Tag: Minneapolis Millers

Former Twins players that passed away in 2025

Another trip around the Sun and it is once again time to to look back and remember former Minnesota Twins that have gotten the call to their final resting place. They may be gone from this earth but their memories will always remain.

Jeff Bittiger was born April 13, 1962 in Jersey City, NJ and died on July 19, 2025 at the age of 63 after a lengthy battle with Cancer. Bittiger was originally drafted by the Mets in 1980 but made his big league debut on September 2, 1986 with the Phillies and was signed by the Twins as a free agent in April 1987. He pitched for the Minnesota Twins in 1987 appearing in three games late in the 1987 season. He won his first and only game as a Twin in his lone start for the Twins in a 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Bittiger went 7 innings allowing 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 5. Bittiger again became a Free Agent after the 1987 season. Bittiger pitched in the majors in 33 games with a 4-6 record with a 4.77 ERA. Bittiger must have loved baseball because he pitched in the minor/independent leagues from 1980-2003, a total of 23 years.

Bill Dailey was born on May 13, 1935 in Arlington, Virginia and passed away on January 11, 2025 at the age of 89. Dailey started his baseball career by signing with the Cleveland Indians prior to the 1953 season and made his big league debut on August 17, 1961 at Cleveland Stadium versus the Boston Red Sox with 4 innings of scoreless relief in a 14-inning 4-3 Cleveland win. The Minnesota Twins purchased Dailey in April of 1963 and he quickly became a folk hero in Minnesota and they even had a song about him called “won’t you come in Bill Dailey”. In his first season in Minnesota he pitched in 66 games, pitching 108.2 innings with a 1.99 ERA and a 6-4 record notching 21 saves. In 1964 he suffered a rotor cuff injury and had to walk away from the game at the age of 29, baseball can be a cruel game. You can find my interview with Bill Dailey in the Interview Archives on this site.

Scott Klingenbeck was born on February 3, 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died on May 20, 2025 at the age of 54. Klingenbeck was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth round of the 1992 amateur draft and made his debut in a start against the Detroit Tigers in an 11-5 win in which he pitched 7 innings allowing 3 earned runs for his first big league win. In July of 1995 the Orioles traded Klingenbeck to Minnesota for a PTBNL (who was later announced as OF Kimera Bartee). Klingenbeck pitched for the Twins in 1995-1996 and compiled a 1-3 record in 28 games with an ERA of 8.30. The Twins traded Klingenbeck to the Cincinnati Reds in April 1997. Klingenbeck pitched briefly for the Reds in 1998 before and for their AAA team in 1999 before retiring from baseball.

Andy Kosco was born on October 5, 1941 in Youngstown, Ohio and died on December 19, 2025 at the age of 84. Kosco excelled at every sport as a youngster. By the time he was a senior at Struthers High School, he was a strapping 6-feet-3 and 210 pounds, and excelled in football, basketball, and baseball. He received 44 scholarship offers for football, including ones from powers such as Michigan State and Ohio State, and 27 offers for basketball. “I think I was blessed with a lot of size,” said Kosco. “I ran well and threw well.” Kosco started his career with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent prior to the 1959 season and was released on June 3, 1964 and signed by the Minnesota Twins just three days later. Kosko debuted with the Twins on August 13, 1965 on a team packed with stars that was on its way to the World Series. Kosco played for the Twins between 1965-1967 but could not win a starting job and was sold to the Athletics after the 1967 season. Kosco went on to a number of other teams playing in the big leagues for all or parts of ten seasons with the Twins, Yankees, Dodgers, Brewers, Angels, Red Sox and the Redlegs appearing in 658 games hitting .236 with 73 home runs. If Andy Kosco’s baseball career could be described in a song, it might be the old Hank Snow classic “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Kosco may best be remembered for replacing Mickey Mantle in his final game, it was a memorable moment for Kosco, who often retold the story of taking over for the Yankee legend in his final game. 

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Jose Valdivielso – a member of 1961 Twins passes away

Jose Valdivielso

One of the few remaining members, Jose Valdivielso, of the 1961 Minnesota Twins passed away on March 4, 2025 at the age of 90. José Martinez de Valdivielso Lopez was born on May 22, 1934 in Matanzas, Cuba.

Valdivielso started his professional baseball career as a shortstop with the Class C 1953 Lubbock Hubbers in the West Texas-New Mexico League. During the 1954 season Valdivielso was assigned to the Washington Nationals in an unknown transaction and was sent from Lubbock to the Class B Rock Hill Chiefs and then on to the Class A Charlotte Hornets. He started the 1955 season with Charlotte but was called up by the Washington Nationals and made his MLB debut on June 21, 1955 at Griffith Stadium against the Chicago White Sox in a 6-1 Nats loss in which Valdivielso went 0 for 3. Valdivielso split his time with the Nats and their minor league teams in 1955-1956.

Valdivielso with Minneapolis Millers in 1958

Somehow he ended up playing for the Chicago White Sox AAA Indianapolis Indians in 1957 and in 1958 he split his time with the AAA Boston Red Sox Minneapolis Millers and the AAA San Francisco Giants Phoenix Giants. He started the 1959 season with the AAA Baltimore Orioles Miami Marlins and then low and behold he showed back up with the Washington Nationals where he played in the rest of the 1959 and the 1960 season.

In 1960, the team’s sixtieth and last season in Washington, Valdivielso was the Senators’ most-used shortstop, starting in 92 games and playing a career-high 117 contests. But by late September he had lost his starting job to Zoilo Versalles, a 20-year-old fellow countryman.

Valdivielso spent the 1961 season with the Minnesota Twins but only played in 76 games mainly as a defensive replacement and had just 158 PA’s in which he hit .195 with 29 hits and 9 RBI. One of those 29 hits was his lone Twins home run a long blast to left field that took place on June 4, 1961 at Tiger Stadium off Frank Lary in a 10-4 Twins loss to the Detroit Tigers. Jose played his final major league game at Met Stadium against the Detroit Tigers and went 2 for 3 with an RBI on the 1961 season’s final game, which was called in the top of the sixth inning on account of rain.

Valdivielso never played in the major leagues again and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins AAA Vancouver Mounties in 1962, and the Chicago White Sox AAA Indianapolis Indians in 1963-1964. In total, Jose Valdivielso collected 213 hits in the majors, with 26 doubles and eight triples to go along with his nine home runs.

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Chuck Schilling dead at 83

Chuck Schilling was born on October 25, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York and passed away on March 30, 2021 in West Chester, Pa. After graduating from high school Schilling attended Manhattan College, majoring in electrical engineering but then switched over to mechanical engineering. While still in college in 1958 Schilling signed a $25,000 bonus contract with the Boston Red Sox, eschewing the New York Yankees, a team he disliked even though they had actually started scouting him first.

Schilling played second base and started his pro career in 1959 playing in Class D ball and after 95 games was bumped up to class B and after just 15 game there was called up by the AAA Minneapolis Millers (managed by Gene Mauch and who also played in 8 games) to see if he could help them in the playoffs. He didn’t make that playoff roster but the next season he played for the Eddie Popowski managed 1960 Minneapolis Millers. Both of these Millers teams are full of names that played in the big leagues at one time or another.

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This Day in Twins History – January 9, 1961

The new Minnesota Twins and the American Association finally agree on a $500,000 indemnity payment to the minor league for the Minneapolis/St. Paul territory, ending 2 months of negotiations.

The 1960 American Association was made up of eight AAA teams which included the Minneapolis Millers (Boston Red Sox), St. Paul Saints (LA Dodgers), Denver Bears (Detroit Tigers), Louisville Colonels (Milwaukee Braves), Houston Buffs (Chicago Cubs), Charleston Senators (Washington Senators), Indianapolis Indians (Philadelphia Phillies), and the Dallas-Ft.Worth Rangers (Kansas City Athletics). In 1961 the American Association was down to six teams with Charleston being replaced by Omaha and Minneapolis and St. Paul obviously gone.

Here is the article that Halsey Hall wrote for the January 18, 1961 Sporting News. The same Sporting News page has a nice article about the Twins first ever barnstorming trip by Twins publicist Herb Heft that had him traveling 1,312 miles over a four days to sell the upper Midwest on Minnesota Twins professional baseball. I guess you could call this beginning of the Twins Winter caravans that are still taking place 54 years later.

Indemnity article 01181961 Sporting News

This Day in Twins/Senators History – September 6, 1954

Outfielder Carlos Paula

On this day back in 1954 the Washington Senators played a black ballplayer for the first time. His name was Carlos Paula and he was from Havana, Cuba. The 6’3″ 26 year-old Paula was a right-handed hitter and started in left field for the Senators seven years after Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut. Only the Yankees in 1955, the Phillies in 1957, the Tigers in 1958 and the Red Sox in 1959 broke the color-line later than did the Senators/Twins franchise.

Carlos Paula was acquired by the Washington Senators prior to the 1954 season from Paris, Texas of the class “B” Big State league. Paula spent most of the 1954 season in class “A” Charlotte before being called up by the Senators late in the season. In his first big league game, Paula started in left field in the first game of a double-header at Griffith Stadium against the Philadelphia Athletics and struck out in his first at bat but finished the game 2 for 5 (double and a single) with 2 RBI’s and helped his team to an 8-1 win. Paula played in 115 games for the Washington Senators in 1955 and hit .299 with 6 home runs and had 45 RBI’s while stealing 2 bases. Carlos got off to a slow start in 1956 and with Jim Lemon having a breakout year and the addition of rookie center fielder Whitey Herzog, there was no room for the struggling Paula in the Senators’ outfield and after 33 games the Senators sent him to the minors and Paula never again played in a big league game. Paula spent 1957-1960 in the minors playing for various organizations before ending his career in Mexico in 1960. One of his minor league stops was with the Minneapolis Millers in 1957 where he played in 104 games. Carlos Paula passed away on April 25, 1983 in Miami, Florida at the age of 55.

Baseball integration time-line

Be sure to check out what else happened to the Minnesota Twins today on our Today in Twins History  page.

This Day in Twins History – January 9, 1961

The new Minnesota Twins and the American Association finally agree on a $500,000 indemnity payment to the minor league for the Minneapolis/St. Paul territory, ending 2 months of negotiations.

The 1960 American Association was made up of eight AAA teams which included the Minneapolis Millers (Boston Red Sox), St. Paul Saints (LA Dodgers), Denver Bears (Detroit Tigers), Louisville Colonels (Milwaukee Braves), Houston Buffs (Chicago Cubs), Charleston Senators (Washington Senators), Indianapolis Indians (Philadelphia Phillies), and the Dallas-Ft.Worth Rangers (Kansas City Athletics). In 1961 the American Association was down to six teams with Charleston being replaced by Omaha and Minneapolis and St. Paul obviously gone.

Did you know?

June 20, 2009 – That in 1961 the Minnesota Twins became the first team to use the name of their state to identify their team? The Twins, who were the original Washington Senators wanted to appease the fans from both St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Twin Cities. The Twins played their home games in a newly refined Metropolitan Stadium which was located in Bloomington near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and was originally built for the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association.