Tag Archives: citizen days

Happy Birthday–August 31

Dad Clarkson (1866)
Duke Farrell (1866)
Red Ehret (1868)
Monte Cross (1869)
Eddie Plank (1875)
Sarge Connally (1898)
Ray Berres (1907)
Ray Dandridge (1913)
Danny Litwhiler (1916)
Frank Robinson (1935)
Boots Day (1947)
Claudell Washington (1954)
Tom Candiotti (1957)
Von Hayes (1958)
Mike Hartley (1961)
Pat Howell (1968)
Hideo Nomo (1968)
Tim Raines (1979)
Ramon Santiago (1979)
Armando Gabino (1983)
John Hicks (1989)

Ray Dandridge is considered by some to be the greatest Negro League third baseman.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to brianS’ son.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 31

Happy Birthday–August 28

Joe Yeager (1875)
Dode Paskert (1881)
Aaron Ward (1896)
Charlie Grimm (1898)
Paul Bowa (1918)
Tony Gonzalez (1936)
Tom Satriano (1940)
Lou Piniella (1943)
Mike Torrez (1946)
Ron Guidry (1950)
Joel Youngblood (1951)
Darren Lewis (1967)
Jay Witasick (1972)
Tom Shearn (1977)
Ryan Madson (1980)
Carlos Quentin (1982)

Paul Bowa is the father of Larry Bowa and the grandfather of Nick Johnson.  He was a minor league infielder who reached as high as AAA, and later became a minor league manager in the St.  Louis Cardinals’ organization.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to bhiggum.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 28

Happy Birthday–August 26

Chick Fraser (1873)
Jesse Barnes (1892)
Sparky Adams (1894)
Gene Moore (1909)
Alex Kellner (1924)
Alex Trevino (1957)
Jeff Parrett (1961)
Angel Hernandez (1961)
Chad Kreuter (1964)
Ricky Bottalico (1969)
Brendan Harris (1980)
Kyle Kendrick (1984)
Eric Fryer (1985)
Darin Mastroianni (1985)
David Price (1985)
Elvis Andrus (1988)
Mario Hollands (1988)

It is reported that Angel Hernandez has been a major league umpire since 1993.  We continue to search for evidence of this.

Mario Hollands was drafted by Minnesota in the 24th round in 2009 but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to spookymilk’s sister and to Can of Corn's Kernel.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 26

Happy Birthday–August 22

Ned Hanlon (1857)
Howie Camnitz (1881)
Wally Schang (1889)
Happy Felsch (1891)
Carl Yastrzemski (1939)
Bill Burbach (1947)
Doug Bair (1949)
Ray Burris (1950)
Paul Molitor (1956)
Darrin Jackson (1962)
Mike Everitt (1964)
Gary Scott (1968)
Hipolito Pichardo (1969)
Steve Kline (1972)
Jeff Weaver (1976)
Randy Wolf (1976)
Alan Busenitz (1990)

Mike Everitt has been a major league umpire since 1996.

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa S.

Add bio of Bill Burbach

Hall of Famer Paul Leo Molitor played for the Twins from 1996-1998.  Born and raised in St. Paul, he attended the University of Minnesota and was chosen by Milwaukee with the third pick of the 1977 draft. He spent only one year in the minors, hitting .346 with Class A Burlington, before jumping to the big leagues. He was a fixture in the Brewers lineup for the next fifteen years, playing regularly at second base, center field, third base, and designated hitter, as well as playing a little shortstop. He made the all-star team five times in Milwaukee, received MVP consideration five times, finishing as high as fifth in 1987, and twice won the Silver Slugger award. After the 1992 season, Molitor became a free agent and went to Toronto, where he helped the Blue Jays win a world championship in 1993 and finished second in the MVP balloting to Frank Thomas. He made the all-star team in 1993 and 1994, but his average dropped to .270 in 1995, so the Blue Jays allowed him to again go the free-agent route. This time he came to Minnesota, and showed that his bat had plenty of life left. In his first year with the Twins, a year in which he turned forty, Molitor batted .341, led the league in hits, had 113 RBIs, won his fourth Silver Slugger award, and finished thirteenth in the MVP balloting. He played with the Twins for two more seasons before retiring at age 42. As a Twin, Paul Molitor hit .312/.362/.432 in exactly 1700 at-bats, driving in 271 runs. For his career, he batted .306 and had 3,319 hits. He was elected to the major league baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.  He is currently the manager of the Minnesota Twins.

Outfielder Darrin Jay Jackson played in 49 games for the Twins in 1997.  He was born in Los Angeles, went to high school in Culver City, California, and was drafted by the Cubs in the second round in 1981. He was fairly nondescript in the minors, with his best year prior to his major league debut coming in 1984, when he hit .270 with 15 homers at AA Midland. He got a brief cup of coffee with the Cubs in 1985, but then started to pick up the pace a little, and after a solid season with AAA Iowa in 1987 (.274, 23 homers), he spent all of 1988 with Chicago, getting 188 at-bats as a bench player. In August of 1989, he was sent to the Padres in a multi-player deal, and saw his playing time gradually increase, becoming a semi-regular in 1991 and a full-time regular in 1992, the only season in which he got more than 403 at-bats. He was decent that year, but that’s all, .249 with 17 homers and 70 RBIs. Jackson was traded to Toronto at the end of 1993 spring training, and in June the Blue Jays sent him to the Mets for Tony Fernandez. He became a free agent at the end of the season and signed with the White Sox, where he had easily his best season in 1994, batting .312 as a semi-regular. Jackson played for the Seibu Lions in 1995-96, but returned to the United States in 1997, when the Twins signed him as a free agent. He played in 49 games for the Twins, batting .254/.272/.354 with 3 homers and 21 RBIs, before the Twins traded him to Milwaukee in August for the immortal Mick Fieldbinder. He stayed with the Brewers in 1998 before rounding out his career back with the White Sox, batting decently (.275) in a reserve role in 1999. His numbers are not particularly impressive, but he spent parts of 12 years in a big-league uniform, and a guy could do a lot worse. Darrin Jackson is currently a broadcaster for the White Sox radio network.

Third baseman Gary Thomas Scott did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for a short time.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York, went to high school in Pelham, New York, and then attended Villanova.  Scott was drafted by the Cubs in the second round in 1989. He had a couple of solid years in A and AA, and after a tremendous spring training in 1991, he was installed with much fanfare as the regular third baseman with the big club. Unfortunately, he was not up to the task, and was sent back to the minors after hitting only .165 in 31 games. He did poorly in the minors that year, too, hitting only .208 at AAA Iowa. He came back some in 1992, but when promoted to the Cubs late in the season he was awful again, batting .156 in 36 games. The Cubs gave up on Scott and traded him to Florida at the end of the season. He never played for Florida, however, as the Marlins traded him to Cincinnati for Hector Carrasco just prior to the 1994 season. The Reds sent him to AAA Indianapolis, and at the end of June traded him to the Twins for Tom Houk and Alan Newman. He hit .291 at AAA Portland, but it did not convince the Twins of anything, and they let him go after the season. Scott then played at AAA for the Giants, Braves, and Padres with mixed results, but never got another chance in the majors. Overall, he played in 67 big league games and had a batting line of .160/.250/.240, with 3 home runs and 16 RBIs.  At last report, Gary Scott was an oil broker for Compagnie Financiere Tradition in the New York area.

Right-hander Alan Paul Busenitz has played for the Twins in 2017.  He was born in Watkinsville, Georgia, went to high school in Athens, Georgia, attended Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, and was drafted by the Angels in the twenty-fifth round in 2013.  He pitched quite well in the low minors his first two seasons.  He stumbled when he was promoted to AA in 2015 but did quite well there in 2016.  On August 1 of 2016 he was traded to the Twins with Hector Santiago for Ricky Nolasco, Alex Meyer, and cash.  He finished that season in the minors with Minnesota, making five appearances in Chattanooga and six in Rochester.  He started 2017 in Rochester and did very well there.  He came up to Minnesota for about two weeks in June and did very well there, too, but was sent back anyway because the Twins needed "a fresh arm for the bullpen".  He came back in late July and continued to do well.  2018 has not gone as well for him--he has pitched very well in Rochester, but not very well in limited chances in Minnesota.  At this writing, Alan Busenitz is 4-1, 3.04, 1.29 WHIP in forty major league games (47.1 innings).  He turns twenty-eight today.  It's doubtful he'll ever be a star, but he may be able to be a major league reliever for at least a few seasons.

Happy Birthday–August 19

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year and has not been updated.

Bobby Richardson (1935)
Fred Lasher (1941)
Mike Phillips (1950)
Luis Gomez (1951)
Tim Blackwell (1952)
Ned Yost (1955)
Ron Roenicke (1956)
David Palmer (1957)
Gary Gaetti (1958)
Ron Darling (1960)
Woody Williams (1966)
Rob Augustine (1970)
Chris Capuano (1978)
J. J. Hardy (1982)

Rob Augustine played for a couple of years in the Cleveland organization, never rising above Class A.  He was (and maybe still is) an assistant baseball coach at Dakota Valley High School in my former home of North Sioux City.  Happy birthday, Rob.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to strategery.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 19

Happy Birthday–August 15

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated, except for the note on Mom and Dad A.

Charles Comiskey (1859)
Doggie Miller (1864)
Jack Warner (1872)
Bill Sherdel (1896)
Jim Snyder (1932)
Joey Jay (1935)
Jose Santiago (1940)
Cap Peterson (1942)
Duffy Dyer (1945)
Joe Lis (1946)
Billy Conigliaro (1947)
Tom Kelly (1950)
Joe Cowley (1958)
Randy Johnson (1958)
Jeff Huson (1964)
Scott Brosius (1966)
Chris Singleton (1972)
Oliver Perez (1981)

This is also the seventy-second wedding anniversary of Mom and Dad A.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 15

Happy Birthday–August 14

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.  That means there is no biography for Jeremy Hazelbaker.  Sorry about that, Jeremy.  We'll try to catch you next year.

Paul Dean (1912)
Earl Weaver (1930)
Joel Horlen (1937)
Bert Cueto (1937)
Mark Fidrych (1954)
Don Carman (1959)
Mark Gubicza (1962)
Mike Cook (1963)
Mark Loretta (1971)
Juan Pierre (1977)
Clay Buchholz (1984)
Jeremy Hazelbaker (1987)
Tim Tebow (1987)

Earl Weaver was the long-time manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Mark Gubicza was an analyst on for FSN on pre-game and post-game shows in 2004.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to sean's son.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 14

Happy Birthday–August 12

Christy Mathewson (1880)
Ray Schalk (1892)
Harlond Clift (1912)
Fred Hutchinson (1919)
Bob Buhl (1928)
Kevin Cooney (1950)
Matt Clement (1974)
Lew Ford (1976)

A notoriously bad hitter, even for a pitcher, Bob Buhl had a lifetime average of .089 and went the entire 1962 season without getting a hit (0-for-70).  Oddly, he equaled his career high in walks that year with six, which goes to show something or other.

Kevin Cooney was an eleventh round draft choice of the Twins in 1972.  He pitched in the Twins’ organization for two seasons, then a shoulder injury ended his playing career.  He then became a college baseball coach.  He was the head coach at Montclair State from 1984-1987 and at Florida Atlantic from 1988-2008.

We would like to wish a happy birthday to MagUidhir's niece and nephew.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 12

Happy Birthday–August 11

Danny Murphy (1876)
Bobo Newsom (1907)
Bob Scheffing (1913)
Walter McNeil (1934)
Bill Monboquette (1936)
Vada Pinson (1938)
Sal Campisi (1942)
Jim Hughes (1951)
Dennis Lewallyn (1953)
Bryn Smith (1955)
Melky Cabrera (1984)
Colby Rasmus (1986)
Pablo Sandoval (1986)

Walter McNeil is better known as Wally the Beer Man, long-time vendor at Minnesota Twins games.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Moss and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. AMR.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 11

Happy Birthday–August 10

Jim Clinton (1850)
Odell Hale (1908)
Willie Wells (1908)
Taffy Wright (1911)
Buddy Lewis (1916)
Bob Porterfield (1923)
Rocky Colavito (1933)
Tom Brookens (1953)
Tim Brookens (1953)
Jerald Clark (1963)
Andy Stankiewicz (1964)
Gerald Williams (1966)
Sal Fasano (1971)
Brandon Lyon (1979)
Dan Johnson (1979)
Wilson Ramos (1987)

Willie Wells is considered, along with Pop Lloyd, one of the two greatest shortstops in the history of the Negro Leagues.

Tim Brookens is the twin brother of Tom Brookens and played four years in the minors, reaching AA.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to freealonzo's son.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 10