July 26

Sam Breadon (1876)
Sad Sam Jones (1892)
Brick Eldred (1892)
Larry Woodall (1894)
Paul Gallico (1897)
Alex Radcliffe (1905)
Sam Leslie (1905)
Ellis Kinder (1914)
Jimmy Bloodworth (1917)
Sibby Sisti (1920)
Hoyt Wilhelm (1922)
Norm Siebern (1933)
Pete Ward (1937)
Ken Kaiser (1945)
Jody Reed (1962)
Greg Colbrunn (1969)
Joaquin Benoit (1977)
Kevin Jepsen (1984)
Alex Burnett (1987)

Sam Breadon owned the St. Louis Cardinals from 1917-1947.

Brick Eldred got over two thousand hits in the Pacific Coast League, playing there thirteen years.

Paul Gallico was a sportswriter from 1919-1936.  He went on to become a noted writer and is best known as the author of The Poseidon Adventure.

The brother of Double Duty Radcliffe, Alex Radcliffe played in the Negro Leagues from 1932-1946 and played in eleven all-star games.

Ken Kaiser was an American League umpire from 1977-1999.

First baseman Gregory Joseph Colbrunn was with the Twins for about two-thirds of the 1997 season.  Born and raised in Fontana, California, he was drafted by Montreal in the sixth round in 1987.  He moved up to AA midway through 1989 and had an excellent season there in 1990, hitting .301 with 13 homers at age 20.  He was injured all of 1991, but when he came back in 1992 he picked up where he left off, hitting .306 with 11 homers in a half season at AAA.  He came up to Montreal in early July and stayed there, but could not win a full-time job, sharing time with such stalwarts as Archi Cianfrocco, Frank Bolick, and Oreste Marrero.  The Expos continued to undervalue Colbrunn, placing him on waivers after the 1993 season.  Florida picked him up, and at first they refused to give him much time either, as he shared first base with Dave Magadan, Orestes Destrade, and Russ Morman.  The Marlins finally made him their regular first baseman in 1995 and he responded with two solid seasons, averaging .281 with 20 homers.  He became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with Minnesota.  He again had to share the first base job, this time with Scott Stahoviak, until the middle of August, when he was traded to Atlanta for a player to be named later (Mark Lewis).  A free agent after the season, he signed with Colorado for 1998 but was again traded to Atlanta at mid-season.  He signed with Arizona for 1999 and finally found a home, spending most of the rest of his career there.  He was always a part-time player there, but he was productive, hitting over .300 three times and producing double digit home runs twice.  He became a free agent after the 2002 season and signed with Seattle, but was traded back to Arizona (for ex-Twin Quinton McCracken) for 2004.  He played in AAA for Texas in 2005, but then his career came to an end.  He lacked the power one wants in a first baseman, which probably kept teams from considering him a regular, but he had a long career as a part-time player.  As a Twin, Colbrunn hit .281/.307/.415 in 217 at-bats.  He was the batting coach of the Boston Red Sox from 2012-2014, but a combination of medical problems and poor Red Sox batting caused him to step down after the season.  Greg Colbrunn is currently the batting coach of the Charleston River Dogs, the Yankees entry in the South Atlantic League.

Right-handed reliever Kevin Martin Jepsen pitched for the Twins in the second half of 2015 and the first half of 2016.  He was born in Anaheim, went to high school in Reno, and was drafted by the Anaheim Angels in the second round in 2002.  He was a starting pitcher through 2005, and due to a combination of ineffectiveness and injuries he did not get out of Class A until 2008.  In that year, though, he went to AA, AAA and reached the majors for nine relief appearances.  He spent almost all of 2009 with the Angels despite not pitching very well, had his first full major league season in 2010, and bounced back and forth between AAA and the majors through 2013.  His only real success in the majors to that point came in 2012, when he posted an ERA of 3.02 and a WHIP of 1.14 in 44.2 innings (49 games).  He had a fine year for the Angels in 2014, but after the season he was traded to Tampa Bay.  He was having another good year there when he was traded to Minnesota at the end of July for Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia.  Thrust into the closer role for the first time in his career, he was tremendous for the Twins in 2015, going 1-1, 10 saves, 1.61 ERA, 0.89 WHIP.  As good as he was in 2015, that's how bad he was in 2016, as he went 2-5, 7 saves, 6.16 ERA, 1.76 WHIP.  The Twins gave up on him in mid-July and he signed with Tampa Bay.  He's done well for them so far in an extremely small sample size.  Relief pitchers are often up and down, and Jepsen has had some pretty high ups and some pretty low downs.  He turns thirty-two today.  It's not that hard to imagine him pitching for several more years, but it's also not that hard to imagine him being completely done by this time next year.  Only time will tell.

Right-hander Alex James Burnett made his debut with the Twins in 2010.  He was born in Anaheim and was drafted by Minnesota in the twelfth round in 2005.  Given his youth, he was brought along slowly, spending a full season at “low rookie” ball (the GCL), a year at Elizabethton, a year at low A, and a year at high A.  He was a starter through 2008 and did all right, but it was when he was shifted to the bullpen in 2009 that he really started to attract attention.  He went 2-1, 1.99  with 4 saves and a 0.93 WHIP in 22.2 innings at Ft. Myers, then went 1-2, 1.79 with 9 saves and a 0.99 WHIP in 55.1 innings at AA New Britain.  He was a surprise addition to the big league staff in 2010 when Clay Condrey went down with an injury.  He pitched pretty well early in the year, but struggled more as the season went on and was sent back to AAA Rochester in late July, coming back as a September call-up.  He was with the Twins for nearly all of 2011 and was given a more prominent role, but fared little better.  In 2012, in what is so far his only full season in the majors, he was significantly better, posting a 3.52 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP, although he was much better in the first half than in the second half.  He was waived by the Twins in late March of 2013, was chosen by Toronto, was waived again in mid-April, was chosen by Baltimore, was waived once more in late May, and was chosen by the Cubs.  He made only one appearance as a Cub before getting injured and missing most of the rest of the season,  He became a free agent, went unsigned, and played for Sioux City in the American Association, for whom he had a fine year.  He played for Oaxaca in the Mexican League in 2015, but was released after about three weeks and does not appear to have played anywhere since.   As a Twin, Alex Burnett was 8-11, 4.61, 1.43 WHIP 170 innings (174 appearances).  At last report he was offering pitching instruction through C. G. Pitching Lessons.