As another year goes in the books we need to look back and remember the Minnesota Twins players that left us this past year. The players may be gone but the memories will always be there.
Fred Lasher was born in Poughkeepsie, NY on August 19, 1941 and passed away at the age of 80 in Altoona, Wisconsin on February 27, 2022. As a youngster, Fred played various positions and was a fine hitter. He batted and threw right-handed. But while at Poughkeepsie High School, Fred began to concentrate on pitching. Ultimately, he became a star pitcher for the Poughkeepsie High School baseball team. Major League Baseball had not yet conducted its inaugural free agent draft of amateur baseball players. As a result, Fred was free to sign with any professional team after graduation from high school. At 6-foot-4 and a hard thrower, he attracted the interest of numerous MLB teams. Eventually, in 1960 he signed with the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent. The Senators eventually became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Lasher pitching for Wytheville, a Class D Appalachian League team. Lasher made his major league debut at age 21 at Memorial Stadium in Kansas City on April 12, 1963. The Twins lost the game, but Lasher contributed by pitching a scoreless inning. Lasher pitched 9.1 innings for the Twins, but control issue brought about his demotion to the Charlotte Hornets in the South Atlantic League. It turned out that his Twins carrer was over after the 1963 season in which he appeared in just 11 games and had a 0-0 won/lost record. Lasher went on to play with the Tigers, Indians and very briefly with the Angels and his big league career was over after six seasons in 1971. After retiring from baseball, Fred operated a drywall company and served as a recreation therapist for youth with drug and alcohol problems. His obituary in Ripbaseball.com is an interesting read.
David West was born on September 1, 1964 in Memphis, Tennessee and passed away at the age of 57 on May 14, 2022 in Palm City, Florida after battling brain cancer. West was drafted by the New York Mets in the fourth round of the 1983 June Amateur Draft, and he joined the team’s Gulf Coast League team that summer. In the offseason, he suffered a terrible fall that could have ended his playing career or worse. He fell from the second story of a Memphis warehouse and broke his left elbow and right arm. It took several years to regain his form but he had control issues. He put up some impressive strikeout totals, but he walked almost as many batters as he whiffed. In 1985 he fanned 194 batters in 150 innings but he walked 111 batters. He resolved those control issues as he moved up the Mets minor league chain only to be stalled again but it wasn’t by control problems but instead by the fact that the Mets starting rotation consisted of Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda and Sid Fernandez. West ended up playing for the New York Mets (1988-89), Minnesota Twins (1989-92), Philadelphia Phillies (1993-96) and Boston Red Sox (1998). Over parts of 10 seasons, West had a 31-38 record and 4.66 ERA. He pitched in 204 games in the majors, including 78 starts. He struck out 437 batters in 569-1/3 innings and walked 311. His obituary can be seen at Ripbaseball.com.