Happy Birthday–July 30

Casey Stengel (1890)
Frankie Pytlak (1908)
Tony Lucadello (1912)
Joe Coleman (1922)
Paul Minner (1923)
Joe Nuxhall (1928)
Gus Triandos (1930)
Bud Selig (1934)
Bob Barton (1941)
Pat Kelly (1944)
Doug Rader (1944)
Jim Spencer (1946)
Ellis Valentine (1954)
Clint Hurdle (1957)
Steve Trout (1957)
Scott Fletcher (1958)
Tom Pagnozzi (1962)
Scott Diamond (1986)

Tony Lucadello was a major league scout for forty-eight years.

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig has been the commissioner of baseball since 1992.

The brother of Hall of Fame football player LeRoy Kelly and the brother-in-law of Andre Thornton, Pat Kelly had a solid professional career of his own.  Outfielder Harold Patrick “Pat” Kelly appeared in 20 games for the Twins in 1967-1968.  Born and raised in Philadelphia, he signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1962.  He had a huge year in 1964, hitting .357 with 16 homers in Class A Wisconsin Rapids.  He did not duplicate that, but he did hit .321 in AA Charlotte in 1966.  He reached AAA in 1967 and made his major league debut that season as a September call-up.  He appeared in eight games that year, seven as a pinch-runner and one as a pinch-hitter (he struck out).  He came back to hit .306 in Denver in 1968, getting another September call-up.  He played a little more, but did not play particularly better, going 4-for-35.  Two of his hits were doubles and one was a home run, so his line as a Twin was .111/.200/.450.  Kelly was left unprotected in the expansion draft and was chosen by Kansas City.  He was a mostly-regular for two seasons, used primarily in right field but also playing some center.  His offensive numbers were rather pedestrian, and he was traded to the White Sox after the 1970 season.  He started 1971 in the minors, but after hitting .355 in AAA Tucson he was brought up to Chicago on July 1 and stayed there for five and a half years.  Again playing mostly right field, he had some decent years for the Sox, generally hitting around .280 with OBPs in the .350s and around 20-25 stolen bases, although with little power.  In 1973 he got off to a hot start and made the all-star team; he was hitting .327 on June 24, although he would finish at .280.  In 1976, he was used as a reserve outfielder and part-time DH, but hit only .254.  Kelly was traded to Baltimore after that season and had some productive years for the Orioles as a part-time player, seeing most of his playing time in left field.  He became a free agent after the 1980 campaign and signed with Cleveland.  He was a seldom-used outfielder/DH for the Indians in 1981, hit only .213, and his playing career came to an end.  After that, he moved to Towson, Maryland and went into the ministry, working for Lifeline Ministries.  Pat Kelly passed away from a heart attack on October 2, 2005 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Left-hander Scott Michael Diamond has pitched for the Twins since 2011.  He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada and signed with Atlanta as a free agent in 2007.  He pitched very well in the Braves’ system, never posting an ERA above 3.50 at any level.  While a Brave, he actually pitched better in AAA than he had in AA, although it was only ten starts.  After the 2010 season the Twins claimed him in the Rule 5 draft.  Wanting to keep him around, but not wanting to keep him in the majors, the Twins traded minor league pitcher Billy Bullock to Atlanta for him.  He spent most of 2011 at Rochester and did not do particularly well, to put it mildly:  4-14, 5.56 with a 1.58 WHIP.  He made one start with the Twins in mid-July, filling in for an injured Scott Baker, and came back to the Twins’  rotation in late August.  There was nothing about the results that was particularly impressive:  seven starts, 39 innings 1-5, 5.08, 1.74 WHIP.  He started 2012 back in Rochester, and did amazingly well, going 4-1, 2.60, 1.21 WHIP.  He was called back to Minnesota in early May and has did well there, too:  12-9, 3.54, 1.24 WHIP.  Over the winter, he had surgery to have bone chips removed from his elbow.  That may or may not be related, but he has not been the same pitcher in 2013 at all.  Clearly, something is going to have to change is Scott Diamond is going to have a long major league career.

5 thoughts on “Happy Birthday–July 30”

  1. Charlotte Knights, a tenuous but common thread between the Twins, Castillo and Hazewood that I did not know about. This truly is an amazing site!

    Professional baseball in Charlotte dates to 1901, with the formation of the Charlotte Hornets. They were an independent team until 1937, when the Washington Senators, now the Minnesota Twins, purchased the team. The Hornets would remain affiliated with the Senators/Twins for 35 years. In 1940, Calvin Griffith, the son of Senators owner Clark Griffith and future owner of the Senators/Twins, built a 3,200-seat park in Charlotte's Dilworth neighborhood, Calvin Griffith Park. It would be the home of Charlotte baseball for the next half-century.

    After several years on the lower rungs of the minor league totem pole, the Hornets joined the Class A South Atlantic League in 1954. They had previously been members of the South Atlantic League in the 1920s while they were still independent. The South Atlantic League became a AA league in 1963 and renamed itself the Southern League in 1964. In 1972, the team renamed itself the Charlotte Twins. Minnesota dropped its affiliation after the 1972 season. Unable to link up with a new team, the Twins disbanded.

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