Happy Birthday–May 3

George Gore (1857)
Garry Herrmann (1859)
Eppa Rixey (1891)
Red Ruffing (1905)
Goose Tatum (1921)
Chuck Hinton (1934)
Chris Cannizzaro (1938)
Davey Lopes (1945)
Dan Iassogna (1969)
Darren Dreifort (1972)
Ryan Dempster (1977)
Homer Bailey (1986)
Ben Revere (1988)
Mike Morin (1991)
Trey Cabbage (1997)
Edwar Colina (1997)

Garry Herrmann was the president of the Cincinnati Reds from 1903-1920 and was chair of the National Commission from its creation in 1903 until the commissioner's office was created in 1920.  It is puzzling that he is not in the Hall of Fame.

Better known as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Goose Tatum played in the Negro Leagues for several years in the 1940s.

Dan Iassogna has been a major league umpire since 1999.

Right-hander David Dewitt Bailey made two starts for the Twins in 2020.  He was nicknamed "Homer" after his great-grandfather.  Born and raised in La Grange, Texas, he was drafted by Cincinnati in the first round with the seventh pick in 2004.  His first two minor league seasons were pretty average, but he had an outstanding 2006 split between high-A and AA at age 20.  He pitched well in AAA in 2007, but was not particularly good in nine major league starts.  Still, he was just 21.  He went back and forth between AAA and the majors for two more seasons before reaching the majors mostly to stay in 2010.  He was okay, but nothing more, through 2011, but then put together three really solid seasons for the Reds, going 33-27, 3.61.  In August of 2014, however, he was diagnosed with "forearm fatigue" and missed the rest of the season.  It turned out to be a torn UCL, and Tommy John surgery was required.  We've gotten used to pitchers coming back strong from that surgery, but it didn't happen that way for him.  He stayed in the Reds organization through 2018, but dealt with a variety of injuries and was not very good when he could pitch.  The Reds traded him to the Dodgers after the 2018 season, but they released him the next day.  He signed with the Royals for 2019 and was average, but no more, and was traded to Oakland in mid-July.  He continued to be average for the Athletics and became a free agent after the season.  He signed with Minnesota for 2020.  Due to injuries he made only two starts for the Twins pitching eight innings.  He did well enough in them, going 1-0, 3.38, 1.13 WHIP.  The Twins released him near the end of the season to make room for Edwar Colina, with whom he shares a birthday.  He signed with Oakland in June of 2021 but pitched poorly in AAA.  He turns thirty-six today, is unsigned, and his playing career is presumably over.  No information about what Homer Bailey is doing now was readily available.

Outfielder Ben Daniel Revere played for the Twins from 2010-2012.  He was born in Atlanta, went to high school in Lexington, Kentucky, and was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2007.  He mostly rose one level at a time, playing in rookie ball in 2007, Class A in 2008, advanced A in 2009, AA in 2010, and AAA in 2011 before being called up to the big club because of injuries. He hit over .300 each minor league season, with a high of .379 in Beloit in 2008.  He hit ten triples in each of his first two seasons in the minors, but only hit four in each of the next two seasons.  He had little power and did not draw a lot of walks in the minors (his high was 40 in 2009).  He does have speed, stealing around forty bases a year in the minors.  He wasn’t terrible with Minnesota in 2011, but he wasn’t very good, either, hitting .267/.310/.309.  He started 2012 in Minnesota as a fourth outfielder, but was sent back to Rochester for about a month, then came back and was a regular most of the season.  After the 2012 season, he was traded to Philadelphia for Trevor May and Vance Worley.  As a Twin, he hit .278/.319/.323 with 74 stolen bases in 254 games.  Installed as the regular center fielder for the Phillies, he was hitting .305 in mid-July of 2013 when an injury ended his season.  He was back as the regular center fielder in 2014 and hit .306. He was doing about the same in 2015 when he was traded to Toronto at the end of July.  At the end of the season he was traded to Washington.  At that time, we said, "As long as he continues to bat close to .300, he is likely to continue to have a regular job in the big leagues.  If he stops doing that, though, he may fade rather quickly."  Well, in 2016 he stopped doing it, and sure enough, he no longer had a regular job in the big leagues:  he batted .217 and was mainly a defensive replacement and pinch runner by the end of the season.    He was a free agent after the season and signed with the Angels and bounced back some as a part-time player.  He signed with Cincinnati for 2018, was released in spring training, was signed by the Angels again, went to AAA, and was released again in late July.  He signed with Texas for 2019, was released in late March, signed with Toronto in late April, and was released again in mid-May, bringing his playing career to an end.  He was a fine defensive player and had plenty of speed, but as someone once said about the five tools, none of the others matter much if you can't hit.  He was the batting coach of the Lexington Legends in the Atlantic League in 2021.  He was a coach for the Braves in the Florida Complex League in 2023 and will hold the same position in 2024.

Right-hander Michael William Morin spent about two months with the Twins in 2019.  He was born in Andover, Minnesota, went to high school in Overland Park, Kansas, attended the University of North Carolina, and was drafted by the Angels in the thirteenth round in 2012.  A reliever all the way, he pitched well in the low minors and reached the majors at the end of April of 2014.  He had a fine season for the Angels that year, but struggled in 2015, going back to the minors for a couple of months.  In 2016 he spent almost the entire season in the majors, but his numbers again were not very good.  It looks like he either was really on or really off in those years--he wasn't uniformly terrible, but he'd occasionally have a really, really bad outing that made his overall numbers look awful.  He was back in AAA in 2017 and did well there, but struggled in six appearances with the Angels and they finally gave up on him, letting him go to Kansas City on waivers in September.  The Royals waived him after the season and he moved on to Seattle, again pitching well in AAA but not well in three appearances in the majors.  The Twins signed him as a free agent in 2019.  He pitched well in Rochester, came up to the Twins in early May, and for the most part pitched extremely well, with only a couple of games where he was really off.  As a Twin he was 0-0, 3.18, 0.97 WHIP.  The Phillies let him go as a free agent and he signed with Milwaukee for 2020.  The Brewers waived him in late July, however, and he was claimed by Miami, for whom he appeared in three games.  He did well, but he was taken off the roster after the season.  He did not pitch in 2021, but appeared in twelve games for Kane County in the American Association in 2022.  He signed a minor league contract with the White Sox for 2023, but was released before spring training and went on to pitch in the Mexican League.  He signed with the Braves at mid-season but pitched poorly in AAA.  He pitched in winter ball, but has not (yet) pitched in 2024.  He turns thirty-three today.  He seems determined to play as long as someone will let him, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him pitch somewhere in 2024.

Outfielder/first baseman Trey Aaron Cabbage did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system from 2015-2021.  He as born in Knoxville, Tennessee, went to high school in Rutledge, Tennessee, and was drafted by Minnesota in the fourth round in 2015.  He was in rookie ball in 2015 and 2016 and in Class A from 2017-2019, really not doing much to show that he would ever hit.  He missed the 2020 COVID season, but when he came back in 2021 his batting was significantly improved.  He batted .264/.346/.535 with twenty-seven homers in a season split between A and AA.  He became a free agent after that season, however, and was signed by the Angels.  He had an outstanding AAA season in 2023 and reached the majors for about five weeks.  He did not hit much in that trial, however, and was traded to Houston after the season.  He started the 2024 season in AAA but was recently promoted to the majors, where he is at this writing.  For his major league career, he has batted .218/.241/.346 in 55 at-bats.  He turns twenty-seven today.  Trey Cabbage could still have a decent major league career, but if he's going to, he'd better do it soon.

Right-hander Edwar Osnel de la Cruz Colina pitched one-third of an inning for the Twins in 2020.  He was born in Caracas, Venezuela and signed with the Twins as a free agent in 2015.  He reached Class A in 2018 and did very well.  He split 2019 between high-A and AA and continued to pitch well, although he did poorly in two AAA appearances.  He made his major league debut on September 25, 2020.  He had a rough outing, giving up a home run, a walk, two singles, another walk, and another single before finally recording an out and coming out of the game.  His record, therefore, is 0-0, 81.00, with a WHIP of 18.  Sadly, it looks like those may turn out to be his career numbers.  He would've been in AAA in 2020 if there had been a AAA in 2020.  That's presumably where he would have started 2021, but instead he injured his elbow and missed the entire season.  The Twins waived him after the season and he signed with Texas.  He missed all of 2022 as well, and had a poor season in AAA in 2023.  He became a free agent after the season and is unsigned.  He did play winter ball, but was unimpressive there.  He turns twenty-seven today and hasn't pitched well above AA.  Injuries have been a factor, and we're certainly not rooting against him, but it appears that Edwar Colina has a tough road ahead of him to continue his baseball career.