Bobby Richardson (1935)
Fred Lasher (1941)
Mike Phillips (1950)
Luis Gomez (1951)
Tim Blackwell (1952)
Ned Yost (1955)
Ron Roenicke (1956)
David Palmer (1957)
Gary Gaetti (1958)
Ron Darling (1960)
Woody Williams (1966)
Rob Augustine (1970)
Chris Capuano (1978)
J. J. Hardy (1982)
Austin Adams (1986)
Rob Augustine played for a couple of years in the Cleveland organization, never rising above Class A. He was (and maybe still is) an assistant baseball coach at Dakota Valley High School in my former home of North Sioux City. Happy birthday, Rob.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to strategery.
Right-handed reliever Frederick Walter Lasher appeared in eleven games for the Twins in 1963. He was born in Poughkeepsie, New York and was signed by Washington as a free agent in 1960. A submariner, he had problems with wildness in his first couple of years in the minors, but gradually improved, although he never had what you would call pinpoint control. Lasher made the Twins out of spring training in 1963, jumping all the way from Bismarck-Mandan in the Class C Northern League. He was used as a relief pitcher, which had been his primary role in the minors as well, but his wildness returned–Lasher walked 11 in 11.1 innings with the Twins. Sent back to the minors, he did well in 1965 and 1966, but as a 23-24-year-old in Class A. After the 1966 season, he was selected by Detroit in the minor-league draft. The Tigers must have helped Lasher figure something out, because his control improved and he became an effective reliever for the Tigers from 1967-69. His control vanished again in 1970, however, and this time it was gone for good. The Tigers traded him to Cleveland midway through the 1970 season, and California selected him in the Rule 5 draft, but by 1971 he was finished. As a Twin, he had no record and a 4.76 ERA, but for his career he was 11-13 with 22 saves and an ERA of 3.88. After leaving baseball, Lasher operated a drywall company and served as a recreation therapist for youth with drug and alcohol problems in Merrillan, Wisconsin. Fred Lasher passed away on February 27, 2022.
Shortstop Luis (Sanchez) Gomez played for the Twins periodically from 1974-1977. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and was drafted by the Twins in the seventh round in 1973 out of UCLA, where he had played freshman basketball on the same team as Bill Walton. He was the first Mexican native selected in the major league baseball amateur draft. He hit very little in the minors, but made his major league debut with Minnesota in April of 1974, where he continued to not hit. He spent part of 1974, all of 1975, and parts of 1976 and 1977 with the Twins, playing for AAA Tacoma the rest of the time. In 1975, he set a record with 89 games played without an extra-base hit, a record which still stands. Gomez’ best year was 1977, when he hit .285 for Tacoma and .246 for the Twins in 65 at-bats. The Twins let him go after that year, and he signed with Toronto and was their regular shortstop in 1978, his only year as a starter. Gomez continued not hitting, became a part-time player in 1979, and was traded that off-season along with Chris Chambliss to Atlanta, where he became a member of the LDS church due to the influence of Dale Murphy. He was a semi-regular for the Braves in 1980 and played sparingly in 1981. He was released at the end of spring training in 1982, and did not return to organized baseball. Gomez’ career OPS was .500, the lowest of any non-pitcher with as many plate appearances since Bill Bergen retired in 1911. As a Twin, Gomez had 362 at-bats, and hit .199/.246/.211 with no homers and 22 RBIs. He did not hit a home run in either the majors or the minors (1,781 at-bats). No information about Luis Gomez’ current life is readily available.
Third baseman Gary Joseph Gaetti played for the Twins from 1981-1990. Born and raised in Centralia, Illinois, he was drafted by the Twins out of Northwest Missouri State University with the 11th pick in the 1979 June Secondary draft. He did not hit for a high average in the minors, but showed good power, which was basically true for much of his major league career as well. After a September callup in 1981, Gaetti became the Twins’ regular third baseman in 1982, a position he held through 1990. He averaged 27 homers a season from 1982-1988, a figure which would be higher if you threw out the 1984 season, when for some reason he only hit 5. Gaetti’s best season as a Twin was 1988, when he hit .301 with 28 homers and 88 RBIs. He started to decline after that, and became a free agent after the 1990 season. He signed with California, played two-plus years for the Angels, and was released in June of 1993. Signed by Kansas City, Gaetti resurrected his career in his mid-30s, hitting 35 home runs for the Royals in 1995. He became a free agent again after that season, and signed with the Cardinals, where he was a productive player for two and a half years. Released by the St. Louis in August of 1998, Gaetti signed with the Cubs and helped them with their playoff push, hitting .320 in 37 games. That was his last hurrah, however, as he batted only .204 for the Cubs in 1999, and went 0-for-10 for Boston in 2000, at which point he retired. Gaetti hit 360 home runs in a 20 year career. As a Twin, he batted .256 with 201 homers and 758 RBIs and won four Gold Gloves. Gaetti was placed in the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2007. He is also a member of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring, he served as the hitting coach for the Houston Astros and the Durham Bulls. He was the manager of the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League from 2012-2017. At last report he was operating the Gaetti Sports Academy in Centralia, Illinois.
Shortstop James Jerry “J. J.” Hardy played for the Twins in 2010. Born and raised in Tucson, he was drafted by Milwaukee in the second round in 2001. His early minor league numbers are not that strong, probably due to his age. He began to develop in 2003, hitting .279 with twelve homers in AA Huntsville. Hardy was apparently injured much of 2004, as he got only 101 at-bats in AAA. Healthy in 2005, he made the Brewers out of spring training and was their starting shortstop that season. He was again injured in 2006, he came back strong in 2007 and had back-to-back solid seasons, averaging .280 with 25 home runs in those two years. He slumped in 2009, hitting just .229 with 11 homers and spending some time in AAA. After that season, he was traded to Minnesota for Carlos Gomez. He battled injuries again in 2010, but was solid defensively and not bad offensively when healthy. Hardy’s numbers as a Twin were .269/.320/.394 in 340 at-bats. Still, the Twins didn't seem to like him, and so after the season Hardy was traded with Brendan Harris and cash to Baltimore for Brett Jacobson and Jim Hoey. Hardy responded with one of the best seasons of his career, batting .269 with a career high 30 home runs. He had a down year in 2012, hitting only .238 (although he did hit 22 homers and won a Gold Glove). He did substantially better in 2013, batting .263 with 25 homers at this writing and making his second all-star team, winning his second Gold Glove, and winning his first Silver Slugger. His homers were down in 2014 and everything was down in 2015, as he had easily his worst year in the majors. His batting average bounced back in 2016, but it went back down in 2017, and the power appears to be gone for good. He remained the Orioles' regular shortstop through the middle of June, then went on the disabled list, not returning until September. His playing career came to an end after that season. He was a spring training instructor for the Orioles in 2020, and at last report, J. J. Hardy was living on a ranch in Montana and also had a home in Chandler, Arizona. He was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 2021. He is also a member of the Pima County (Arizona) Sports Hall of Fame.
Right-hander Austin David Adams appeared in two games for the Twins in 2019. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama, went to high school in Millbrook, Alabama, attended Faulkner University in Montgomery (one of three major leaguers to attend that school, the others being Shane Reynolds and Steve Sparks), and was drafted by Cleveland in the fifth round in 2009. He did well in the low minors, struggled when promoted to AA in 2011, and missed all of 2012, presumably due to injury. He had been a starter up to that point, but when he returned in 2013 he was a reliever. He had a fine year in AA in 2013 and did well in 2014 when promoted to AAA. He made his major league debut with the Indians in 2014 as well, appearing in six games. In 2015 he made sporadic appearances in the majors until the end of May, when he was called up through the end of the season. In 33.1 innings (28 games) he was 2-0, 3.78, but with a WHIP of 1.50. He split 2016 between AAA and the majors. He gave up just two runs in his first seven appearances but twenty in his last twelve. The Indians gave up on him after that and traded him to the Angels for a player to be named later or cash. B-r.com does not reveal which, if either, Cleveland actually got, but it appears that he may have been injured again, as he appeared in only five minor league games for the Angels in 2017. He started 2018 with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League and pitched very well, which resulted in him signing with the Twins for the last few weeks of the minor league season. He made five appearances at AA Chattanooga and did well, so he started 2019 in AAA Rochester. He did not do so well, but still came up to the Twins in mid-May as a fresh arm for the bullpen. He appeared in two games, doing well in the first one but not well at all in the second. The Twins waived him in late May and he was selected by Detroit. He was with the Tigers for a little over a month and did not do very well there, either. They sent him down to AAA Toledo in early July, and he continued to not pitch very well. He re-signed with the Twins in late January of 2020, but he did not play and was released after the season. He has pitched for Lexington in the Atlantic League since 2021, pitching very well in 2021 but no so well in 2022. As a Twin, Austin Adams was 0-0, 16.88, 2.63 WHIP in 2.2 innings. In his major league career, he is 2-0, 6.45, 1.66 WHIP. He turns thirty-six today. Teams are always looking for pitching, so I can't say definitively that he won't get a chance somewhere, but in all likelihood we will not see Austin Adams in a major league game again.