Happy Birthday–September 13

Mike McNally (1893)
Dutch Reuther (1893)
Pat Collins (1896)
Eddie Rommel (1897)
Rabbit Worstler (1903)
Thornton Lee (1906)
Ed Sudol (1920)
Rick Wise (1945)
Rick Dempsey (1949)
Jim Obradovich (1949)
Mike Fischlin (1955)
Erik Bennett (1968)
Bernie Williams (1968)
Denny Neagle (1968)
Brent Brede (1971)
Armando Rios (1971)
Daisuke Matsuzaka (1980)

Catcher John Rikard “Rick” Dempsey played briefly for the Twins from 1969-1972. He was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee, went to high school in Encino, California, and was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round in 1967. He hit well in Class A in 1968 and 1969, but not so well at higher levels. He was considered an excellent receiver, however, and was called up briefly by the Twins each year from 1969-72, getting a total of 66 at-bats in which he hit .227/.320/.273. In the 1972-73 off-season, Dempsey was traded to the Yankees for Danny Walton. He spent most of 1973 at AAA Syracuse, but then stuck with the Yankees as a backup catcher from 1974-June 1976. He was traded to Baltimore in a multi-player deal that included Tippy Martinez, Scott McGregor, Doyle Alexander, Elrod Hendricks, Ken Holtzman, and Grant Jackson. Dempsey was in Baltimore for the next ten years, never a superstar, but always a competent catcher. He appeared in two World Series' with the Orioles, 1979 and 1983, and was MVP of the 1983 series. Dempsey slumped to a .208 average in 1986, and was allowed to become a free agent. He was with Cleveland in 1987, but appeared to be done, batting only .177 as a reserve. He signed with the Dodgers at the end of spring training of 1988, and found himself on another world series team, to which he contributed by batting .251 as a back-up catcher. Dempsey was with the Dodgers for three years, played for Milwaukee in 1991, and had a last hurrah with the Orioles before calling it a career after the 1992 season. He is probably best remembered for an imitation of Babe Ruth that he once did to entertain the fans during a rain delay. After retiring as a player, Rick Dempsey remained in baseball, first as a minor league manager, then as a major league coach, and most recently as a broadcaster for the Orioles.

First baseman James Thomas Obradovich did not play for the Twins, but was drafted by them. He was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, went to high school in Fort Knox, Kentucky, and was drafted by the Twins in the 24th round of the 1967 amateur draft. He was in the Twins minor league system through 1976, with the exception of 1971-72, when he was in the military, and with the exception of a brief time in 1974 when he was in the Braves' system. He gradually developed some power in the minors, hitting over 20 homers in both 1975 and 1976 for AA Orlando. Released by the Twins shortly before the 1977 season, he signed with the Houston organization on the same day. He had his best minor league season with AAA Charleston in 1978, when he batted .306 with 21 homers. He got a September call-up with the Astros that year. He was back in Charleston in 1979, and retired after that year. In his big-league career, Jim Obradovich batted .176 (3-for-17) with a triple and 2 RBIs. No information about Jim Obradovich after his playing days ended was readily available.

Right-hander Erik Hans Bennett appeared in twenty-four games for the Twins in 1996. He was born in Yreka, California, went to high school in Eureka, California, and was drafted in the fourth round by the California Angels in 1989 out of Cal State-Sacramento. He did well in the minors through 1982, but hit a bump in 1983, when he had an ERA over 6.00 and a WHIP of more than 1.5 in a season split between AA Midland and AAA Vancouver. A starter to that point, he was converted to relief in 1984 and had a strong season at Vancouver. Bennett made one appearance for the Angels in 1995, pitching one-third of an inning and retiring the only batter he faced. Playing the first part of the 1995 season in Vancouver, he was placed on waivers and selected by Houston, who sent him to AAA Tucson for the rest of the year. Bennett became a free agent after that year, and was signed by the Twins. He played for Minnesota early in 1996, appearing in 24 games. He was 2-0 with one save, but also had an ERA of 7.90 and a WHIP of 1.79 in 27.1 innings. Returned to AAA Salt Lake in early June, Bennett did not pitch particularly well there and was let go after the season. He hung around in the minors for several more years, pitching in the Cleveland and Houston organizations as well as for a variety of independent teams, but did not make it back to the major leagues. After his playing career ended, Erik Bennett went into coaching, and is currently the pitching coach for the Salt Lake Bees.

Left-hander Dennis Edward Neagle appeared in seven games for the Twins in 1991. Born and raised in Gambrills, Maryland, he was drafted out of the University of Minnesota by the Twins in the third round in 1989. He pitched very well in the minors and advanced rapidly, reaching the Twins for seven games in 1991, three of them starts. Coming off their World Series victory, however, the Twins were trying to win now, and so traded Neagle along with Midre Cummings to Pittsburgh for John Smiley. He spent two years in the Pirates bullpen and then most of the next three as a starter before being traded to Atlanta in late August of 1996 in a trade that included Jason Schmidt. He had two fine years in Atlanta, finishing third in the Cy Young balloting in 1997, but was traded to Cincinnati in November of 1998 in a trade that included Bret Boone and Mike Remlinger. After a solid year and a half for the Reds, he was traded to the Yankees in July of 2000. Becoming a free agent at the end of the year, he signed with Colorado, but his time there was mainly marked by poor pitching and injuries. He signed with Tampa Bay for 2005, but could not play due to injury, and his career was over. Sadly, life after baseball does not appear to be going well for Neagle; he has been convicted for a couple of DUIs as well as for patronizing a prostitute. Denny Neagle was also named in the Mitchell Report. He does not appear to have had any legal problems since 2007; it is to be hoped that perhaps he has straightened out his life and that things are now going better for him. No current information about him was readily available, although it appears that he may be living in Morrison, Colorado. As a Twin, he was 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA in 20 innings.

Outfielder Brent David Brede played for the Twins in 1996-1997. He was born in Belleville, Illinois, went to high school in Trenton, Illinois, and was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round in 1990. He struggled some in the minors, but had a breakout year in AAA Salt Lake in 1996, batting .348 with 38 doubles and 11 home runs. That earned him a September call-up with the Twins in which he hit .300 in 20 at-bats. He again hit well in 1997 in a year split between Salt Lake and Minnesota, but he was left unprotected in the expansion draft, and was chosen by Arizona. Brede again hit well in AAA Tucson in 1998, but batted only .226 with the Diamondbacks, and was released after the season. He went to Japan in 1999, and then came back to the United States to play for AAA Nashville in the Pirates organization in 2000. He batted only .249, however, and his career was over. He hit .324/.417/.480 in 1176 AAA at-bats, but could never get anyone to just put him in the lineup and see what he could do in the majors. As a Twin, he hit .276/.346/.390 in 210 at-bats/ At last report, Brent Brede was a high school basketball coach and social studies teacher in Trenton, Illinois, where as a high school student he played on a state champion basketball team. He also operates a baseball instructional school in Trenton and coaches youth baseball there.

Outfielder Armando Rios did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2005. He was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, went to high school in Villa Fontana, Puerto Rico, attended North Carolina—Charlotte and LSU, and signed with San Francisco as a free agent in 1994. He hit well throughout the minor leagues, never posting a batting average lower than .280, and gradually developed power as well, hitting double-digit home runs each year after 1996. His best minor league season was 1998, when he hit .301 with 26 homers for AAA Fresno. Rios got a September call-up that season. He started 1999 in San Francisco as a reserve outfielder, but despite the fact that he was hitting .306 he was sent back to the minors in late June. In 2000 he was finally in the majors to stay, but was still a reserve, hitting in the .260s in consecutive seasons in a part-time role. At the July deadline in 2001 he was traded to Pittsburgh in a trade involve Jason Schmidt. He again hit in the .260s in 2002, but got even less chance to play in Pittsburgh than he had in San Francisco and was released after the season. He signed with the White Sox for 2003 and again hit well in AAA, but again did not get much of a chance to play in the majors. A free agent after the season, he signed with Florida, was released in spring training after only thirteen at-bats, went to the Mexican League, was in AAA with the Orioles for about three weeks in July, was sent to St. Louis, was with them for about a month in AAA, and was released in late August despite the fact that he was hitting .333. The Twins took him to Spring training in 2005, but he did not make the team. He played for the independent Long Island Ducks in 2005 and then his playing career was over. Rios hit .301/.379/.494 in 830 AAA at-bats and .269/.341/.445 in 1021 major league at-bats, but he never got a chance as more than a reserve at the major league level. He was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report, admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs to help recover from injuries to his knee, elbow, and shoulder. He apparently lives in Puerto Rico and continues to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League.

10 thoughts on “Happy Birthday–September 13”

  1. For some reason I have no positive memories of John Smiley in 1992 despite the fact that he was the best pitcher on a team that won 90 games. Granted, I was only 12, but I have sharp memories from the 1991 season. I guess losing to the A's killed any memories off.

    1. for some reason, I remember John Smiley about the way I remember Tommy F'ing Herr. Not because I loved Denny Neagle or Midre Cummings the way I loved Bruno, but because I felt he didn't want to be in Minnesota. That's probably unfair, colored by his leaving for Cincy in the off-season for a 4-year, $18.4M deal.

      Pittsburgh had signed him to a one-year, $3.4M deal just minutes before the arb deadline during the winter of 1992, then shipped him out to Minny that March. He was in his age-27 season, looking (rightly) to cash in.

      FWIW, he only threw 105 2/3 innings in 1993 due to bone spurs in his pitching elbow. 1992 was the best year of his career (4.7 rWAR/5.7 fWAR), although he was good in the last two years of the Cincy deal (3.1 rWAR/4.4 fWAR and 4.0 rWAR/4.6 fWAR, respectively) -- good enough to earn him a new, 3-year deal with the Reds at $3.75M per.

      Unfortunately for him and then, he was done. In his first season under the new deal (age-32), he was replacement-level over 20 starts before being traded to the Indians, where he wasn't any better over 6 more starts. He never pitched again after breaking his arm warming up before a late-August start.

      Smiley is an interesting case in that he never pitched above A ball in the minors. He was in Rookie ball in 1983, the Sally League in 1984 and half of 1985, and the Carolina League in half of 1985 and most of 1986 before a September callup, then he made the big club out of spring training in 1987, throwing 75 innings out of the bullpen at age 22.

      1. I don't think Smiley ever spoke out about not wanting to be on the Twins, he just went about his business. And if you look closer at some of the SABR numbers for his season, he was an AWESOME pitcher that year.

        1. I think the memories of Smiley are colored by the fact that the Twins had a disappointing season in his one year there. Granted, I'd love to have such a "disappointing" season now, but they were coming off a world championship, and Smiley was the guy who was supposed to get them back there again.

          1. You're absolutely correct about the season being disappointing. The sad thing is that Smiley was the guy to get them back there again, and he pitched like it, too, but no one else got on his back for the ride. He had a 4.7 WAR in 1992, good for 10th best in the league, his WHIP was 3rd best in the league, and 6th in K/BB ratio.

            1. I wouldn't say nobody got on his back. Puckett, Mack, Chili, and the entire bullpen performed wonderfully. Our only problems were Gagne, Leius, and our 4th and 5th starters. The A's were just better.

    1. I remember being very impressed by that feat as a 9-year old boy. Hell, I'm still impressed with that feat as an old man...

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