Also posted at wgom.org

Dan Monzon (1946)

Daniel Francisco Monzon was an infielder for the Twins for parts of the 1972 and 1973 seasons. He was born and raised in the Bronx, attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, and was drafted by Minnesota in the second round of the June Secondary draft in 1967. He was in Class A for three seasons, hitting very well in his first one and poorly in his next two. He never did hit for power, but his average came up when he went to AA in 1970, and he hit .305 in AAA Portland in 1971. He had played some outfield as well as infield, and his versatility and improved batting got him a job as a utility player on the Twins. He played two full seasons in Minnesota, 1972-1973, and was very much a reserve, playing in 93 games but batting only 131 times. He hit .244/.342/.275. He began 1974 in AAA with the Twins and was traded to Montreal for Earl Stephenson in late May. Monzon toiled in the minors for four more seasons, but never made it back to the majors. He was in AAA for the Expos through 1975, then moved on to the Houston organization, playing in AAA for them through 1977. He did not hit much in any of those years, and after he hit .199 in 1977 his playing career came to an end. He stayed in baseball, managing in the minors through 1982 and then going into scouting. He was the Latin American scouting coordinator for the Boston Red Sox when he passed away from injuries resulting from an automobile accident on January 21, 1996 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.