Whit Wyatt (1907)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)
Todd Blyleven is, as you probably know, the son of Bert
Blyleven. He pitched in the minor leagues for seven years, getting as high as
AA, then was a scout for eight years.
Right-hander Robert
Mitchell Veselic played for the Twins in 1980 and 1981. He was born in
Pittsburgh, attended high school in Walnut, California, and was drafted by the
Twins in 1976 with the ninth pick in the draft. A starting pitcher for his
entire minor-league career, he came through the minors a level at a time,
posting ERAs in the low-to-mid threes for Class A Visalia (1978), Class AA
Orlando (1979), and Class AAA Toledo (1980). He won 18 games with Visalia.
Twice he pitched over 200 innings in a minor-league season, and two other times
he pitched over 170 innings. For comparison, the International League leader in
innings pitched in 2010 had 165. Veselic earned September callups in both 1980
and 1981, and did fairly well. In six appearances, all in relief, he pitched
26.2 innings and went 1-1 with an ERA of 3.38, although with a WHIP of 1.43. He
averaged over four innings per relief appearance, which says something both
about him and about the Twins’ pitching staff at the time. Veselic had a poor
year in Toledo in 1982, and was traded to Houston in January of 1983 for Rick
Lysander. He again had a poor year for AAA Tucson, and his playing career came
to an end after the 1983 season, although he did play in the Senior
Professional Baseball Association in 1990. Sadly, Bob Veselic passed away from
cancer on December 26, 1995 at the age of 40.
Right-hander Donald Arthur Schulze did not play for the Twins,
but went to spring training with them in 1988. Born and raised in Roselle,
Illinois, he was drafted by the Cubs with the eleventh pick of the 1980 draft.
He had two solid years in class A, then skipped AA and went to AAA in 1983. He
did not pitch all that well there, but still got a September call-up and made
three starts for the Cubs that season. He was back in AAA in 1984, making one
start for the Cubs in late May, when he was traded to Cleveland in mid-June in
a multi-player deal that included, among others, Joe Carter, Mel Hall, future
Twin George Frazier, and Rick Sutcliffe. He went back and forth between
Cleveland and AAA Maine through 1986, although he spent nearly all of 1986 in
Cleveland. He began 1987 back in AAA, then was traded to the Mets in mid-May.
He went 11-1 in 15 starts at AAA Tidewater and also spent about three weeks in
the majors. He became a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota
for 1988, but was traded to Detroit in late March for Karl Best. Schulze had a
very good year in AAA for the Tigers, but did not get a call-up and signed with
the Yankees after the season. He made two starts for the Yankees in 1989, then
was traded to San Diego that included ex-Twin Freddie Toliver, future Twin Mike
Pagliarulo, and Walt Terrell. He was with the Padres for two months but was
seldom used, logging only 24.1 innings. San Diego released him after the season
and he headed to Japan, where he pitched through 1992. He returned to the U. S.
in 1993 and pitched in AAA for the Orioles, but had a mediocre year and his
playing career came to an end. He was out of baseball for a while, but returned
in 2006 as a coach. He has coached in the minors for Oakland since then, and is
currently the pitching coach of the Class A Beloit Snappers.
Right-handed reliever Jon Erich Rauch is tall. He also has a
tattoo on his neck. Rauch played for the Twins from late August of 2009 through
2010. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, went to high school in Oldham
County, Kentucky, attended Morehead State University, and was drafted by the
White Sox in the third round in 1999. A starting pitcher in the minors, he had
a strong year in Class A and AA in 2000. Rauch was injured for much of 2001,
making only six starts for AAA Charlotte. He made the White Sox at the start of
2002, but was returned to the minors after making only eight appearances, six
of them starts. Rauch had a couple of decent but unspectacular years in
Charlotte in 2002-03. He made two starts for the White Sox in 2004 before being
traded to Montreal in July. He became a relief pitcher for the Expos/Nationals,
and had some fine seasons with them, appearing in over 80 games in 2006 and
again in 2007. He was having another good year with the Nationals in 2008 when
he was traded to Arizona in July. He pitched poorly for the Diamondbacks in
2008, but was doing better in 2009 when the Twins acquired him on August 28 for
Kevin Mulvey. He pitched well for them the rest of the season, and when Joe
Nathan was injured Rauch became the Twins’ closer at the start of 2010. He did
well in the beginning, but hit a rough patch in July and was replaced as closer
by Matt Capps. He returned to a set-up role and overall did well in 2010.
As a Twin, he was 8-2, 21 saves, 2.82 ERA, 1.28 WHIP in 76 appearances (73.1
innings). He was a free agent after the 2010 season and signed with
Toronto, where he did not do as well in a 2011 season marred by injury. A
free agent again after that season, he signed with the Mets, for whom he
pitched very well in 2012. A free agent after the season, he signed with
Miami for 2013 but pitched poorly in fifteen games and was released in late
May. He signed with Baltimore on June 1 and made ten appearances with AAA
Norfolk. He did all right there, but was still released at the end of
June. He signed with Kansas City for 2014 but was released again in late
March, apparently bringing his playing career to an end. Rauch is the
tallest man to appear in a major league game, and is also the tallest man to
hit a home run, off Roger Clemens on August 13, 2004. At last report, Jon
Rauch was the owner of Bullpen Garage, a custom off-road shop specializing in
Jeeps and Ford Raptors, in the Tucson area.
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