Happy Birthday–March 4

Red Murray (1884)
Jeff Pfeffer (1888)
Dazzy Vance (1891)
Lefty O'Doul (1897)
Buck Canel (1906)
Clyde McCullough (1917)
Mel Queen (1918)
Leo Righetti (1925)
Cass Michaels (1926)
Bob Johnson (1936)
Jack Fischer (1939)
Danny Frisella (1946)
Tom Grieve (1948)
Harry Saferight (1949)
Sam Perlozzo (1951)
Mark Wagner (1954)
Jeff Dedmon (1960)
Tom Lampkin (1964)
Giovanni Carrera (1968)
Dave Stevens (1970)
Mark Wegner (1972)

Born in Argentina, Buck Canel broadcast major league baseball to Latin America for over four decades, calling forty-two World Series.

The father of Dave Righetti, Leo Righetti played in the minors for twelve years, eight of them in AAA.

Harry Saferight made it to the majors with Pittsburgh in 1979, but did not appear in a game.  He got to the on-deck circle three times, but each time the last out was made before he had a chance to bat. 

Infielder Samuel Benedict Perlozzo got a September call-up with the Twins in 1977.  Born in Cumberland, Maryland, he attended George Washington University.  Perlozzo then signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1972.  Primarily a second baseman, he had some decent but unexceptional years in the minor leagues.  In his AAA debut in 1977, however, he hit .310 at Tacoma with an OBP of .393, earning that September call-up.  Perlozzo went 7-for-24 with the Twins, hitting two triples.  In 1978, he fell to .244 at Tacoma and was released the following March.  San Diego signed him, and he hit .301 at AAA Hawaii in 1979, getting another September call-up.  This time he went 0-for-2 with a walk.  After the season, he was sold to Yakult in the Japanese Central League.  He came back to the United States in 1981, playing for AAA Tidewater in the Mets' organization, and then his career came to an end.  He went into managing and coaching after that.  He was a minor league manager in the Mets' organization from 1982-1986, then became a major league coach.  He was on the coaching staff of the Mets (1987-1989), Cincinnati (1990-1992), Seattle (1993-1995), and Baltimore (1996-2005).  On August 4 of 2005, Perlozzo became the Orioles' manager, a position he held through June 18, 2007.  In 2008, he rejoined the Seattle coaching staff, and he was a coach for Philadelphia from 2009-2012.  He does not appear to have a coaching position for 2013, and no further information about what Sam Perlozzo is doing now was readily available.

Right-hander David James Stevens pitched for the Twins from 1994 through 1997.  Stevens was born in Fullerton, California, attended high school in La Habra, California, and was drafted by the Cubs in the 20th round in 1989, not signing until May of 1990.  He did not appear to be anything special in the minors; he did go 10-1 in 1993, but with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP in a year split between AA and AAA.  The latter part of the year, in AAA, he was converted from starting to relief.  Following the 1993 season, the Cubs traded Stevens and Matt Walbeck to Minnesota for Willie Banks.  He got off to a strong start in the Salt Lake bullpen in 1994 and made his major league debut on May 20 of that year.  It did not go well--in 20 appearances, he posted a 6.80 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP.  Despite that, Stevens started 1995 with the Twins, and when Rick Aguilera was traded in early July, Stevens became the Twins' closer.  There was no particular reason to think that would work, and it didn't.  In 1997, Stevens moved to the starting rotation, which also didn't work.  He was sent to AAA, then placed on waivers in August.  The Cubs claimed him and moved him back to the bullpen.  He split time between the majors and AAA with the Cubs through 1998.  The Cubs released him after the season.  He was signed by Cleveland for 1999, released in June, signed by Seattle, released again in July, signed by Pittsburgh in February of 2000, released in April, signed with Atlanta, and was in the minors there (with the exception of two major league appearances) through the 2001 season.  He was then out of baseball until 2004, when he appeared in three separate independent leagues.  As a Twin, Dave Stevens was 14-12, 5.82 with 21 saves and a 1.70 WHIP in 191.2 innings.  No information about Dave Stevens' whereabouts since 2004 was readily available.

2 thoughts on “Happy Birthday–March 4”

Comments are closed.