Bones Ely (1863)
Ed Wells (1900)
Dusty Boggess (1904)
Rosey Gilhousen (1913)
Herb Score (1933)
Roger Nelson (1944)
George Mitterwald (1945)
Don Money (1947)
Thurman Munson (1947)
Bobby Marcano (1951)
Bill Hohn (1955)
Tim Laudner (1958)
Heathcliff Slocumb (1966)
Donaldo Mendez (1978)
Virgil Vasquez (1982)
Mark Lowe (1983)
Luke Farrell (1991)
Dusty Boggess was a National League umpire from 1944-62.
Rosey Gilhousen was a long-time scout who is credit for signing George Brett and Dan Quisenberry.
Bobby Marcano was an all-star in Japan.
Bill Hohn was a major league umpire from 1989-99 and 2002-10.
Catcher George Eugene Mitterwald played for the Twins in 1966 and from 1968-1973. He was born in Berkeley, California, went to high school in Hayward, California, and attended Chabot College in Hayward. He signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1965. He had an excellent year at Class A St. Cloud in 1965, then settled in as a rather mediocre minor league hitter. He got a September call-up in 1966 and another in 1968 before coming to the majors to stay. He was the backup to Johnny Roseboro in 1969, then became the mostly regular catcher. He remained in that role from 1970-1971, but in 1972 Mitterwald had a poor year even by his standards, and shared the job with Glenn Borgmann, Phil Roof, and Rick Dempsey. He regained the starting job in 1973 and had his best year as a Twin, hitting .259 with 16 home runs. The Twins apparently decided that was as good as it was ever going to get and traded him that Mitterwald to the Cubs that off-season for Randy Hundley. As a Twin, George Mitterwald hit .239/.304/.373 in 1,578 at-bats. He was then a part-time catcher for the Cubs for the next four years. Mitterwald became a free agent after the 1977 campaign and signed with Seattle. He played poorly in AAA for the Mariners and his playing career came to an end. He then went into coaching and managing, serving as the bullpen coach for Oakland (1979-1982), as the manager of Modesto (1983-1985) and Orlando (1986-1987), and as bench coach for the Yankees (1988). He managed in the independent Northern League from 1996-1998. He was inducted into the Chabot College Hall of Fame in 2000. At last report, George Mitterwald was living in Orlando, Florida.
Catcher Timothy Jon Laudner was a catcher for the Twins throughout the 1980s. He was born in Mason City, Iowa, went to high school in Minneapolis, and attended the University of Missouri. He was drafted by Minnesota in the third round of the 1979 draft. Laudner had indifferent minor league numbers for two season, then hit .284 with 42 homers with Orlando in 1981. That got him a call-up in late August, and when Butch Wynegar was traded in May of 1982 Laudner became the regular catcher. Unfortunately, the 42-home-run season turned out to be a fluke; he never hit more than 16 in any other season, majors or minors. Because he never showed power and his average never really developed, either, Laudner was never the full-time catcher after 1982, sharing the job with Dave Engle (1983-84), Mark Salas (1985-1986), Sal Butera (1987), Tom Nieto (1987-1988), and Brian Harper (1988-1989). Despite that, Laudner made the all-star team in 1988. He was hitting .290 at the end of June that year, but fell to .251 by year’s end. Laudner never played for another organization, retiring after the 1989 campaign. He hit .225/.292/.391 with 77 homers in 2,038 at-bats. After his playing career ended, he worked in the heating and air conditioning industry for a while, then got back into baseball. Tim Laudner currently is as an instructor and part-owner of Big League Baseball Camp in Minnetonka and also works as a part-time analyst for Bally Sports North.
Shortstop Donaldo Alfonso Mendez did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for a couple of months in 2006. Born and raised in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, he signed with Houston as a free agent in 1995. He stayed in the low minors and did not hit anything until 2000, when he batted .270 and stole 39 bases for Class A Michigan. His OPS was still only .683, but that was enough for San Diego to take him in the rule 5 draft and keep him in the majors all season. A reserve shortstop, he appeared in 46 games, got 118 at-bats, and hit .153. Not surprisingly, he was back in the minors in 2002. He never really did learn to hit; his lifetime average in the minors was .239, a figure that falls to .228 when you take out his years in independent leagues. He stayed with the Padres through 2003, getting another month in the majors in his final year with them. He moved on to Pittsburgh in 2004 and San Francisco in 2005. He was hitting .272 with Newark in the Atlantic League when the Twins signed him on July 6, 2006. He went to Rochester and actually put up very good numbers in limited playing time: in 19 games, he batted 29 times and hit .270/.300/.621 with three homers. The Twins were not fooled, and allowed him to become a free agent after the season. He played in independent leagues through 2008, then ended his playing career. At last report, Donaldo Mendez was working for the Gonzalez Sports Academy in San Diego.
Right-hander Virgil Matthew Vasquez did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system from 2013-2014. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, California, he was drafted by Detroit in the seventh round in 2003. He was somewhat up and down in his minor league career, but seemed to break through in 2007, going 12-5 in AAA with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He appeared in five big-league games for the Tigers that year, and while he did not do well in them, he still appeared to be on his way. Instead, he went backward. He had a poor year in AAA in 2008, was placed on waivers, and was selected by Boston. Before the 2009 season started, he was waived twice more, being selected by San Diego and then by Pittsburgh. The good news, of course, is that there was always someone who wanted him. He did fairly well in AAA for the Pirates and got back to the big leagues for nearly half the season. He spent over a month in the Pittsburgh rotation, but again did not do well. After the 2009 season he was traded to Tampa Bay for a player to be named later. He was okay, but nothing more, in AAA for the Rays and became a free agent after the season. He signed with the Angels for 2011, but was released in April and spent 2011 in the Atlantic League, with a couple of starts in Australia. He was back in the Atlantic League in 2012, then signed with Minnesota for 2013. He pitched for Rochester and was not horrible but was not particularly good, either. In 2014 he spent most of the year in New Britain, but he was a thirty-two-year-old pitching in AA. He pitched in Mexico that winter and continued to pitch in Australia, through 2017. He was a pitching coach in the Twins' organization from 2015-2022, with the GCL Twins through 2017, Chattanooga (2018), Cedar Rapids (2019), Wichita (2021), and St. Paul (2022). In 2023, however, he is the pitching coach for the Louisville Bats in the Cincinnati organization.
The son of former major league manager John Farrell, right-hander Luke Thomas Farrell joined the Twins in 2021. He was born in Westlake, Ohio, went to high school in Cleveland, attended Northwestern University, and was drafted by Kansas City in the sixth round in 2013. He pitched poorly in his first two seasons, but was moved up to AA in 2015 anyway and rewarded the Royals with a fine season. He reached AAA in 2016 and made the majors in July of 2017, but after just one major league appearance he was sold to the Dodgers in late July of 2017. They waived him about two weeks later and Cincinnati claimed him. He pitched well for the Reds in nine appearances but was waived after the season and was claimed by the Cubs for 2018. He had an up-and-down half-season for them, then spent the rest of the season in AAA. The Cubs waived him in September and he was claimed by the Angels. The Angels waived him again after the season and he was claimed by Texas. He missed much of the 2019 season with a broken jaw, the result of a line drive in spring training, but pitched well when he did pitch. He made just four appearances for the Rangers in 2020 and became a free agent. The Twins signed him for 2021 and he spent nearly half the season in the majors. He was really pretty good most of that time, but two really bad outings in September make his numbers look mediocre: as a Twin, he was 1-1, 4.74, 1.66 WHIP with 25 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. He became a free agent after the season and did not sign for a while, but signed with the Cubs in early May. He was not particularly good in AAA, made four big league appearances for the Cubs in late August-early September, then was waived and claimed by Cincinnati. He made two major league appearances for them, then became a free agent. He signed with the White Sox in mid-April of 2023 and is not pitching well in AAA for them. He turns thirty-two today. In sixty-nine major league appearances (seven starts), he is 5-5, 5.00, 1.49 WHIP. We wish him well, but it may be time for Luke Farrell to move on to the next phase of his life.