreal in the first round of the June Secondary draft in 1981. He was not much of a hitter in the minors, although he did draw a pretty fair number of walks. After the 1983 season, he was traded to San Diego as part of a three-team deal, but in July of 1984 he was traded back to Montrea
Also posted at wgom.org Harmon Killebrew (1936) Trey Hodges (1978) Dusty Hughes (1982) An original Twin, Harmon Clayton Killebrew was with the Twins through the 1974 season. Born and raised in Payette, Idaho, he was signed by Washington in 1954 under the “bonus baby” rules, which required him to be on the major league roster for two full years. While he obviously overcame it, one has to think that slowed his development, as he got only 93 at bats in his first two major league seasons. He go
Also posted at wgom.org Don Baylor (1949) Chris Speier (1950) Clay Christiansen (1958) Ron Mahay (1971) Corey Koskie (1973) Outfielder Don Edward Baylor played in twenty games for the Twins in 1987 and also played in seven post-season games. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, he was drafted in the second round by Baltimore in 1967. He had a tremendous minor league record, hitting .310 or more every season and hitting 20 or more home runs in his last two seasons, both at AAA Rochester. He also
Also posted at wgom.org Wayne Terwilliger (1925) Chuck Coles (1931) Luis Rodriguez (1980) Willard Wayne Terwilliger, known as “Twig”, did not play for the Twins, but was part of their organization for several years. Unrelated to Dick Terwilliger, who was also born on June 27, they are the only two people with the last name “Terwilliger” to have played in the major leagues. He was born in Clair, Michigan, attended Western Michigan University, and was signed by the Cubs as a free agent in 1948
A day late. Sorry about that. But there are no players related to the Twins born on this day anyway. The closest we come is Joe Kuhel (1906), who played for the franchise while it was in Washington and also managed the team there.
I'll be out of range of the internet tomorrow, and I don't see a way to schedule this ahead of time, so you'll get it a day early. Don Mincher (1938) Tom Klawitter (1958) Doug Bernier (1980) First baseman Don Mincher played for the Twins from 1961-1966. Born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, he was signed by the White Sox as a free agent in 1956. He had a very good minor league record, batting over .300 twice and hitting over 20 homers three times. Just before the 1960 season, Mincher was tr
Also posted at wgom.org Dave Goltz (1949) Jim Deshaies (1960) Right-hander Dave Goltz pitched for the Twins through most of the 1970s. He was born in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, went to high school in Rothsay, Minnesota. He was a four-sport star, playing basketball, football, and participating in track as well as playing baseball (he was all state in both basketball and baseball). Goltz was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round in 1967. He had two very good years in the low minors, then m
Also posted at wgom.org Greg Booker (1960) Luis Maza (1980) Right-handed reliever Gregory Scott Booker appeared in six games for the Twins in 1989. The son-in-law of Jack McKeon, he was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, went to high school in Burlington, North Carolina, and then attended Elon University in Elon, North Carolina (a school also attended by Dick Such). He was drafted by San Diego in the tenth round in 1981. Mostly a starter in the minors, he did not have very good numbers there at
Also posted at wgom.org Jackie Collum (1927) Jay Pettibone (1957) Garrett Jones (1981) Left-hander Jack Dean “Jackie” Collum pitched in eight games for the Twins in 1962. He was born in Victor, Iowa and went to high school in Newburg, Iowa. He signed with St. Louis as a free agent in 1946. He was used as both a starter and a reliever in the minors and appears to have pitched pretty well in both roles. He got cups of coffee in the majors in both 1951 and 1952, appearing in a total of fiv
Also posted at wgom.org Juan Castro (1972) Infielder Juan Gabriel Castro played for the Twins in 2005 and the first part of 2006. Born and raised in Los Mochis, Mexico, Castro signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in 1991. He had decent batting averages in the minors, but did not walk very much nor did he show much power. He gained a reputation as a fine fielder, however, and made his major league debut as a September call-up in 1995. He spent the next two years going back and forth be
Also posted at wgom.org Doug Mientkiewicz (1974) Alex Preito (1976) Dustan Mohr (1976) First baseman Douglas Andrew Mientkiewicz played for the Twins in all or part of seven seasons. He was born in Toledo, went to high school in Miami, and attended Florida State. He then was drafted by Minnesota in the fifth round in 1995. He started slowly but had a big year in New Britain in 1998, batting .323 with 16 home runs. That resulted in a September call-up, and in 1999 he started the season as the
Also posted at wgom.org Tommy Watkins (1980) Infielder Thomas Gray Watkins appeared in nine games for the Twins in 2007. Born and raised in Fort Myers, he was drafted by Minnesota in the 38th round in 1998 and spent his entire career in the Twins’ organization. You could say that he rose through the ranks rather slowly: he was in rookie ball for three years, in Class A for three more years, in AA for two-plus years, and in AAA for three-plus years. He was never a hitter, either for average
Also posted at wgom.org Tom Drees (1963) This is also the birthday of Ray Scott (1919), who broadcast Twins games from 1961-1966 and 1973-1975. Lefthander Thomas Kent Drees did not play for the Twins, but was at AAA for them in 1993. He was born in Des Moines, went to high school in Edina, Minnesota, attended Creighton University, and was drafted by the White Sox in the seventeenth round in 1985. He did really well in the Gulf Coast League that year, walked far too many batters in Class A in
Also posted at wgom.org Joe Decker (1947) Chris Gomez (1971) Right-hander George Henry ”Joe” Decker played for the Twins for four years in the mid-1970s. He was born in Storm Lake, Iowa, went to high school in Petaluma, California, and was drafted by the Cubs in the ninth round in 1965. He took a while to get started, pitching one year in rookie ball and two at Class A. His first good season in the minors came in 1968, a season split between A and AAA. He followed that up with a good year
Also posted at wgom.org Zach Day (1978) Jeremy Reed (1981) Trevor Plouffe (1986) Right-hander Stephen Zachary Day did not pitch for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for about a month in 2008. Born and raised in Cincinnati, he was drafted by the Yankees in the fifth round in 1996. He advanced slowly, not getting out of A ball until 2000. When he did, he was no longer in the Yankees’ system; he was traded to Cleveland in late June of 2000. He reached AAA for the Indians in 2001,
Also posted at wgom.org Jim Constable (1933) George Tsamis (1967) Peter Munro (1975) Michael Hollimon (1982) Left-hander Jimmy Lee “Sheriff” Constable was an original Twin, in a way, but he did not play for them. He was born in Jonesborough, Tennessee and signed with the New York Giants as a free agent in 1951. He pitched very well in the low minors, reaching AAA in 1954. He stumbled in his first couple of years there, possibly because he had averaged 225 innings in his previous two seasons
Also posted at wgom.org Gerry Arrigo (1941) Jim Strickland (1946) Scott Aldred (1968) Damon Hollins (1974) Left-hander Gerald William Arrigo pitched for the Twins in the early 1960s. Born and raised in Chicago, he signed with the home town White Sox in 1960. After a fine season in Class D Clinton the Twins chose him in that off-season’s first year player draft. He did not do particularly well in 1961 but was called up for a month anyway, working 10.2 innings in seven appearances. He was
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
