Bob Hope (1903)
George McQuinn (1910)
Loel Passe (1917)
Fred White (1936)
Fay Vincent (1938)
John Kennedy (1941)
Blue Moon Odom (1945)
Jamie Allen (1958)
Mike Stenhouse (1958)
Eric Davis (1962)
Charlie Hayes (1965)
Trever Miller (1973)
Jerry Hairston (1976)
Matt Macri (1982)
Steven Matz (1991)
Nick Wittgren (1991)
Patrick Bailey (1999)

Comedian and actor Bob Hope was a long-time part-owner of the Cleveland Indians and was on their Board of Directors.

Loel Passe broadcast Houston Astros games from the team’s inception through 1976.  Along the way, he worked with two Hall of Fame broadcasters, Gene Elston and Harry Kalas.

Fred White broadcast Kansas City Royals games from 1974-1998.

Fay Vincent was the commissioner of baseball from 1989-1992.

Third baseman Jamie Allen was drafted by Minnesota with the tenth pick of the 1976 draft, but did not sign.

Catcher Patrick Bailey was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-seventh round in 2017, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. brianS.

Outfielder/first baseman Michael Steven Stenhouse played for the Twins in 1985.  He was born in Pueblo, Colorado, attended Harvard, and was drafted by Montreal in the first round of the January Secondary draft in 1980.  His father, Dave Stenhouse, pitched for the Washington Senators in the 1960s.  He hit very well in the minors, but never got much of a chance in the big leagues.  In 1982, Stenhouse hit .289 with 25 homers, 101 walks and an OPS of .949 in AAA Wichita.  His reward for that was to get one major league at-bat as a pinch-hitter in the last game of the season.  In 1983, he did even better in Wichita, hitting .355 with 25 homers and 95 walks in 109 games, for an OPS of 1.172.  He was called up to the majors in late July but rarely played, getting only 40 at-bats.  Granted, the Expos had a pretty good team them, with an outfield of Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, and Warren Cromartie with Al Oliver at first base, but that’s still not much playing time for a guy with that kind of record.  In 1984 Cromartie and Oliver were gone, but while the Expos kept Stanhouse on the roster for all but six weeks he still didn’t play much, with nearly half of his appearances coming as a pinch-hitter while the Expos played people like Jim Wohlford, Miguel Dilone, Tony Scott, and Max Venable in the outfield and Terry Francona and Dan Driessen at first.  Stanhouse did not take advantage of his sporadic playing time, hitting only .183 in 175 at-bats, although he did draw 26 walks.  That was as much as the Expos needed to see, though, as they traded him to Minnesota that off-season for Jack O’Connor.  The Twins gave Stenhouse his only full season in the majors, but did not play him any more, preferring to use Mickey Hatcher in left and Roy Smalley at DH.  He batted on 179 times, hitting .223/.330/.335.  The Twins traded him to Boston for Charlie Mitchell after the season.  He was with the Red Sox for about two months and batted 21 times, playing in AAA the rest of the year.  Stenhouse played in 1987 in AAA for Detroit, then his playing career came to an end.  His big league numbers don’t look like much, but given his minor league record, one has to wonder what he might have done if he’d ever been given a chance to play.  He toured with Bill Lee’s Grey Sox club for a while and did some broadcasting for the Expos in 1996.  At last report, Mike Stenhouse was the CEO of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a free-enterprise public policy think tank.

Infielder Matthew Michael Macri played 18 games for the Twins in 2008.  Born and raised in Des Moines, Macri was drafted by Colorado in the fifth round in 2004.  He hit .333 his first pro season at Class A Tri-City, but did not do as well again.  He repeated AA, hitting .298 there in 2007, but was traded to Minnesota in mid-August of that year for Ramon Ortiz.  The Twins started him in AAA, and he was there the rest of his time with the Twins with the exception of a couple of months in 2008.  He was in Minnesota from late May to late June of that year and later got a September call-up.  He hit well in that brief trial, going 11-for-34 for a line of .324/.361/.441.  He did nothing close to that in AAA, however, hitting .251/.316/.433 there in about 1,200 at-bats.  The Twins let him go after the 2010 season, he signed with Colorado, and spent 2011 playing for AAA Colorado Springs.  He became a free agent after the season and his playing career came to an end.  At last report, Matt Macri was the director of Solutions and Tenant Experience Partnerships for VTS, Inc., a computer software company, in the Chicago area.

Right-handed reliever Nicholas James Wittgren has not played for the Twins yet, but is in their minor league system.  He was born in Torrance, California, went to high school in Lafayette, Indiana, attended Purdue University, and was drafted by Miami in the ninth round in 2012.  A reliever throughout his career, he did very well in the minors but still was brought along slowly, not reaching AAA until 2015 and making his major league debut in 2016.  He had a fine 2016 season, but could not repeat it in 2017 and found himself back at AAA for about half of 2018.  He was traded to Cleveland that off-season and spent three seasons with the Indians/Guardians.  He was very good the first two, but struggled in 2021 as his strikeout rate dropped significantly.  He signed with St. Louis for 2022 but had a poor season and was released in early July.  He signed with Kansas City for 2023, but again had a poor season and was "granted free agency" in mid-August.  He signed with Seattle a few days later but could not get out of AAA with them.  He signed with the Twins in late April of 2024.  He spent a couple of weeks in AA, then was promoted to AAA.  He has pitched very well for St. Paul, although it's only six innings (five games).  He turns thirty-three today.  One wonders if he's been injured--his strikeout rate went from 10.6 (2020) to 8.3 (2021) to 5.3 (2022) and 5.6 (2023).  It seems like there must have been some reason for that.  At any rate, we wish him well.