Heinie Manush (1901)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 20 →

Jesse Tannehill (1874)
Happy Chandler (1898)
Johnny Murphy (1908)
Robert Creamer (1922)
Ralph Rowe (1924)
Bob Purkey (1929)
Billy McCool (1944)
Steve Stone (1947)
Danny Walton (1947)
Vic Rodriguez (1961)
Robin Ventura (1967)
Derrick May (1968)
Jose Hernandez (1969)
Tim Hudson (1975)

Albert "Happy" Chandler was the commissioner of baseball from 1945-1951.

Author Robert Creamer wrote a biography of Babe Ruth which is still considered to be one of the best baseball books ever.

Ralph Rowe was a coach for the Twins from 1972-1975.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 14 →

Jimmy McAleer (1864)
Bobby Lowe (1865)
John Heydler (1869)
Wayne Blackburn (1914)
Paul Pryor (1927)
Gene Alley (1940)
Hal McRae (1945)
Bob Bailor (1951)
Andre Dawson (1954)
Buddy Groom (1965)
Lee Stevens (1967)
Marty Cordova (1969)

John Heydler was the president of the National League from 1918-1934.

Wayne Blackburn was a minor league infielder from 1936-1956.  He drew over 1,400 walks in his career.

Paul Pryor was a National League umpire from 1961-1981 and is an alumnus of the author’s alma mater, the University of South Dakota.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 10 →

NOTE:  This is a reprint from last year, which I did not have time to update.  Thank you for understanding.

George Moriarty (1885)
Double Duty Radcliffe (1902)
Satchel Paige (1906)
Billy Herman (1909)
Sammy White (1927)
John Gordon (1930)
Bill Melton (1945)
Tommy Moore (1948)
Dan Gladden (1957)
Tim Teufel (1958)
Glenn Hoffman (1958)
Dave Burba (1966)
Jeff Shaw (1966)
Chuck Knoblauch (1968)
Matt Mantei (1973)
Cory Provus (1978)
John Buck (1980)

Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe played in the Negro Leagues for many years.  He got his nickname because he would sometimes catch one game of a doubleheader and pitch the other.  He played professionally until 1954, when he retired at age 52.  He is the oldest player to ever appear in a professional baseball game, throwing one pitch for the Schaumberg Flyers of the Northern League in 1999 when he was 96.

John Gordon, of course, was a radio broadcaster for the Twins from 1987 through 2011.

Tommy Moore was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-eighth round in 1966, but did not sign.

Cory Provus has been a radio broadcaster for the Twins since 2012.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 7 →

Mickey Welch (1859)
George Mullin (1880)
Abe Saperstein (1903)
Bill Tuttle (1929)
Chuck Tanner (1929)
Peter Angelos (1929)
George Steinbrenner (1930)
Hal Lanier (1942)
Wayne Nordhagen (1948)
Ed Armbrister (1948)
Jim Beattie (19540
Jose Oquendo (1963)
Vinny Castilla (1967)
Brendan Donnelly (1971)
Jay Canizaro (1973)
Jeff Harris (1974)

Best remembered as the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, Abe Saperstein was a long-time executive in what were then known as the Negro Leagues.

Peter Angelos has been the owner of the Baltimore Orioles since 1993.

George Steinbrenner was the owner of the New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010.

The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Independence Day.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 4 →

Roger Connor (1857)
John Clarkson (1861)
Jack Quinn (1883)
Ben Taylor (1888)
Bob Prince (1916)
Frank Baumann (1933)
Brian Sabean (1956)
Jamie Walker (1971)
Justin Huber (1982)

First baseman Ben Taylor was a star in the Negro Leagues, batting over .300 in fifteen of his sixteen seasons.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Prince is best remembered for his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1948-1975.

Brian Sabean has been the general manager of the San Francisco Giants since 1996.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 1 →

Wilbert Robinson (1863)
Harry Frazee (1880)
Bobby Veach (1888)
Ollie Carnegie (1899)
Ken Blackman (1911)
Dizzy Trout (1915)
Cal Drummond (1917)
Bob Shaw (1933)
Katsuya Nomura (1935)
Harmon Killebrew (1936)
Larry Stahl (1941)
John Boccabella (1941)
Bruce Kimm (1951)
Rick Honeycutt (1954)
Pedro Guerrero (1956)
John Wehner (1967)
Trey Hodges (1978)
Dusty Hughes (1982)

Harry Frazee was the owner of the Red Sox from 1916-1923 and is best remembered for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

Ollie Carnegie is the all-time home run king of the International League with 258.  He started his minor league career at age 32.

Ken Blackman was a minor league player, college coach, minor league executive, and major league scout.

Cal Drummond was an American League umpire from 1960-1969.

Katsuya Nomura hit 657 home runs in Japan during his twenty-five-year career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 29 →

Carl Hubbell (1903)
Walt Masterson (1920)
Han Urbanus (1927)
Faye Throneberry (1931)
Russ Snyder (1934)
Dave Tomlin (1949)
Ron Hodges (1949)
Greg Booker (1960)
Brant Brown (1971)
Esteban Yan (1975)
Willie Harris (1978)
Luis Maza (1980)

Han Urbanus is in the Dutch Baseball Hall of Fame.  He pitched over 150 consecutive complete games over a period of eight years.

The brother of Marv Throneberry, outfielder Faye Throneberry spent much of his career with the Twins franchise while it was still in Washington (1957-1960).  In December of 1960, he was chosen by the Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 22 →