Tag Archives: Hall of Famers

Happy Birthday–March 16

Bud Fowler (1847)
Blondie Purcell (1854)
Jerry Denny (1859)
Patsy Donovan (1865)
Jake Flowers (1902)
Buddy Myer (1904)
Lloyd Waner (1906)
Ken O'Dea (1913)
Tom Gorman (1919)
Clint Courtney (1927)
Hobie Landrith (1930)
Don Blasingame (1932)
Rick Reichardt (1943)
Rick Renick (1944)
Charles Hudson (1959)
Fieldin Culbreth (1963)
Abraham Nunez (1976)
Curtis Granderson (1981)
Stephen Drew (1983)
Brandon League (1983)
Mickey Storey (1986)

Bud Fowler was the first African-American to play professional baseball, playing in the minors in 1878 and from 1884-1894.

Tom Gorman was a National League umpire from 1951-1977.  His son Brian is currently a major league umpire.

Fieldin Culbreth has been a major league umpire since 1993.

Mickey Storey was drafted by Minnesota in the 22nd round in 2007, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 16

Happy Birthday–March 14

Candy Nelson (1849)
Bill Holbert (1855)
Marty McManus (1900)
Jack Rothrock (1905)
Santos Amaro (1908)
Dave McKay (1950)
Butch Wynegar (1956)
Steve Lake (1957)
Jerry Willard (1960)
Kirby Puckett (1960)
Kevin Brown (1965)
Brent Gates (1970)
Matt Kata (1978)
Bobby Jenks (1981)

Santos Amaro is the father of Ruben Amaro Sr. and the grandfather of Ruben Amaro Jr.  He was a star player in Cuba and in Mexico and is a member of the Salon de la Fama.

Matt Kata was drafted by Minnesota in the twentieth round in 1996, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 14

Happy Birthday–March 13

Frank "Home Run" Baker (1886)
Patsy Gharrity (1892)
Alejandro Oms (1895)
C. Arnholt Smith (1899)
Doug Harvey (1930)
Bill Dailey (1935)
Steve Barber (1948)
Terry Leach (1954)
Randy Bass (1954)
Yoshihiko Takahashi (1957)
Luis Aguayo (1959)
Mariano Duncan (1963)
Will Clark (1964)
Jorge Fabregas (1970)
Scott Sullivan (1971)
Johan Santana (1979)

Outfielder Alejandro Oms was a star in Cuba and in the Negro Leagues.

C. Arnholt Smith was the original owner of the San Diego Padres.

Doug Harvey was a National League umpire from 1962-92.

Infielder Yoshihiko Takahashi has the longest hitting streak in Japanese professional baseball.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 13

Happy Birthday–March 9

Billy Southworth (1893)
Myril Hoag (1908)
Phil Seghi (1909)
Joe Paparella (1909)
Arky Vaughan (1912)
Jackie Jensen (1927)
Ron Kline (1932)
Jim Landis (1934)
Bert Campaneris (1942)
John Curtis (1948)
Darrel Chaney (1948)
Wendell Kim (1950)
Terry Mulholland (1963)
Benito Santiago (1965)
Vince Horsman (1967)
Aaron Boone (1973)
C. J. Nitkowski (1973)
Koyie Hill (1979)

Phil Seghi was in baseball most of his life, serving as Cleveland Indians general manager from 1973-1985.

American League umpire Joe Paparella holds the record for most games umpired in a season, 176 in 1962.

The late Wendell Kim was a major league coach and minor league manager for many years.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 9

Happy Birthday–March 8

Harry Lord (1882)
Pat Flaherty (1897)
Bobby Goff (1902)
Pete Fox (1909)
Ray Mueller (1912)
Al Gionfriddo (1922)
Carl Furillo (1922)
Jim Bouton (1939)
Jacques Doucet (1940)
Dick Allen (1942)
Jim Rice (1953)
John Butcher (1957)
Mark Salas (1961)
Lance Barksdale (1967)
Mike Moriarty (1974)
Juan Encarnacion (1976)
Hines Ward (1976)

If you have a few minutes to spare, I would very much recommend reading Harry Lord’s biography at baseball-reference.com.

Pat Flaherty pitched in the minors from 1917-1921.  He also played in the NFL from 1923-1928, was a major in the Air Force, and appeared in about 250 movies from 1934 to the 1950s.

Bobby Goff played in the minor leagues for nineteen years, 1923-1941.  He also was a minor league manager and general manager and a major league scout, remaining in baseball until 1972.

Jacques Doucet was the French-language play-by-play announcer for the Montreal Expos from 1972 until the team left.

Lance Barksdale has been a major league umpire since 2000.

NFL star Hines Ward was drafted by the Florida Marlins in 1994, but did not sign.

Right-hander John Daniel Butcher pitched for the Twins from 1984 through mid-1986.  A native of Glendale, California, he attended Yavapai Community College and was drafted by Texas in the first round of the June secondary draft in 1977.  Butcher pitched well in the low minors, but then was a bit up and down.  He had a fine year in 1980 at AAA Charleston, resulting in his first September call-up.  He struggled the next year at AAA Wichita, but still got another September call-up.  Butcher got off to a strong start in AAA Denver in 1982, and was brought up for good in late May.  He made a few appearances out of the bullpen, then entered the starting rotation in mid-July.  Butcher was used mostly in relief in 1983 for the Rangers and pitched very well.  After the season, however, he was traded to Minnesota with Mike Smithson for Sam Sorce and Gary Ward.  The Twins immediately moved Butcher into the rotation and he had his best year, going 13-11, 3.44 in 1984.  In 1985 his ERA went up by over a run and a half, and after a slow start in 1986 he was traded to Cleveland for Neal Heaton.  He finished the season for the Indians, but did not pitch well there, either.  He apparently injured his arm that year and his career was over.  As a Twin, John Butcher was 24-28, 4.48 in just over 500 innings.  He made 84 appearances, 77 of them starts.  John Butcher had been an information technology and services professional for Cisco Solutions in the Twin Cities area, but his biography on LinkedIn lists him as "looking for work", leading one to believe that he either quit or got downsized.  If anyone is looking for an information technology and services professional, you are encouraged to make contact with him.

Palindromic catcher Mark Bruce Salas played for the Twins from 1985 until June of 1987.  He was born in Montebello, California, went to high school in La Puente, California, and was drafted by St. Louis in the 18th round in 1979.  He had been nothing special in the minors when all at once he hit .304 with 20 home runs in AA Arkansas in 1983.  He fell back to a more typical .244 with 12 homers the next year, despite which he made his major league debut for about a month from mid-June to mid-July.  Salas was not protected that offseason, and was chosen by Minnesota in the Rule 5 draft.  He shared catching duties with Tim Laudner in 1985 and 1986; Salas, as a left-handed batter, got the majority of the at-bats, but not by as much as one would expect.  He hit .300 in 360 at-bats in 1985, but only .233 in 258 at-bats in 1986.  He was hitting well in limited playing time in early June of 1987 when he was traded to the Yankees for Joe Niekro.  Things did not go well for Salas in New York, and after the season he was traded again, this time to the White Sox.  He spent 1988 in Chicago as a part-time catcher, was released at the end of spring training in 1989, and hooked on with Cleveland.  He was with AAA Colorado Springs much of the year and hit well there, but did little in thirty games with the Indians.  Released again at the end of the season, Salas moved on to Detroit for 1990 and was a reserve catcher there for two years before ending his career.  Salas' best season was clearly with the Twins in 1985; for his career as a Twin, he hit .279/.320/.440 in 663 at-bats.  Since his playing career ended, Mark Salas has been employed mostly by the White Sox, for whom he was working as bullpen catcher at last report.

Infielder Michael Thomas Moriarty did not play for the Twins, but was drafted by them.  Born in Camden, New Jersey, he attended high school in Pennsauken, New Jersey, and then went to Seton Hall.  He was drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round in 1985.  He was in the Twins' minor league system for six years, the last three and a half in AAA.  He hit between .220 and .260 in all six of those years, never hitting more than 13 home runs.  Moriarty became a minor league free agent after the 2001 season and played for several organizations before ending his career.  He signed with Baltimore for 2002 and surprisingly made the club out of spring training, but hit only .188 in 16 at-bats, his only stint in the big leagues.  Returned to the minors in early May, he hit .277 in Rochester, his best season in the minors.  Moriarty signed with Toronto for 2003, was released in June, signed with Houston in July, became a free agent after the season, signed with Colorado for 2004, was released in April, signed with Pittsburgh, was released after the season, signed with Boston for 2005, was released in April, signed with the Cubs, was moved on to Baltimore in May, and was released after the season, ending his career.  He played in AAA almost all of that time, hitting between .210 and .240.  Moriarty's primary position was shortstop, although he also saw time and second base and third base.  After his playing career was over, Mike Moriarty did some coaching in the Pittsburgh Pirates' minor league system.  At last report, he was the northeast scouting supervisor for the Seattle Mariners.  He was also an instructor for Baseball Warehouse Instructional Academy in Highland Park, New Jersey.

Happy Birthday–March 6

Ring Lardner (1885)
Lefty Grove (1900)
Bob Swift (1915)
Pete Gray (1915)
Ted Abernathy (1933)
Cookie Rojas (1939)
Willie Stargell (1940)
Karl Best (1959)
Scott Stahoviak (1970)
Terry Adams (1973)
Marcus Thames (1977)
Clint Barmes (1979)

Author Ring Lardner wrote about a variety of subjects, but is probably most famous for writing about baseball.  If you haven't read any of his stuff, you really should.

As you probably know, Pete Gray played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945 despite having only one arm.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 6

Happy Birthday–March 5

Sam Thompson (1860)
Jeff Tesreau (1888)
Lu Blue (1897)
Elmer Valo (1921)
Del Crandall (1930)
Phil Roof (1941)
Katsuo Osugi (1945)
Kent Tekulve (1947)
Doug Bird (1950)
Mike Veeck (1951)
Mike Squires (1952)
Steve Ontiveros (1961)
Brian Hunter (1971)
Jeffrey Hammonds (1971)
Ryan Franklin (1973)
Paul Konerko (1976)
Mike MacDougal (1977)
Erik Bedard (1979)
Joe Benson (1988)

Katsuo Osugi was the first player to have a thousand hits in the Japanese Central League and the Japanese Pacific League.

The son of Bill Veeck, Mike Veeck is president of the Goldklang Baseball Group, which owns a variety of minor league teams, including the Fort Myers Miracle and the St. Paul Saints.

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

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to spookymilk’s father.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 5

Happy Birthday–March 4

Red Murray (1884)
Jeff Pfeffer (1888)
Dazzy Vance (1891)
Lefty O'Doul (1897)
Buck Canel (1906)
Clyde McCullough (1917)
Mel Queen (1918)
Leo Righetti (1925)
Cass Michaels (1926)
Bob Johnson (1936)
Jack Fischer (1939)
Danny Frisella (1946)
Tom Grieve (1948)
Harry Saferight (1949)
Sam Perlozzo (1951)
Mark Wagner (1954)
Jeff Dedmon (1960)
Tom Lampkin (1964)
Giovanni Carrera (1968)
Dave Stevens (1970)
Mark Wegner (1972)

Born in Argentina, Buck Canel broadcast major league baseball to Latin America for over four decades, calling forty-two World Series.

The father of Dave Righetti, Leo Righetti played in the minors for twelve years, eight of them in AAA.

Harry Saferight made it to the majors with Pittsburgh in 1979, but did not appear in a game.  He got to the on-deck circle three times, but each time the last out was made before he had a chance to bat.

St. Paul native Mark Wegner has been a major league umpire since 1998.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 4

Happy Birthday–March 3

John Montgomery Ward (1860)
Wee Willie Keeler (1872)
Ed Phelps (1879)
Tetsuya Yoneda (1938)
Paul Schaal (1943)
Rick Reed (1950)
Chuck Cary (1960)
Neal Heaton (1960)
Marvin Hudson (1964)
Scott Radinsky (1968)
Mike Romano (1972)
Matt Diaz (1978)
Jorge Julio (1979)

Tetsuya Yoneda is the second-winningest pitcher in Japanese professional baseball with 350 victories.

The Rick Reed whose birthday is today is the major league umpire since 1979, not the ex-Twin.

Marvin Hudson has been a major league umpire from 1979-2009.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 3

Happy Birthday–March 2

Horace Fogel (1861)
Moe Berg (1902)
Woody English (1906)
Jack Knott (1907)
Mel Ott (1909)
Mort Cooper (1913)
Jim Konstanty (1917)
Jim Nettles (1947)
Pete Broberg (1950)
Larry Wolfe (1953)
Terry Steinbach (1962)
Ron Gant (1965)
Jay Gibbons (1977)
Glen Perkins (1983)

Horace Fogel was a sportswriter who became manager of the New York Giants in 1902.  His time as Giants manager is best remembered for his attempt to move Christy Mathewson to first base.  He was fired 41 games into the season and replaced by Heinie Smith, who put an end to such nonsense.  Instead, he tried to move Mathewson to shortstop.

We assume everyone reading this knows Ron Gant's connection to the Minnesota Twins.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 2