Paul Dean (1912)
Earl Weaver (1930)
Joel Horlen (1937)
Bert Cueto (1937)
Mark Fidrych (1954)
Don Carman (1959)
Mark Gubicza (1962)
Mike Cook (1963)
Mark Loretta (1971)
Juan Pierre (1977)
Clay Buchholz (1984)
Jeremy Hazelbaker (1987)
Tim Tebow (1987)
Earl Weaver was the long-time manager of the Baltimore Orioles.
Mark Gubicza was an analyst on for FSN on Twins pre-game and post-game shows in 2004.
Quarterback Tim Tebow played minor league baseball in the Mets organization from 2016-2019.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to sean's son.
Right-hander Dagoberto (Concepcion) Cueto pitched for the Twins in their inaugural season of 1961. He was born in San Luis Pinar, Cuba, and was signed by Washington as an amateur free agent in 1956. He worked his way up from Class D, pitching well at nearly every stop. There apparently was some indecision about whether Cueto should be a starter or a reliever, as he did some of both every year except 1959, when he was used exclusively in relief at Class A Charlotte. Cueto was called up to the Twins in June of 1961 and spent about six weeks with the club. He appeared in seven games, five of them starts, compiling a 1-3 record with a 7.17 ERA in 21.1 innings. Returned to the minors in late July, he was traded to the Dodgers in July of 1962 for Jay Ward. He pitched well for them the rest of the season, but did not get back to the major leagues. Cueto pitched briefly in the Angels organization in 1963 and the Pittsburgh organization in 1964, but spent most of those years in the Mexican League. He apparently then played for amateur teams in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. He also worked for a furniture store and for Embree-Reed, Inc. Bert Cueto passed away on October 25, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Right-hander Michael Horace Cook pitched for the Twins in 1989. Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, he attended the University of South Carolina and was drafted by the California Angels in the first round of the 1985 amateur draft. He was rushed to the majors, making his big-league debut for the Angels in a two-week stint in 1986. He bounced between California and AAA Edmonton in 1987-88, never pitching all that well for either team. After the 1988 season, Cook was traded to the Twins with Rob Wassenaar and Paul Sorrento for Kevin Trudeau and Bert Blyleven. He started 1989 with the Twins, went down after a month, and came back as a September call-up. He pitched in fifteen games for the Twins in 1989, all in relief, going 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA and a 1.83 WHIP in 21.1 innings. He spent the rest of that year and all of 1990 with AAA Portland as a starter, and was released at the end of spring training in 1991. After that he was in the Seattle (1991), St. Louis (1992), Baltimore (1993-1994) and New York Mets (1994) organizations, making it back to the big leagues for two appearances with Baltimore in 1993. Cook was used exclusively in relief in his last three minor league seasons and posted good ERAs in the last two. It did him no good, however, as his playing career ended after the 1994 season. Mike Cook is a member of the Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame. At last report, it appeared that Mike Cook was living in Brockport, New York.
Outfielder Jeremy Philip Hazelbaker did not play for the Twins, but was in AAA for them for about a month and a half in 2018. He was born in Muncie, Indiana, went to high school in Selma, Indiana, attended Ball State University, and was drafted by Boston in the fourth round in 2009. He did well in the lower minors but stalled out when he reached AAA in 2012. He didn't have a good season in AAA until 2015, but when he did he hit .333 with an OPS of .998. He was twenty-seven by then, but after a strong winter league season he started 2016 as a reserve outfielder for the Cardinals, with whom he had signed as a free agent in May of 2015. He was there for all but a month of the season and had a slugging average of .480, but a batting average of just .235. The Cardinals waived him after the season and he was claimed by Arizona. He was a reserve outfielder for the Diamondbacks for about half of 2017 and batted .346 with an OPS of 1.020, but while he played in forty-one games he had just fifty-two at-bats. He was sold to Tampa Bay in April of 2018, played in AAA for them, and then was sold again, this time to Minnesota, in mid-July of the same year. They also sent him to AAA, where he batted .198/.311/.385 in 106 plate appearances. He went to Korea for the start of 2019, but came back at mid-season and signed with Sioux City of the independent American Association, where he currently plays. He is not hitting well there, either, although it's obviously a small sample size. His major league numbers are .258/.327/.500 in 285 plate appearances. He turns thirty-two today. We wish him well, but the chances of Jeremy Hazelbaker making it back to the major leagues do not look particularly good.