James Thomas Donohue Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 31, 1937 and died on September 9, 2017 in the city where he was born. Jim Donohue was a 1956 graduate of CBC (Christian Brothers College), a prominent Catholic high school in the St. Louis area.
Donohue who friends called “Bones”, was signed by the St. Louis Cardinal prior to the 1956 season at the age if 18 and assigned to play for the Class D Gainesville G-Men in the Florida State League where he was 5-6 as a starter/reliever and he posted a very nice 2.08 ERA in 95 innings.
Donohue continued working his way up the Cardinals minor league ladder but in June of 1960 he was traded by St. Louis to the Los Angeles Dodgers. His stay in their system was relatively short because that November the Detroit Tigers snagged him with a Rule 5 pick. Donohue made the 1961 Tigers team and debuted in the majors on April 11, 1961. Used strictly in relief, his stay in Detroit too was destined to be a short one as on June 7, 1961 the Tigers traded him to the Los Angeles Angels. Donohue spent the rest of 1961 with the Angels splitting his time as a starter and as a reliever. Donohue started the 1962 season in LA but on May 29th the Minnesota Twins acquired him in a trade for pitcher Don Lee.
Bones appeared in six games starting one for the Twins in June of 1962 before being sent to the minors never to pitch in the big leagues again. As far as I can determine, Donohue spent 1963 and 1964 in the Twins minor league system without being invited to spring training before leaving baseball behind. In Jim’s brief stay in Minnesota he pitched in just 6 games and had no wins with one loss, and a save in 10.1 innings with a 6.97 ERA.
Jim Donohue is the 78th former Minnesota Twins player to pass away. Although Jim Donohue’s time with the Minnesota Twins was short, he did pitch for the organization and as such is part of the Twins wonderful history forever. Thank you for the memories Jim Donohue. We at Twinstrivia.com want to express our condolences to the Donohue family and all of Jim’s friends and fans.