Frank Torre (1931)
Sandy Koufax (1935)
Jose Morales (1944)
Tom Murphy (1945)
Travis Baptist (1971)
A. J. Pierzynski (1976)
Brad Voyles (1976)
Grant Balfour (1977)
Jim Hoey (1982)
Tag Archives: ex-Twins
Happy Birthday–December 29
Hank DeBerry (1894)
Bill Knickerbocker (1911)
Ted Del Guercio (1927)
Ken Rudolph (1946)
Jim Wilson (1960)
Devon White (1962)
Craig Grebeck (1964)
James Mouton (1968)
Tomas Perez (1973)
Richie Sexson (1974)
Emil Brown (1974)
Jaret Wright (1975)
Jack Wilson (1977)
Ted Del Guercio was part of the largest trade in baseball history. He was traded by the New York Yankees along with Don Larsen, Billy Hunter, Bob Turley, Kal Segrist, Bill Miller and Don Leppert to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Woodling, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Willy Miranda, Mike Blyzka, Darrell Johnson, Jim Fridley and Dick Kryhoski in the off-season following the 1953 campaign. Del Guercio was the only person involved in the trade not to play in the majors.
James Mouton was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1990, but did not sign.
Happy Birthday–December 28
Ted Lyons (1900)
Tommy Bridges (1906)
Bill Lee (1946)
Aurelio Rodriguez (1947)
John Milner (1949)
Ray Knight (1952)
Zane Smith (1960)
Carl Willis (1960)
Benny Agbayani (1971)
Melvin Nieves (1971)
Einar Diaz (1972)
B. J. Ryan (1975)
Bill Hall (1979)
Happy Birthday–December 27
Jim Tobin (1912)
Phil Gagliano (1941)
Roy White (1943)
Craig Reynolds (1952)
Jim Leyritz (1963)
Dean Palmer (1968)
Jeff D’Amico (1975)
Jason Repko (1980)
David Aardsma (1981)
Cole Hamels (1983)
Happy Birthday–December 26
Morgan Bulkeley (1837)
Dad A (1922)
Stu Miller (1927)
Al Jackson (1935)
Wayne Causey (1936)
Ray Sadecki (1940)
Carlton Fisk (1947)
Chris Chambliss (1948)
Dave Rader (1948)
Ozzie Smith (1954)
Mike Sodders (1958)
Storm Davis (1961)
Jeff King (1964)
Esteban Beltre (1967)
Omar Infante (1981)
Morgan Bulkeley was the first president of the National League.
Mike Sodders was a first-round draft choice for the Twins in 1981. A star third baseman at Arizona State, he never could adjust to wooden bats, never hit, and never made the major leagues.
Dad A has been a Twins fan ever since the team started, and was a baseball fan before that. He coached, he ran the public address system, and he was on the board of the local baseball association. One of the many gifts he has given me is a love of baseball. Dad, I know you'll never read this, because you don't have a computer and can't think of a reason why you'd want one, but thank you and happy birthday. May you have many more.
Happy Birthday–December 25
Pud Galvin (1856)
Joe Quinn (1864)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Ned Garver (1925)
Nellie Fox (1927)
Gene Lamont (1946)
Manny Trillo (1950)
Luis Quintana (1951)
Jeff Little (1954)
Charlie Lea (1956)
Wallace Johnson (1956)
Rickey Henderson (1958)
Marty Pevey (1962)
There have been 23 major league players with the first name “Jesus”, including ex-Twins Jesus Vega and Jesus “Bombo” Rivera. There have been no major league players with the last name “Christ", although there have been three minor leaguers with that last name: Henry Christ, who played for Altoona in 1910, John Christ, who was in the Cleveland organization from 1999-2001, and Mike Christ, who was in the Seattle organization from 1984-1988. There have been thirteen players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), fifteen players whose middle name was “Christian” (including ex-Twins Marcus Jensen, David Lamb, and Kevin Maas), and two players whose last name was “Christian”. We would be remiss if we did not also mention 1980s journeyman catcher Steve Christmas, as well as Matt Holliday.
The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.
Happy Birthday–December 24
Henry Mathewson (1886)
Chico Garcia (1924)
Frank Taveras (1949)
John D'Acquisto (1951)
Tim Drummond (1964)
Mo Sanford (1966)
Kevin Millwood (1974)
Jamey Wright (1974)
Henry Mathewson is the younger brother of Christy Mathewson. He appeared in two games for the Giants in 1906 and one in 1907.
Chico Garcia played professional baseball from 1944-1970, mostly in Mexico. He played thirty-nine games in the majors in 1954 with Baltimore. He also was a manager in Mexico for fifteen seasons.
Happy Birthday–December 23
Mike Grady (1869)
Sam Leever (1871)
Tommy Thomas (1899)
Jerry Koosman (1942)
Dave May (1943)
Raul Cano (1945)
Jerry Manuel (1953)
Keith Comstock (1955)
Tim Leary (1958)
Frank Eufemia (1959)
Rick White (1968)
Brad Lidge (1976)
Jesus Colome (1977)
Victor Martinez (1978)
Hanley Ramirez (1983)
Tyler Robertson (1987)
Raul Cano has had a long career in the Mexican League as a player, manager, and general manager.
Happy Birthday–December 22
Connie Mack (1862)
Matty Alou (1938)
Elrod Hendricks (1940)
Steve Carlton (1944)
Hiroyuki Yamazaki (1946)
Charley Taylor (1947)
Steve Garvey (1948)
Tom Underwood (1953)
Ken Landreaux (1954)
Lonnie Smith (1955)
Glenn Wilson (1958)
George Wright (1958)
Jeff A (1958)
Andy Allanson (1961)
Mike Jackson (1964)
Jason Lane (1976)
Second baseman Hiroyuki Yamazaki was a five-time all-star in Japan over a twenty-year career.
Charley Taylor was a minor-league pitching coach for over thirty years in the Houston Astros organization.
Steve Garvey was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1966, but did not sign.
Happy Birthday–December 21
Cy Williams (1887)
Josh Gibson (1911)
Bob Rush (1925)
Howie Reed (1936)
Paul Casanova (1941)
Elliott Maddox (1947)
Dave Kingman (1948)
Joaquin Andujar (1952)
Tom Henke (1957)
Roger McDowell (1960)
Andy Van Slyke (1960)
Dustin Hermanson (1972)
LaTroy Hawkins (1972)
D’Angelo Jimenez (1977)
Freddy Sanchez (1977)
Philip Humber (1982)
Josh Gibson is generally considered to have been the greatest batter in Negro League history.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to hungry joe’s wife, peckish jane.