Happy Birthday–June 25

Due to personal time constraints, this is a copy-and-paste from last year.  Please put any updates below.

Joe Kuhel (1906)
Don Demeter (1935)
Dick Drago (1945)
Clay Kirby (1948)
Bob Shirley (1954)
Alejandro Pena (1959)
Mike Stanley (1963)
Aaron Sele (1970)
Michael Tucker (1971)
Carlos Delgado (1972)
Aramis Ramirez (1978)
Paul Maholm (1982)

First baseman Joe Kuhel played for the franchise for several years while it was in Washington and later managed the team there.  However, there do not appear to be any players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

Happy Birthday–June 24

Due to personal time constraints, this is a copy-and-paste from last year.  Please put any updates below.

Billy Nash (1865)
George Harper (1892)
Rollie Hemsley (1907)
Jim Mills (1919)
Wally Yonamine (1925)
Don Mincher (1938)
Ken Reitz (1951)
Doug Jones (1957)
Tom Klawitter (1958)
Doug Bernier (1980)
Phil Hughes (1986)

Jim Mills spent almost his entire adult life involved in baseball in the Carolinas.  He played college ball at North Carolina State, played minor league ball for nine seasons in the Carolinas, managed in Carolina minor leagues for six seasons, umpired in the Carolina League for two seasons, was in minor league front offices in the Carolinas from 1956-1971, and was president of the Carolina League for seven years.

Born in Hawaii, Wally Yonamine was a star in Japan from 1951-1962, stealing home eleven times.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 24

June 24, 2016: Holding On

My grandfather's 91st birthday is this weekend. He started forgetting the younger grandchildren about a year ago, then me and a couple others last year and his own children here in the last few months. Everyone thinks this is probably his last birthday, and frankly, in the month since it was put together I was wondering whether we'd ever reach this one.

On top of this, this is the side of the family I have very little in common with, and I haven't seen most of them for years. This weekend could be all kinds of difficult.