Joe Mulvey (1858)
Patsy Dougherty (1867)
Shad Berry (1878)
Ralph Kiner (1922)
Del Rice (1922)
Pumpsie Green (1933)
Lee Stange (1936)
Mike Lum (1945)
Pete Vuckovich (1952)
U. L. Washington (1953)
Barry Bonnell (1953)
Tom Nieto (1960)
Bill Swift (1961)
Bip Roberts (1963)
Brad Radke (1972)
Jason Johnson (1973)
Pitcher Albert Lee Stange was born in Chicago. He attended Proviso Township High School in Maywood, Illinois and then attended Drake University. While in high school, he was on the football team with Ray Nitschke. He was also an excellent bowler, and later was offered a sponsorship to go on the professional bowlers' tour. Stange was small for a pitcher, standing at 5' 9". He was signed by the Washington Senators as a free agent in 1957. Stange twice pitched over 200 innings in a minor league season; his high was 251 in 1960 at Class B Wilson, where he won 20 games. He opened the 1961 season with the Twins and pitched well in two games of mopup relief, but then spent the season with AAA Syracuse, returning to Minnesota in September. The next year, with the exception of a brief stint at AAA in 1963, he was in the majors to stay. Stange was used mostly as a relief in 1962, but then became a "swing man", a role he filled most of his career. His best year as a Twin was 1962, when he went 12-5 in 32 appearances, 20 of them starts, with an ERA of 2.62 and an ERA+ of 140. In June of 1964, the Twins traded Stange and George Banks to Cleveland for Mudcat Grant. He pitched fairly well for Cleveland for two years, and then was traded to Boston. With the Red Sox, he was used more as a reliever, although he still made some starts. He continued to pitch well through 1969. In 1970, however, he got off to a poor start, was traded to the White Sox, continued to pitch poorly, and was released. As a Twin, Lee Stange was 20-14 with a 3.61 ERA in 97 games, 37 of them starts. He had an ERA+ of 105. After his playing career, Stange became a pitching coach in both the majors and the minors, serving as the Twins' pitching coach in 1975. At last report, Lee Stange was a coach for the Florida Tech Panthers in Melbourne, Florida. He also appears at Twins and Red Sox fantasy camps.
Born in Downey, California, catcher Tom Nieto attended Oral Roberts University. He was drafted by St. Louis it the third round in 1981. He had been drafted twice previously: by Minnesota in the 31st round in June 1979, and by Pittsburgh in the third round of the secondary phase in January 1980. Nieto appears to have been only a part-time catcher even in the minors, as he only played 100 games or got 300 at-bats in a minor-league season once. He made his major league debut for the Cardinals in May of 1984, and was their reserve catcher the rest of the season. The following year, 1985, he set his career highs in games and at-bats, with 95 and 288, respectively. That was his only full season in the majors. Just prior to the 1986 season, Nieto was traded to Montreal. After one season there, he was traded to the Twins with Jeff Reardon for Al Cardwood, Neal Heaton, Yorkis Perez, and Jeff Reed. Nieto did nothing particularly remarkable for the Twins, and spent about half his time as a Twin in AAA Portland. After the 1988 season, the Twins traded him to Philadelphia with Eric Bullock and Tom Herr for Shane Rawley and cash. He split two seasons between the majors and AAA for the Phillies, spent 1991 with the Cardinals' AAA team, and then ended his playing career. As a Twin, Tom Nieto played 65 games and had 165 at-bats. His numbers were .152/.213/.224, with 1 home run and 12 runs batted in. He turned to managing and coaching after his playing career ended. Nieto has managed in the Cardinals and Yankees organization, and most recently has been with the Twins. He managed AA New Britain in 2009, and has been promoted to manager of AAA Rochester for 2010.
Pitcher Brad Radke was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He was drafted by the Twins in the 8th round in 1981, and never played with another organization. He posted decent numbers throughout his minor league career, but caught people's attention in 1994, when he was 12-9 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP for AA Nashville. He started 1995 with the Twins and never returned to the minors, with the exception of a couple of rehab stints. Radke was prone to the gopher ball, especially early in his career, when he twice led the league in home runs allowed. He was an extremely durable pitcher for most of his career, making over thirty starts and pitching over 200 innings six years in a row and nine out of ten. He finished ninth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1995, finished third in the Cy Young voting in 1997 (when he won twenty games for the only time), and made the all-star team in 1998. A control pitcher, Radke led the league in fewest walks per nine innings in 2001 and was in the top six every year of his career. For his career, Brad Radke was 148-139 with a 4.22 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP, and a 112 ERA+. Brad Radke was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2009.
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In his first year with the Twins Radke wore #59. In terms of cool, obscure Twins jerseys to have, I think that'd be right up there with a Hrbek #26 from 1981 or an Oliva #37 from 1962-1964.
An Oliva #37? That would be teh awesum!
Frank Viola's 1983 rookie card (his rookie year was 1982) shows him wearing #51, but did he actually ever wear #51? Not according to here.
A #51 Viola would be cool, too.
That makes me wonder. That list (which is the one I use) doesn't have Gaetti wearing #12, but his '83 Donruss card and '83 Topps sticker do. According to the list, however, Rick Sofield wore #12 from 1979-1981 ('81 Donruss, '82 Topps), and the immortal Lenny Faedo wore #12 from 1982-1984 ('83 team issue, '84 Fleer, '84 team issue, '84 Topps).
According to the list, Gaetti wore #39 in 1981, but there's no picture of it on a baseball card that I found. I think we can trust the list, however, because Glenn Adams wore #8 from 1977-1981 and he played in 9 games in Sept/Oct of '81 according to b-ref, including Gaetti's MLB debut game on 20 Sept. Adams' '81 Fleer, as well as his '82 Fleer and '82 Donruss, show him wearing #8 in a Twins uni. As Sofield appeared in 5 games after Gaetti's debut, I think we can rule out Gaetti wearing #12 in 1981. If there was a photo of him hitting his first career homer, I would think confirmation of his jersey number in those last few games of the year would be pretty easy.
Likewise, the only Viola rookie showing him wearing #51 is that '83 Topps card (the Fleer and Donruss rookies shot him from the front, wearing a BP jersey). The card the Twins issued of him that year shows him wearing #16, so I'm left to wonder if money was so tight those last few years of the Griffith era that there weren't enough jerseys to go around in spring trainging, or they were skimping on laundry services, or something else. In any case, it's weird.
That list was prepared for the Twins media guide, so I'm inclined to believe it.
Keep in mind that the early 80's were ripe with printing errors by each of the card manufacturers, and quality control was suspect, so some of those card photos may be from previous year(s).
Could be. I wish I knew which years Gaetti and Viola got spring training invites, because that might shed some light on things.
twinscards.com seems to be down for the time being.
btw, I seem to recall that Mike Lum is the first Hawaiian to play in the big leagues.
Brad Radke is still only 37 years old. He most certainly could have had surgery and continued to pitch. Who can blame him, though, if it wasn't worth it to him any more? Unless he went to the same money management seminars as Antoine Walker, he should be set for life and his kids should be set for life.
Cheers, Brad, I was always a fan.
I know I've said this before, but I can't imagine BRadke pitching with a torn labrum for most of the season. That's the same injury I had on my shoulder (albeit my non-anything arm). Balls the size of cantaloupes if you ask me.
Balls the size of cantaloupes if you ask me.
now THAT would require surgery.
Sam Cassell knows all about that.
I'll never forget that video game commercial where Radke was giving up homers all over the place. It aired during the offseason after Radke had given up 40 homers in 1996. He poked fun at himself and the next year went and won 20 games.
In the off-season, Lee Stange would travel around doing bowling demonstrations and I got to see him at the local lanes. (That memory hasn't been dusted off in quite a while!)