Tag Archives: Hall of Famers

Happy Birthday–November 21

Bobby Mathews (1851)
Charlie Bennett (1854)
Billy Clingman (1869)
Andy High (1897)
Freddie Lindstrom (1905)
Paul Richards (1908)
Stan Musial (1920)
Warren Hacker (1924)
Tom McCraw (1940)
Bill Almon (1952)
Rick Peters (1955)
Mike Mason (1958)
Mark Eichhorn (1960)
Dick Schofield (1962)
Ken Griffey (1969)
Todd Erdos (1973)
Brian Meadows (1975)
Hank Blalock (1980)
Ryan LeMarre (1988)

Rick Peters was drafted by Minnesota in the eighteenth round in 1973, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 21

Happy Birthday–November 20

Joe Sommer (1958)
Kenesaw Landis (1866)
Clark Griffith (1869)
George McBride (1880)
Leon Cadore (1890)
Larry Benton (1897)
Jay Ritchie (1936)
Herm Starrette (1938)
Jay Johnstone (1945)
Rick Monday (1945)
Ron Cash (1949)
Alex Arias (1967)
Gabe White (1971)
J. D. Drew (1975)
Sam Fuld (1981)
Brock Peterson (1983)
Greg Holland (1985)
Cody Allen (1988)
Tarik Skubal (1996)

Kenesaw Landis, as I'm sure you know, was the first commissioner of baseball, holding the job from 1920 until his death in 1944.

Pitcher Clark Griffith was a star for the Cubs before jumping to the White Sox when the American League was formed. Later, of course, he was the owner of the Twins franchise while it was still in Washington. His adopted son, Calvin, brought the team to Minnesota.

Ron Cash was drafted by Minnesota in the sixth round in 1969, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 20

Happy Birthday–November 19

Billy Sunday (1862)
Everett Scott (1892)
Roosevelt Davis (1904)
Roy Campanella (1921)
Joe Morgan (1930)
Manny Jimenez (1938)
Larry Haney (1942)
Bobby Tolan (1945)
Bob Boone (1947)
Dickie Noles (1956)
Mike Winters (1958)
Gary Disarcina (1967)
Mario Valdez (1974)
Clay Condrey (1975)
Ryan Howard (1979)
Jeff Gray (1981)
Jonathan Sanchez (1982)
Bryan Holaday (1987)
Michael Tonkin (1989)
Joey Gallo (1993)
Ian Gibaut (1993)
Lewin Diaz (1996)

The Joe Morgan listed above is not Hall of Famer Joe Morgan. The Joe Morgan born today is the Joe Morgan who once managed the Red Sox.

Larry Haney is the cousin of ex-Twin Mike Cubbage.

Mike Winters was a major league umpire from 1990-2019.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 19

Happy Birthday–November 18

Deacon McGuire (1863)
Jack Coombs (1882)
Les Mann (1892)
Gene Mauch (1925)
Roy Sievers (1926)
Danny McDevitt (1932)
Cal Koonce (1940)
Jim Shellenback (1943)
Steve Henderson (1952)
Luis Pujols (1955)
Mike Felder (1961)
Jamie Moyer (1962)
Dante Bichette (1963)
Ron Coomer (1966)
Tom Gordon (1967)
Gary Sheffield (1968)
Shawn Camp (1975)
David Ortiz (1975)
Steve Bechler (1979)
C. J. Wilson (1980)

Roy Sievers was a star for the franchise when it was in Washington in the 1950s.

There are eighty-three current and former major league players born on this day. I'm pretty sure that's the most on any day.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 18

Happy Birthday–November 16

Mike McGeary (1850)
Joe Quest (1852)
Cristobal Torriente (1893)
Henry Spearman (1909)
Paul Foytack (1930)
Frank Bolling (1931)
Harry Chiti (1932)
Don Hahn (1948)
Herb Washington (1951)
Glenn Burke (1952)
Curt Wardle (1960)
Dwight Gooden (1964)
Chris Haney (1968)
Pete Rose (1969)
Julio Lugo (1975)
Juan Centeno (1989)

I don't know whether Joe Quest had a relative named Jonny.

Sprinter Herb Washington played for Oakland for two seasons as a pinch-runner.  He appeared in 105 games but did not play in the field and did not bat.  He stole 31 bases in 48 attempts and scored 33 runs.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 16

Happy Birthday–November 11

Joe Battin (1853)
Freddy Parent (1875)
Rabbit Maranville (1891)
Al Schacht (1892)
Pie Traynor (1898)
Hal Trosky (1912)
George Case (1915)
Ike Delock (1929)
Ron Musselman (1954)
John Hobbs (1955)
Cory Snyder (1962)
Roberto Hernandez (1964)
Damion Easley (1969)
Jason Grilli (1976)

Sadly, Joe Battin wasn't much good at battin'.  An infielder, he batted .225/.241/.281.  His career spanned ten seasons, though, so I assume he was really good at fieldin'.

Al Schacht played in the majors for three years, but was better known as "The Clown Prince of Baseball".

On this Veterans' Day, we would like to thank all current and former members of the military for their service, especially those who are part of the wgom.

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Happy Birthday–November 8

Bucky Harris (1896)
Tony Cuccinello (1907)
Wally Westlake (1920)
Joe Nossek (1940)
Ed Kranepool (1944)
John Denny (1952)
Jerry Remy (1952)
Jeff Blauser (1965)
Eric Anthony (1967)
Henry Rodriguez (1967)
Jose Offerman (1968)
Edgardo Alfonzo (1973)
Nick Punto (1977)
Bryan Shaw (1987)
Yasmani Grandal (1988)
Giancarlo Stanton (1989)

Bucky Harris was a star for the franchise when it was in Washington in the 1920s.

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Happy Birthday–November 7

Chris Von der Ahe (1851)
Ed "The Only" Nolan (1857)
Bill Brubaker (1910)
Dick Stuart (1932)
Jake Gibbs (1938)
Jim Kaat (1938)
Joe Niekro (1944)
Buck Martinez (1948)
Willie Norwood (1950)
Guy Sularz (1955)
Orlando Mercado (1961)
Russ Springer (1968)
Todd Ritchie (1971)
Glendon Rusch (1974)
Esmerling Vasquez (1983)
Sonny Gray (1989)
Danny Santana (1990)

Promoter/entrepreneur Chris von der Ahe, referred to as "Bill Veeck with a handlebar mustache", owned the St. Louis franchise from 1882-1899.

November 7 ties for the most Twins birthdays, with nine.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 7

Happy Birthday–November 4

Bobby Wallace (1873)
Tommy Leach (1877)
Skeeter Webb (1909)
Carl Sawatski (1927)
Dick Groat (1930)
Tito Francona (1933)
Dick Selma (1943)
Doug Corbett (1952)
Jon Shave (1967)
Eric Karros (1967)
Carlos Baerga (1968)
Kevin Frederick (1976)
Carmen Cali (1978)
Chih-Wei Hu (1993)

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to davidwatts, yickit/eschapp, and kalarson.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 4