Happy Birthday--December 30

Frank Torre (1931)
Sandy Koufax (1935)
Jose Morales (1944)
Tom Murphy (1945)
Travis Baptist (1971)
A. J. Pierzynski (1976)
Grant Balfour (1977)

The original Jose Morales was a designated hitter for the Twins from 1978-1980.  He was born in Frederiksted in the Virgin Islands, one of eleven players from the Virgin Islands to make the major leagues.  He signed with San Francisco as a free agent in 1963.  It took Morales a long time to get a shot at the majors.  First, he was in the Giants' system for five years, two in Class A and three in AA.  There was a reason for that--he really didn't have a good year in AA until his last one, in 1968.  That off-season, Oakland chose Morales in the minor-league draft.  The Athletics moved him up to AAA, where he would stay for most of the next five years.  He had a fine year in 1970 at AAA Iowa, hitting .306 with a .524 slugging percentage, but not only did he not get a September call-up, he was returned to AAA the next year.  He had a down year in 1971, moved to the Mets' organization in 1972, and was back in AAA with Oakland in 1973.  He hit .293 in 1972 and .355 in 1973, which finally got him a brief trial in the majors.  Part of the problem was that he was without a defensive position--nominally a catcher, he was not considered good enough to play that position in the majors, and while he was a good batter, he lacked power, so teams were reluctant to make him a DH.  He was sold to Montreal in in mid-September of 1973, and he was finally brought up to the big leagues to stay in mid-1974.  Morales played for the Expos from 1975-1977 and was used primarily as a pinch-hitter, seeing only occasional duty in the field.  He hit very well in that role his first two years, batting .308 in 321 at-bats.  In 1977, however, he slumped to .203 in 74 at-bats, and was sold to Minnesota just before the 1978 season.  Morales had three solid years for the Twins, hitting .297 with 12 homers and 101 RBIs in 674 at-bats.  Morales became a free agent after the 1980 campaign and signed with Baltimore.  He stayed with the Orioles for a little over a year, but was seldom used.  In late April, 1982, he was traded to the Dodgers.  He had two good years as a pinch-hitter, but then was released in June of 1984.  Montreal signed him and sent him to AAA, but Morales was never brought back to the majors and retired after the season.  After his playing career ended, Morales worked as a hitting coach for several years, and was highly respected; however, he grew tired of the sometimes political nature of the job and retired.  Jose Morales currently lives in the Orlando area.

Right-hander Travis Baptist made 13 relief appearances for the Twins in 1998.  He was born in Forest Grove, Oregon, attended high school in Hillsboro, Oregon, and was drafted by Toronto in the 45th round in 1990.  A starter for most of his minor league career, he went through the Blue Jays' system at a rate of one level a year, reaching AAA in 1994.  Then, however, he stalled, staying at AAA Syracuse for three mediocre seasons.  He was chosen by Minnesota in the 1996 Rule 5 draft.  Apparently, something was worked out with Toronto, because Baptist was in the minors in 1997.  He had a very good year there, the first good year he'd had since 1992.  He had another strong year at AAA Salt Lake in 1998, and made the majors for the last two months of the season.  He pitched 27 innings for the Twins, going 0-1, 5.67 with a 1.67 WHIP.  That was to be the high point of his career.  Baptist got off to a poor start in 1999, went to the Boston organization, continued to pitch poorly, and was with the Pirates chain in 2000.  In 2001 he went to the White Sox' system, and then pitched in independent leagues for two years before his career came to an end after the 2003 season.  No information about Travis Baptist's life beyond that point was readily available.

Catcher A. J. Pierzynski was the Twins' regular catcher for three years.  Born in Bridgehampton, New York, he attended high school in Orlando, Florida.  Pierzynski was drafted in the third round in 1994 by Minnesota.  He hit for a good average throughout the low minors, although with little power and few walks.  He struggled somewhat in his first couple of tries at AAA, hitting in the .250s, but took a big step forward in 2000, hitting .335 in 155 at-bats at Salt Lake.  Pierzynski received brief call-ups in 1998-2000, getting a total of 120 at-bats, but became the regular catcher for the Twins from 2001-2003.  He did in the majors pretty much what he had done in the minors, although he did also hit a good number of doubles.  As a Twin, Pierzynski hit .301/.341/.447 for an OPS+ of 105 and made the all-star team once, in 2002.  After the 2003 season, he was traded to San Francisco for Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano, and Joe Nathan.  He played one lackluster season for the Giants and then was released, signing with the White Sox.  He has been the starting catcher for Chicago ever since, making another all-star team in 2006, the same year he received a tenth-place vote for MVP.  He has also hit double-digit home runs for seven consecutive seasons.  He turns 33 today, so the end may be starting to come into view, but there seems little doubt that A. J. Pierzynski will remain the starting catcher for the White Sox next season.

Right-hander Grant Balfour began his career with the Twins.  Born in Sydney, Australia, he attended high school in Glenwood, Australia, and then signed with Minnesota as a free agent.  A starter early in his minor league career, he was shifted to the bullpen in 2000.  It took him a bit to make the transition, but he had a fine year in 2001 with AA New Britain, making two appearances with Minnesota that season.  He struggled initially on his promotion to AAA, but had a good year there in 2003 as a sometime starter, sometime reliever, and spent about two months in the majors.  He was with the Twins all of 2004, but battled injuries and pitched only 39.1 innings.  He would miss most of the next two years with various injuries.  The Twins gave up on him after the 2005 season, and Balfour became a free agent.  He signed with Cincinnati, but appeared in only nine minor league games.  Milwaukee selected him off waivers after the season, but while he pitched very well in the Brewers' minor league system, he made only three relief appearances for Milwaukee before being traded to Tampa Bay in late July of 2007.  Balfour had a tremendous season in relief for the Devil Rays in 2008; he did not repeat that, but was still a decent reliever last season.  Few relievers have guarantees, but it seems very likely Grant Balfour will remain a setup man for Tampa Bay at least for this season.