Jack McCarthy (1869)
Bill Zuber (1913)
Ben Mondor (1925)
Harry Kalas (1936)
Mel Queen (1942)
Kevin Seitzer (1962)
Jarvis Brown (1967)
Shane Reynolds (1968)
Jose Vizcaino (1968)
Jason Maxwell (1972)
Brendan Ryan (1982)
Eric Hacker (1983)
Hernan Perez (1991)
Rob Refsnyder (1991)
Michael Taylor (1991)
Ben Mondor was the owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox from 1977-2010. He is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame and the International League Hall of Fame and won numerous minor league Executive of the Year awards from various organizations.
We would like to wish a happy birthday to MagUidhir's Little One.
Outfielder Jarvis Ardel Brown played for the Twins in parts of two seasons, 1991 and 1992. Born in Waukegan, Illinois, Brown was drafted by the Twins with the ninth pick of the January draft of 1986. A small man (5'7", 165), he was known for speed rather than power, although he did hit 14 home runs in AA Orlando in 1990. He did not hit for much of an average his first couple of years, but hit .294 for Class A Kenosha in 1988. He then dropped back into the .250 range for a couple of years before hitting .289 at AAA Portland in 1991. That got him two months in the big leagues, including a spot on the Twins' post-season roster. He was used primarily as a pinch runner and a defensive replacement, playing in 38 games but getting only 37 at-bats. He started 1992 in the majors in a similar role, and again played there for about two months before being sent to the minors. He became a free agent after the season and signed with San Diego for 1993. As a Twin, he hit .173/.246/.173 with nine stolen bases in 52 at-bats (73 games) He hit .308 at AAA Las Vegas in 1994 and came up to the Padres in late July, staying the rest of the season. He got the most major league playing time of his career that season, hitting .233 in 133 at-bats. Brown was placed on waivers after the season and was selected by Atlanta for 1994. He was in the majors for about two months again, once again filling the pinch runner/defensive replacement role, and in AAA the rest of the year. A free agent after the season, he signed with the Mets for 1995, was released in late May, signed with Cincinnati in mid-June, and was sent to Baltimore two days later "as part of a conditional deal." He played well enough that year to get a September call-up, starting eight major league games and playing as a defensive replacement in several others. He again played in the minors for the Orioles in 1996, moved to the Brewers' organization in 1997, and played for Waterbury in the independent Northeast League in 1998 before ending his playing career. Since then, he has done some managing and coaching. Jarvis Brown coached in the Twins’ organization from 1999-2001, was the manager of the New Haven County Cuggers of the Northeast League, head coach of the University of Wisconsin--Parkside for three years, and then was an assistant coach at Carthage College of Kenosha, Wisconsin. At last report, Jarvis Brown was a business development specialist for Meltric Corporation in Franklin, Wisconsin. He is one of two major league players with the first name "Jarvis" (Jarvis Tatum).
Infielder Jason Raymond Maxwell played for Minnesota in 2000 and 2001. Born and raised in Lewisburg, Tennessee, he attended Middle Tennessee State and was drafted by the Cubs in the 74th round in 1993. He hit fairly well, though not outstandingly, during his minor league career, posting decent averages with moderate power. His best year in the minors was 1998, when he hit .298 with 15 homers and 40 doubles for AAA Iowa. He earned a September call-up that year, going 1-for-3 as a pinch hitter. In late March of 1999, Maxwell was placed on waivers and taken by Detroit. He had a poor year at AAA, became a free agent, and signed with the Twins for 2000. He played for Minnesota for two years as a reserve infielder. He had 179 at-bats as a Twin, hitting .223/.294/.313. A free agent after the 2001 season, he signed with Texas for 2002, was released in late March, and signed with Cincinnati the next day. He was in AAA for the Reds for two years, hitting .301 in 2002, but did not reach the majors. He moved on to the Tampa Bay organization for 2004, and then his playing career was over. At last report, Jason Maxwell was a teacher and baseball coach at Ensworth High School in Nashville, Tennessee. He also was an instructor with Big E Camps, offering instruction in various sports and also located in Nashville.
Right-hander Eric Lynn Hacker appeared in two games for the Twins in 2011. Born and raised in Duncanville, Texas, he was drafted by the Yankees in the twenty-second round in 2002. He pitched very well in the low minors when he was able to pitch, but he missed a lot of time with injuries. He was out the entire seasons of 2004 and 2006, and going into the 2007 season had appeared in only twenty-two minor league games and pitched just one hundred three innings. He finally had a full minor league season in 2007 and pitched well in high A ball, but did not do as well when tried at higher levels. He had a solid 2008 split between A and AA, but by then he was twenty-five years old. He has never really pitched well above AA. His best year in AAA was 2009, when he went 5-5, 4.02, but he had a WHIP of 1.56. He was traded away from the Yankees in May of that year, going to the Pittsburgh organization. He got a September call-up in 2009, giving up two runs on four hits in three innings. A free agent after the season, he was in AAA for San Francisco in 2010. A free agent again, he signed with Minnesota for 2011. He made two appearances with the Twins in April and actually pitched well, allowing no runs on four hits and four walks in 5.1 innings. It was a different story in Rochester, as he went 7-14, 6.10 with a 1.56 WHIP. He was a free agent after the season and signed a minor league contract with San Francisco for 2012. He had a fairly good year for AAA Fresno and got back to the majors for four more games, going 0-1, 5.59. He was released in January and signed with the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization, for whom he pitched from 2013-2017. He signed with Nexen in the KBO for 2018, but did not have a good year there and his playing career came to an end. It's anyone's guess what he might have done if not for the injuries, but or course that could be said of any number of players. At last report Eric Hacker was a luxury real estate professional with Hacker Property Group in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Utility player Robert Daniel Refsnyder was with the Twins in 2021. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, went to high school in Laguna Hills, California, attended the University of Arizona, and was drafted by the Yankees in the fifth round in 2012. He hit for high averages in the minors with quite a few doubles, giving him a high OPS even though he hit very few home runs. He reached the majors in 2015 and spent the next few years commuting between New York and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was traded to Toronto in July 2017, waived at the end of the season, claimed by Cleveland, and sold to Tampa Bay before the 2018 season. He didn't hit, and became a free agent after 2018. He signed with Arizona for 2019, but was sold to Cincinnati in early April. He spent that summer in AAA until his release in late August. He signed with Texas for 2020, again didn't hit, and again was released in late August. He signed with the Twins for 2021 and split the season between AAA and the majors. He got off to a hot start, leading some fans to believe the Twins might have stumbled onto something, but he stumbled badly in the last two months of the season and ended up at .245/.325./338, He became a free agent and signed with Boston for 2022. Amazingly, at age thirty-one, he had by far the best season of his career, batting .307/.384/.497. Of course, it was 153 at-bats, so it could be a small sample size fluke, or it could be that Alex Cora was really good at spotting him against pitchers he could hit. Still, it would certainly seem that he did enough to have a major league job in 2023.
Outfielder Michael Anthony Taylor came to the Twins for the 2023 season. Born and raised Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he was drafted by Washington in the first round in 2009. He was in rookie and Class A ball for four seasons, finally reaching AA in 2014. He was ready, though, batting .313 with 22 homers that season. On the strength of that, plus a reputation for fine defense, he was a mostly regular in the majors in 2015. He did not hit, though, batting just .229 with an OPS of .641, although he did hit 14 home runs and stole 16 bases. He was a semi-regular for the Nationals through 2018, and actually had a pretty good offense year in 2017. He could not repeat it, however, and after the 2020 season he left Washington, signing as a free agent with Kansas City. He played center for the Royals for two seasons and batted .249/.304/.357, numbers that are pretty much in line with his career numbers. After the 2022 season Kansas City traded him to Minnesota for Steven Cruz and Evan Sisk. He turns thirty-two today. He's expected to play center for the Twins when Byron Buxton doesn't, which if the past is any indication could end up being quite a bit of the time. If he does, one can expect him to play good defense and, while he won't impress anyone at the plate, he won't be an automatic out, either.