Tag Archives: Hall of Famers

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 6

Ed McKean (1864)
Fresco Thompson (1902)
Bill Dickey (1907)
Wild Bill Wright (1914)
Hector Espino (1939)
Merv Rettenmund (1943)
Bud Harrelson (1944)
Bobby Randall (1948)
Dave Bergman (1953)
Max Venable (1957)
Tony Graffanino (1972)
Brooks Kieschnick (1972)
David Lamb (1975)
Mark Ellis (1977)
Jeremy Affeldt (1979)
Matt Belisle (1980)

 Wild Bill Wright was a star in the Negro Leagues in the 1930s and 1940s.

Hector Espino is considered the greatest player in the history of the Mexican League, hitting 453 home runs there.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 5

Jack Chesbro (1874)
Eddie Joost (1916)
Lou Brissie (1924)
Duke Sims (1941)
Bill Spiers (1966)
Ray Lankford (1967)
Mike Coolbaugh (1972)
Russ Ortiz (1974)

Prior to beginning his major league career, Lou Brissie served in World War II.  He suffered severe leg injuries, receiving the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, but overcame his injuries to spend seven years in the majors.

Mike Coolbaugh was the first base coach for the Tulsa Drillers when he was struck on the head with a line drive and killed.

There appear to be no major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 28

Spider Baum (1882)
Jim Thorpe (1887)
Warren Giles (1896)
John Allyn (1917)
Bob Kuzava (1923)
Frank Saucier (1926)
Kirk Gibson (1957)
Bill Doran (1958)
Duane Ward (1964)
Mike Maksudian (1966)
Mike Difelice (1969)
Jhonny Peralta (1982)
Lester Oliveros (1988)

Spider Baum won 325 games in the minors between 1902-1920.  267 of those wins came in the Pacific Coast League.

Warren Giles was president of the National League from 1951-1969.

John Allyn was the owner of the Chicago White Sox from 1961-1975.

Frank Saucier is the player Eddie Gaedel pinch-hit for in 1951.

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

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 27

Frank Snyder (1894)
Pinky Higgins (1909)
Terry Moore (1912)
George O’Donnell (1929)
Jerry Kindall (1935)
Fred Bruckbauer (1938)
Jim Holt (1944)
Gary Nolan (1948)
Terry Collins (1949)
Mark Connor (1949)
Mark Clear (1956)
Ed Nunez (1963)
John Jaha (1966)
Jeff Bagwell (1968)
Frank Thomas (1968)
Todd Hundley (1969)
Jose Berrios (1994)

Terry Collins was the manager of Houston from 1994-96, of Anaheim from 1997-99, and of the Mets from 2011 to the present.

Mark Connor pitched in the Twins’ minor league system from 1971-1972 before he suffered a career-ending arm injury.  He has been a pitching coach for the Yankees, Arizona, Toronto, Texas, and Baltimore.  He also was the head baseball coach at the University of Tennessee.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 23

Dummy Hoy (1862)
Deacon Phillippe (1872)
Zack Wheat (1888)
Halsey Hall (1898)
Arch McDonald (1901)
Willis Hudlin (1906)
Augie Galan (1912)
Lawrence Ritter (1922)
Clyde King (1924)
Skip Bertman (1938)
Tom Penders (1945)
Reggie Cleveland (1948)
Buck Showalter (1956)
Ricky Gutierrez (1970)
Ramon Ortiz (1973)
Mike Gonzalez (1978)
Kyle Barraclough (1990)

Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher in the first World Series game.  He lived in what would become the state of South Dakota from 1875-1896, where his family farmed near the town of Athol.

Legendary sportswriter and broadcaster Halsey Hall broadcast Twins games from 1961-72.

Arch McDonald was an early baseball broadcaster known for his re-creations of games.

Author Lawrence Ritter wrote the excellent book, "The Glory of Their Times".

Skip Bertman was the head baseball coach at LSU from 1984-2001.

College basketball coach Tom Penders played minor league baseball for the Indians in 1968.

Kyle Barraclough was drafted by Minnesota in the fortieth round in 2011 but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 22

Al Simmons (1902)
Terris McDuffie (1910)
Jose Valdivielso (1934)
Ron Piche (1935)
Rich Garcia (1942)
Walt Hriniak (1943)
Tommy John (1943)
Jim Colborn (1946)
Jose Mesa (1966)
Al Levine (1968)
Julian Tavarez (1973)

Terris McDuffie pitched from 1930-1954, playing in the Negro Leagues, the Cuban Winter League, the Mexican League, the Puerto Rican League, the Dominican League, the Venezuelan League, the California Winter League, and the minor leagues.  His biography at b-r.com is worth reading.

Rich Garcia was an American League umpire from 1975-1999.

Tommy John was one of the Twins’ television broadcasters from 1994-1996.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 21

1 Comment

Fred Dunlap (1859)
Eddie Grant (1883)
Earl Averill (1902)
Hank Johnson (1906)
Mace Brown (1909)
Monty Stratton (1912)
Larry Napp (1919)
Ed Fitz Gerald (1924)
El Tappe (1927)
Moe Thacker (1934)
Barry Latman (1936)
Bobby Cox (1941)
Kent Hrbek (1960)
Bryce Florie (1970)
Tom Martin (1970)
Chris Widger (1971)
Mark Quinn (1974)
Josh Hamilton (1981)
Andrew Miller (1985)
Matt Wieters (1986)

Larry Napp was an American League umpire from 1951-1974.

El Tappe had a twin brother, Mel Tappe, who played in the minors.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to zooomx.2 and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. MagUidhir.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 20

Walt Burnham (1860)
Joe Harris (1891)
George Grantham (1900)
Pete Appleton (1904)
Hal Newhouser (1921)
Herman Wedemeyer (1924)
Tom Morgan (1930)
Ken Boyer (1931)
Sadaharu Oh (1940)
Bobby Murcer (1946)
Ralph Bryant (1961)
David Wells (1963)
Todd Stottlemyre (1965)
Ramon Hernandez (1976)
Jayson Werth (1979)
Austin Kearns (1980)
Adam Rosales (1983)

Walt Burham was a minor league manager from 1885-1907, winning 1,164 games.

Outfielder Herman Wedemeyer played for Class C Salt Lake City in 1950.  He was a star running back in the All-America Football Conference and later appeared in over 300 episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O, playing Sergeant Edward “Duke” Lukela.

Right-hander Tom Morgan was with Washington at the end of 1960, appearing in fourteen games with them.  On January 31, 1961, before the franchise played a game in Minnesota, he was sold to the Los Angeles Angels.

Sadaharu Oh hit 868 home runs in Japan.

Outfielder Ralph Bryant was drafted by Minnesota in the thirteenth round of the January draft in 1981, but he did not sign.

This is not connected to the Twins or baseball in any way we're aware of, but we'd like to wish a happy 90th birthday to Bud Grant.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to hungry joe.

There do not appear to be any other major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 18

4 Comments

Babe Adams (1882)
Arndt Jorgens (1905)
Gil Coan (1922)
Jack Sanford (1929)
Carroll Hardy (1933)
Brooks Robinson (1937)
Reggie Jackson (1946)
Osamu Higashio (1950)
Eric Gregg (1951)
Dennis Leonard (1951)
Jim Sundberg (1951)
Andre David (1958)
Jim Bowden (1961)
Erik Hanson (1965)
Eric Young (1967)
Rich Garces (1971)
Joakim Soria (1984)

Pitcher Osamu Higashio is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Eric Gregg was a National League umpire from 1975-1999.

Jim Bowden was the general manager of Cincinnati and of Washington and is currently a broadcaster for MLB Network Radio.

Two players who share a name with Minnesota Twins players, Scott Baker (1970) and Roy Smith (1976), were also born on this day.

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