Category Archives: Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 20

Sam Rice (1890)
John Wesley Donaldson (1892)
Muddy Ruel (1896)
Pete Monahan (1902)
Tommy Henrich (1913)
Frankie Gustine (1920)
Jim Wilson (1922)
Roy Face (1928)
Shigeo Nagashima (1936)
Clyde Wright (1941)
Jim Morris (1950)
Bill Gullickson (1959)
Shane Spencer (1972)
Livan Hernandez (1975)
Justin Verlander (1983)
Jose Morales (1983)

John Wesley Donaldson pitched in the Negro Leagues and averaged nearly twenty strikeouts per game for the All Nations team in the 1910s.  He pitched three consecutive no-hitters in 1913.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 20

Happy Birthday–February 19

John Morrill (1855)
Dick Siebert (1912)
Hub Kittle (1917)
Russ Nixon (1935)
Dave Niehaus (1935)
Jackie Moore (1939)
Walt Jocketty (1951)
Dave Stewart (1957)
Keith Atherton (1959)
Alvaro Espinoza (1962)
Miguel Batista (1971)
Juan Diaz (1974)

Hub Kittle’s baseball career spanned 68 years.  In 1980, he became the oldest player to appear in organized baseball, pitching a perfect inning for AAA Springfield on August 27 at age 63½.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 19

Happy Birthday–February 18

Ray Ryan (1883)
George Mogridge (1889)
Sherry Smith (1891)
Jake Kline (1895)
Huck Betts (1897)
Joe Gordon (1915)
Herm Wehmeier (1927)
Frank House (1930)
Manny Mota (1938)
Dal Maxvill (1939)
Bob Miller (1939)
Jerry Morales (1949)
John Mayberry (1949)
Bruce Kison (1950)
Marc Hill (1952)
Rafael Ramirez (1958)
Kevin Tapani (1964)
John Valentin (1967)
Shawn Estes (1973)
Jamey Carroll (1974)
Chad Moeller (1975)

Ray Ryan was involved in minor league baseball for six decades.  He had one baseball card, a part of the T206 tobacco series.  This is the series that produced the famous Honus Wagner card.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 18

Happy Birthday–February 17

Pat Pieper (1886)
Nemo Leibold (1892)
Wally Pipp (1893)
Ed Brandt (1905)
Red Barber (1908)
Rod Dedeaux (1914)
Roger Craig (1930)
Cliff Gustafson (1931)
Dick Bosman (1944)
Dave Roberts (1951)
Jaime Easterley (1953)
Mike Hart (1958)
Michael Jordan (1963)
Scott Williamson (1976)
Juan Padilla (1977)
Josh Willingham (1979)

Pat Pieper was the public address announcer for the Chicago Cubs from 1916-1974.  For the first sixteen of those years, he made the announcements with a megaphone.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 17

Happy Birthday–February 16

Alex Ferguson (1897)
Parnell Woods (1912)
Creepy Crespi (1918)
Atsushi Aramaki (1926)
Bobby Darwin (1943)
Terry Crowley (1947)
Bob Didier (1949)
Glenn Abbott (1951)
Jerry Hairston (1952)
Barry Foote (1952)
Bill Pecota (1960)
Eric Bullock (1960)
Dwayne Henry (1962)
Jerome Bettis (1972)
Eric Byrnes (1976)

Better known as an NFL running back, Jerome Bettis is a part-owner of the Altoona Curve and the State College Spikes.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 16

Winterball Whiparound: The Pitchers

With the winter leagues completed, a final look at how Twins players fared.  We did the batters yesterday; we do the pitchers today.

The good:  Cole DeVries (Mesa) was 2-1, 3.12, 0.92 with 19 strikeouts in 26 innings.  Terry Doyle (Mesa) was 4-0, 1.98, 0.62 with 22 strikeouts in 27.1 innings.  Nelvin Fuentes (Mayaguez) was 1-0, 2.49, 0.83 with 16 strikeouts in 21.2 innings.  Deolis Guerra (Magallanes) was 2-1, 3.71, 1.05 with 23 strikeouts in 26.2 innings.  Pedro Guerra (Magallanes) was 1-1, 3.67, 1.25 with 32 strikeouts in 34.1 innings.  Lester Oliveros (Anzoategui) was 1-1, 1.33, 1.33 with 18 strikeouts in 20.1 innings.  Luis Perdomo (Aguilas) was 0-0, 2.11, 0.80 with 16 strikeouts in 21.1 innings.  Anthony Slama (Mazatlan) was 0-1, 1.76, 0.85 with 19 strikeouts in 15.1 innings.  Todd Van Steensel (Sydney) was 0-0, 3.32, 1.06 with 25 strikeouts in 21.2 innings.

The average:  Casey Fien (Guasave) was 4-2, 4.40, 1.27 with 31 strikeouts in 30.2 innings.  Deinys Suarez (Ponce) was 1-1, 3.56, 1.68 with 19 strikeouts in 30.1 innings.

The bad:  Tim Atherton (Canberra) was 0-1, 9.53, 1.59 with 8 strikeouts in 11.1 innings.  Cesar Ciurcina (Aragua) was 0-0, 5.74, 1.79 with 7 strikeouts in 15.2 innings.  Brett Jacobson (Mesa) was 1-2, 6.94, 1.17 with 12 strikeouts in11.2 innings.  Bruce Pugh (Mesa) was 0-1, 12.21, 2.93 with 13 strikeouts in 14 innings.  Aaron Thompson (Este) was 0-1, 6.10, 1.84 with 3 strikeouts in 10.1 innings.  Dakota Watts (Mesa) was 0-1, 5,65, 1.74 with 9 strikeouts in 14.1 innings.

The insignificant:  Samuel Deduno (Aguilas) was 0-0, 1.50, 1.67 with 13 strikeouts in 6 innings.  Sam Gibbons (Melbourne) was 0-1, 9.00, 1.89 with 5 strikeouts in 9 innings.  Yorman Landa (La Guaira) was 0-0, 6.75, 2.25 with 1 strikeout in 2.2 innings.  Francisco Liriano (Domincan Republic) was 1-0, 0.00, 1.60 with 5 strikeouts in 5 innings.  Gonzalo Sanudo (Culiacan) was 0-0, 0.00, 1.50 with 3 strikeouts in 2 innings.  Markus Solbach (Melbourne) was 0-0, 6.35, 1.76 with 4 strikeouts in 5.2 innings.  Manuel Soliman (Escogido) was 0-0, 0.00, 3.30 with 3 strikeouts in 3.1 innings.  Junior Subero (Carolina) was 0-0, 9.00, 3.00 with 0 strikeouts in 1 inning.  Esmerling Vasquez (Estrellas) was 1-1, 3.00, 1.56 with 5 strikeouts in 9 innings.  Brendan Wise (Perth) was 0-0, 0.00, 1.00 with 2 strikeouts in 4 innings.

Happy Birthday–February 15

Cub Stricker (1860)
Sliding Billy Hamilton (1866)
Charlie Irwin (1869)
Jimmy Ring (1895)
George Earnshaw (1900)
Larry Goetz (1900)
Lorenzo Ponza (1915)
Chuck Estrada (1938)
Ron Cey (1948)
Rick Auerbach (1950)
Joe Hesketh (1959)
Mark Davidson (1961)
Melido Perez (1966)
Ugueth Urbina (1974)
Alex Gonzalez (1977)
Luis Ugueto (1979)

Lorenzo Ponza invented the modern pitching machine.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 15

Winterball Whiparound: The Batters

With the winter leagues completed, a final look at how Twins players fared.  We’ll do the batters today and the pitchers tomorrow.

The good:  Aaron Bates (Caguas) hit .356/.396/.556 in 45 at bats.  Sean Burroughs (Margarita) hit .316/.396/.382 in 136 at-bats.  Alexi Casilla (Cibao) hit .336/.419/.412 in 119 at-bats.  Brian Dozier (Mesa) hit .296/.358/.454 in 108 at-bats.  Pedro Florimon (Escogido) hit .300/.413/.400 in 90 at-bats.  Chris Herrmann (Mesa) hit .380/.456/.620 in 50 at-bats.  Aaron Hicks (Mesa) hit .294/.400/.559 in 102 at-bats.  Luke Hughes (Perth) hit .344/.500/.656 in 64 at-bats.

The average:  Joe Benson (Aragua) hit .216/.355/.373 in 51 at-bats.  Darin Mastroianni (Zulia) hit .255/.369/.363 in 102 at-bats.  Daniel Ortiz (Mayaguez) hit .246/.246/.404 in 57 at-bats.  Jairo Perez (Lara) hit .231/.375/.269 in 26 at-bats.  Wilkin Ramirez (Este) hit .247/.307/.358 in 81 at-bats.  Dereck Rodriguez (Caguas) hit .273/.273/.364 in 11 at-bats.  Jacob Younis (Sydney) hit .252/.319/.290 in 131 at-bats.

The bad:  Matt Carson (Estrellas) hit .115/.233/.192 in 26 at-bats.  Estarlin De Los Santos (Cibao) hit .158/.200/.211 in 19 at-bats.  Joshua Hendricks (Melbourne) hit .118/.211/.118 in 17 at-bats.  Angel Morales (Ponce) hit .220/.313/.305 in 59 at-bats.  Rory Rhodes hit .170/.284/.330 in 100 at-bats.  Rene Rivera (Carolina) hit .211/.242/.267 in 90 at-bats.  Deibinson Romero (Escogido) hit .176/.300/.176 in 17 at-bats.  Eddie Rosario (Mayaguez) hit .214/.313/.286 in 42 at-bats.  Rene Tosoni (Lara) hit .195/.283/.195 in 41 at-bats.

The insignificant:  Oswaldo Arcia (Aragua) was 0-for-2.  Josmil Pinto (Aragua) was 1-for-5.  Ramon Santana (Este) was 0-for-7.

Happy Birthday–February 14

Joe Gerhardt (1855)
Arthur Irwin (1858)
Morgan Murphy (1867)
Candy LaChance (1870)
Bob Quinn (1870)
Earl Smith (1897)
Mel Allen (1913)
Red Barrett (1915)
Len Gabrielson (1940)
Ken Levine (1950)
Larry Milbourne (1951)
Will McEnaney (1952)
Dave Dravecky (1956)
Alejandro Sanchez (1959)
John Marzano (1963)
Kelly Stinnett (1970)
Damaso Marte (1975)

John Marzano was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1981, but he did not sign. 

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Mother 6. Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 14

Australian League Championship Series: Game Three

Perth 7, Melbourne 6 (13 innings).  The teams were tied at three after one inning, Melbourne took a 6-3 lead after three, Perth came back to tie it after five, and there things stood until the thirteenth.  Perth won the game on a Twins-like rally:  James McOwen was hit by a pitch, went to second on a sacrifice bunt, took third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch. 

Mychal Givens led Perth with a 4-for-5 day, getting two doubles and two singles.  Ex-Twin Allan de San Miguel hit the game’s only home run, a two run shot for Perth in the first.  Perth starter Geoff Brown surrendered five runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks in 1.2 innings, but the Heat bullpen bailed them out.  Jacob Clem gave up one run on four hits and two walks in 6.1 innings of relief.  Brendan Wise pitched a perfect ninth.  Jack Frawley then came on for Perth and went the final four innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four to get the win. 

For Melbourne, Jack Givens went 4-for-6.  Elliot Biddle singled and tripled, driving in three.  Melbourne starter Jeff Jamnik yielded five runs on eight hits in four innings.  Bubbie Buzachero took a tough loss, giving up just two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out seven in eight innings of relief.  Andrew Russell threw the game-ending wild pitch.  Joshua Hendricks went 1-for-6 and scored once for Melbourne.

The win gives Perth the Australian League championship.  The Heat won the best-of-three series two games to one.