Category Archives: Keeping Track

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 24

Billy Nash (1865)
George Harper (1892)
Rollie Hemsley (1907)
Jim Mills (1919)
Wally Yonamine (1925)
Don Mincher (1938)
Ken Reitz (1951)
Doug Jones (1957)
Tom Klawitter (1958)
Doug Bernier (1980)
Phil Hughes (1986)

Jim Mills spent almost his entire adult life involved in baseball in the Carolinas.  He played college ball at North Carolina State, played minor league ball for nine seasons in the Carolinas, managed in Carolina minor leagues for six seasons, umpired in the Carolina League for two seasons, was in minor league front offices in the Carolinas from 1956-1971, and was president of the Carolina League for seven years.

Born in Hawaii, Wally Yonamine was a star in Japan from 1951-1962, stealing home eleven times.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 24 →

Keeping Track

Appalachian League Preview

The Appalachian League starts tonight.  It's a ten-team league, with the teams divided into two five-team divisions.  Teams take the names of their parent clubs.  The teams play a sixty-eight game schedule.  The top four teams make the playoffs, which are best-of-three.

The Twins affiliate is, as you probably remember, Elizabethton.  The other teams in the West Division are the Bristol Pirates, the Greeneville Astros, the Johnson City Cardinals, and the Kingsport Mets.

The Twins are managed by Ray Smith, with batting coach Jeff Reed and pitching coach Luis Ramirez.  Assuming the roster listed at milb.com is correct, some names you might recognize include the following:

Pitchers:  Samuel Clay, Brandon Easton, Josh Guyer, C. K. Irby, Kuo Hua Lo, Miles Nordgren, and Dereck Rodriguez.

Batters:  C Rainis Silva, IF Tyler Kuresa, IF Nelson Molina, OF Austin Diemer, OF Ariel Montesino.

They open their season in Bluefield tonight.  Go Twins!

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 23

George Weiss (1894)
Jack Smith (1895)
Karl Spooner (1931)
Dave Bristol (1933)
Tom Haller (1937)
Dave Goltz (1949)
Marty Barrett (1958)
Jim Deshaies (1960)
Hensley Meulens (1967)
Josh Byrnes (1970)
Mark Hendrickson (1974)

George Weiss was the general manager of the New York Yankees from 1948-1960.

Karl Spooner set the record, later tied by J. R. Richard, for strikeouts in a major league debut with fifteen.

Dave Bristol managed four different teams from 1966-1980.

Josh Byrnes has been the general manager of Arizona and San Diego and is currently the vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 23 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 22

Carl Hubbell (1903)
Walt Masterson (1920)
Han Urbanus (1927)
Faye Throneberry (1931)
Russ Snyder (1934)
Dave Tomlin (1949)
Ron Hodges (1949)
Greg Booker (1960)
Brant Brown (1971)
Esteban Yan (1975)
Willie Harris (1978)
Luis Maza (1980)
Ian Kinsler (1982)

Han Urbanus is in the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame.  He pitched over 150 consecutive complete games over a period of eight years.

The brother of Marv Throneberry, outfielder Faye Throneberry spent much of his career with the Twins franchise while it was still in Washington (1957-1960).  In December of 1960, he was chosen by the Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 22 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 21

Matt Kilroy (1866)
Randy Moore (1906)
Harold Seymour (1910)
Ed Lopat (1918)
Merle Harmon (1926)
Jackie Collum (1927)
Charlie Moore (1953)
Rick Sutcliffe (1956)
Jay Pettibone (1957)
Donovan Osborne (1969)
Garrett Jones (1981)
Jeff Baker (1981)

Harold Seymour wrote a three-part History of Baseball, published from 1960-1990.

Merle Harmon broadcast Minnesota Twins games from 1967-1969.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to MagUidhir, Sheenie, and UncleWalt’s daughter (NieceWalt?).

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 21 →