Joe Yeager (1875)
Dode Paskert (1881)
Aaron Ward (1896)
Charlie Grimm (1898)
Paul Bowa (1918)
Tony Gonzalez (1936)
Tom Satriano (1940)
Lou Piniella (1943)
Mike Torrez (1946)
Ron Guidry (1950)
Joel Youngblood (1951)
Darren Lewis (1967)
Jay Witasick (1972)
Tom Shearn (1977)
Carlos Quentin (1982)

Paul Bowa is the father of Larry Bowa and the grandfather of Nick Johnson.  He was a minor league infielder who reached as high as AAA, and later became a minor league manager in the St.  Louis Cardinals’ organization.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to bhiggum.

Right-hander Thomas Aaron Shearn did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for about six weeks in 2008.  Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he was drafted by Houston in the twenty-ninth round in 1996.  He was a starter for the first five years of his minor league career and did fairly well, but took a very long time to advance, not getting above Class A until his fifth minor league season.  He stumbled a bit in his first shot at AA in 2000, although he wasn’t awful.  He went to the bullpen after that and had a decent year in 2002 at AAA New Orleans, posting a 2.92 ERA in 83.1 innings.  He was only 25, but the Astros gave up on him and released him.  He needed Tommy John surgery and was out of baseball all of 2003, then signed with Cincinnati for 2004.  He stayed in the Reds organization for four and a half years, most of which was spent in AAA, and was consistently mediocre.  Still, they kept him around, and he hung in there, going back to starting in 2006.   In 2007, while he was living in a trailer outside the Louisville ballpark, he was called up to the majors, and two days before his thirtieth birthday, Tom Shearn made his major league debut with Cincinnati.  He was the Reds’ fifth starter the rest of the season, going 3-0, 4.96 with a 1.38 WHIP in 32.2 innings.  He began 2008 in AAA Louisville and went 6-2, 4.53 for about two months, then asked for his release to play in Korea.  Things did not go well there and he came back to the United States, signing with the Twins in late July.  He was in AAA Rochester the rest of the season.  He made six starts, going 1-2, 5.34 with a 1.57 WHIP.  He became a free agent after the season, went unsigned, and his playing career ended.  It was only a short time in the majors, but he’s a twenty-ninth round draft choice who went 3-0 in the majors, and that’s more than a lot of people can say.  At last report, Tom Shearn was living in Austin, Texas and was working for Dell Computers.