Cy Williams (1887)
Josh Gibson (1911)
Bob Rush (1925)
Howie Reed (1936)
Paul Casanova (1941)
Elliott Maddox (1947)
Dave Kingman (1948)
Joaquin Andujar (1952)
Tom Henke (1957)
Roger McDowell (1960)
Andy Van Slyke (1960)
Dustin Hermanson (1972)
LaTroy Hawkins (1972)
D’Angelo Jimenez (1977)
Freddy Sanchez (1977)
Philip Humber (1982)

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to hungry joe’s wife, peckish jane.

Right-hander LaTroy Hawkins was with Minnesota for the first nine years of his major league career, 1995-2003. He was born in Gary, Indiana and attended high school there. Hawkins was then drafted by the Twins in the seventh round in 1991. A starting pitcher throughout his minor league career, he did pretty well, getting brief trials with the Twins in 1995 and 1996. He began 1997 at AAA Salt Lake, and was not pitching that well, but he was 9-4, which was enough for the pitching-poor Twins to bring him up in mid-June and keep him in the starting rotation the rest of the season. He remained a rotation starter through 1999. As a starter, Hawkins was durable, and he was consistent: he posted an ERA well over five and a WHIP over 1.5 every season. Shifted to the bullpen in 2000, Hawkins became the Twins' closer toward the end of the season, a role he held until August, 2001. He did all right in the beginning, but less and less well as the 2001 season wore on, and eventually was placed in a set-up role. Hawkins thrived in that role, giving the Twins two solid seasons before becoming a free agent after the 2003 campaign. He became the Cubs' closer in June of 2004 and did not do that badly, but was once again a set-up man in 2005 and was traded to the Giants in late May. He moved on to Baltimore in 2006, to Colorado in 2007 (where he had a fine year as a setup man and helped the Rockies reach the World Series), to the Yankees at the start of 2008, and to Houston in late July of 2008. He stayed with the Astros for 2009, and then became a free agent. He signed with Milwaukee, but had a poor year in 2010; he was injured much of the season, and did not pitch well when he was able to pitch.  They gave him another shot in 2011 and he responded, going 3-1, 2.42, 1.24 WHIP in 48.1 innings. As a Twin, he was 44-57 with a 5.05 ERA, 44 saves, and a WHIP of 1.52. A free agent again, he has agreed to terms with the Angels for 2012.  He turns 39 today, so obviously each year he pitches could be his last. However it goes from here, though, LaTroy Hawkins has had quite a long playing career.

Infielder D’Angelo Jimenez did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for the second half of 2010. Born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he was signed by the Yankees as a free agent in 1994. His early minor league numbers are decent, but not terribly impressive until you note that he was always young for his league, reaching AAA at age 20. He got noticed in 1999, though, hitting .327 with 15 homers in AAA Columbus and getting a September call-up. He was injured most of 2000, was back in AAA in 2001, and was traded in late June of that year to San Diego. He finished that season in the majors, hitting .276 in half a season as the Padres’ starting shortstop. He started 2002 in that same role, but was traded to the White Sox in mid-July. He won the White Sox’ second base job in 2003 but was again traded in mid-season, this time to Cincinnati. He started at second for the Reds for the rest of 2003 and all of 2004, hitting .270 in the latter season, He was still the Reds’ second baseman at the start of 2005, but when he hit only .229 he was sent to AAA in mid-May. That was the last time he would have a starting job in the majors. He signed with Texas for 2006, was released in mid-June, and finished the season with Oakland, spending most of the year in AAA. Released again after the season, he signed with Washington for 2007. Jimenez was in the majors most of the season as a utility infielder and did all right in that role, but was allowed to become a free agent after the season. That was his last time in the majors, at least so far. He moved on to the Cardinals’ organization for 2008, was in the Atlantic League and the Mexican League in 2009, and was playing in the Mexican League again in 2010 when the Twins signed him in late June. The Twins sent him to Rochester, where he hit .225/.300/.381 in 231 at-bats.  Back in the Mexican League again in 2011, he hit .320 in 147 at-bats.  He is currently a free agent.  At age 34, he’s probably not going to be a regular anywhere, but if he was to get back to the majors as a reserve infielder, he probably wouldn’t be the worst one in the league.

Right-hander Philip Gregory Humber's career with Minnesota consisted of 13 games over two seasons. Born in Nacogdoches, Texas, he went to high school in Carthage, Texas, attended Rice University, and then was chosen by the Mets with the third pick of the 2004 draft after a stellar college career. He pitched poorly in 2005 and then was injured, requiring Tommy John surgery. He missed much of 2006 recovering from surgery, but he did well when healthy and got a September call-up to the Mets that year, throwing two scoreless innings. He had a decent but unspectacular year for AAA New Orleans in 2007, again getting a September call-up. In February of 2008, Humber was traded to the Twins with Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, and Kevin Mulvey for Johan Santana. He had a mediocre year for AAA Rochester, again getting a September call-up. Humber began 2009 in Minnesota, had two good outings and two bad ones, and went back to Rochester. He did not do very well there, but was brought back in August, again having two good outings and two bad ones. As a Twin, Philip Humber had no record, a 6.10 ERA, and a 2.03 WHIP in 20.2 innings spread over 13 appearances.  Let go by the Twins after the 2009 season, Humber signed with Kansas City for 2010. He had a rather mundane season with AAA Omaha, getting back to the majors for the last two months of the season. The Royals placed him on waivers after the season, and he was selected by Oakland in December.  The Athletics waived him again a month later, and he was selected by the White Sox.  Surprisingly, at age 28 he seemed to put things together.  Not only did he get his first full season in the majors, he had a pretty good one, going 9-9, 3.75, 1.18 WHIP in 26 starts.  It remains to be seen if he can repeat that, but if he can, Philip Humber may have finally made a start on a pretty substantial major league career.