July 11

Pop Schriver (1865)
Jimmy Slagle (1873)
Milt Stock (1893)
Bob Allison (1934)
John Sevcik (1942)
Ed Ott (1951)
Andy Ashby (1967)
Donne Wall (1967)
Javier Lopez (1977)
Blaine Boyer (1981)
Yorman Bazardo (1984)
Bryan Augenstein (1986)

Outfielder William Robert ”Bob” Allison played his entire career with the Washington/Minnesota franchise, beginning in 1958 and ending in 1970.  Born and raised in Raytown, Missouri, he attended the University of Kansas (where he starred in football as well as baseball) and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1955.  His minor league numbers were not all that impressive, although he did hit .307 in AA Chattanooga in 1958.  He got a September call-up that year and never went back to the minors again.  He was the starting center fielder for Washington in 1959, hit .261 with 30 homers, led the league in triples with nine, was Rookie of the Year and made his first all-star team.  He moved to right field in 1960, and while he did not match his numbers from his first year, he had another fine season.  He came to Minnesota with the team in 1961.  He stayed in right field through 1963, moved to first base in 1964, and moved to left field in 1965, where he stayed the rest of his career.  From 1961-1968 (excluding 1966, when he missed most of the season due to a broken left hand), he averaged .260 with 28 home runs, 21 doubles, and an OPS of .850.  He led the league in OPS in 1963 and made the all-star team in 1963-1964.  It shows the power of the Twins in those years that he was the second banana to Harmon Killebrew and then the third banana to Killebrew and Tony Oliva.  Allison fell to part-time status in 1969 and was largely a bench player in 1970.  For his career, Bob Allison hit   He chose to retire after the 1970 season.  He went to work for the Coca-Cola Company, becoming general manager of the company’s Twins Cities Marketing Division.  He suffered from ataxia, a neurological disorder, and passed away April 9, 1995 in Rio Verde, Arizona.  The Twins now give the Bob Allison award for the Twins player who best exemplifies determination, hustle, tenacity, competitive spirit, and leadership both on and off the field.

Catcher John Sevcik had sixteen at-bats for the Twins in 1965.  He was Oak Park, Illinois, went to high school in Berwyn, Illinois, and then attended the University of Missouri.  He played for the Sturgis (SD) Titans in the Basin League in 1963, and was signed by the Twins as a free agent in 1964.  He was in Class A at Wisconsin Rapids that season, did fairly well, and found himself as the third catcher on the Twins in 1965, backing up Earl Battey and Jerry Zimmerman.  He appears to have been with the team the whole season–at least, he did not play in the minors and was in at least one major league game almost every month–but he played very sparingly.   He appeared in one game in April, one in May, six in June, one in July, two in September, and one in October.  He made only three starts.  In his 12 games, he went 1-for-16 with a walk and a sacrifice.  His hit was a double.  Sevcik went back to the minors after that season, staying in the Twins’ organization through 1971.  He was a part-time player every season for them, averging 72 games and 232 at-bats.  His lifetime OPS in the minors was .683.  Sevcik’s playing career ended after the 1971 season.  For several years, John Sevcik was living in San Antonio and was an executive for the Jim Beam company.  At last report, he had retired and was living in Austin, Texas.

Right-hander Blaine Thomas Boyer began his Twins career in 2015.  He was born in Atlanta, went to high school in Marietta, Georgia, and was drafted by Atlanta in the third round in 2000.  He was a starter his first two seasons, went to the bullpen in 2002 in Class A, and went back to starting in 2003.  He spent two years in rookie ball and three in Class A, finally reaching AA in 2005.  His AA numbers that year were not very good, but he was called up to the majors in mid-June and finished the season in the Braves' bullpen.  He missed most of 2006 due to injury and when he came back in 2007 he spent most of the year in AAA, making five big league appearances in June.  He was with the Braves for all of 2008 but was traded to St. Louis early in the 2009 season.  He didn't last long there, getting waived in mid-June and being claimed by Arizona.  He did well for them the rest of that season, not so well in 2010, and became a free agent, going to the Mets.  They released him in mid-April of 2011, he signed with Pittsburgh, got released again two months later, signed with St. Louis, and was released again six weeks after that.  He was out of baseball in 2012, signed with Kansas City for 2013, was released in mid-May, and finished out the year in Japan.  He signed with San Diego for 2014, started out in AAA, came up to the Padres in mid-June, and pitched well for them the rest of the season.  A free agent again after the season, he signed with Minnesota for 2015.  He did pretty well for them, going 3-6, 1 save, 2.49 ERA, 1.25 WHIP.  He was a free agent after the season and signed with Milwaukee, for whom he was not been great but was not terrible, either.  Again a free agent, he signed with Boston for 2017 and is again not great, not terrible.  He turns thirty-six today.  If nothing else, his baseball life has allowed him to see the country.  A year ago, we said,  "He's obviously persistent, and it would not be surprising to see him pitching for at least a couple more years yet."  That seems to still apply.

Right-hander Yorman Michael (Osario) Bazardo did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system for the first part of 2011.  He was born in Maracay, Aragua, Venezuela, and signed with Florida as a free agent in 2000.  He pitched quite well in the low minors, but advanced slowly, probably due to his young age.  He reached AA in 2005, even getting one appearance in the majors in late May (1.2 innings 0f a blowout loss).  He was traded to Seattle at the trade deadline that season.  He did pretty well in AA for them in 2006, especially considering he was still only 21.    He was traded to Detroit that off-season.  He had a fine season in AAA in 2007 and made eleven very good appearances for the big club.  He started 2008 in the majors, but after only three appearances he was sent down.  He had a bad year in AAA and became a free agent, signing with Philadelphia.  The Phillies released him at the end of spring training, and he moved on to Houston. He did okay in AAA for the Astros and spent the last two months of 2009 in the major leagues.  It looks like that will be his major league swan song, though.    He was again a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota for 2011.  He went to Rochester, didn’t do much, and was released in mid-June.  He finished the season pitching for Camden in the Atlantic League.  He did not play in 2012, at least as far as b-r.com is concerned, but he has continued to play in Caribbean winter leagues, played in Italy in 2013, and played in Mexico in 2014.  He has not played in the summer since then, but he has continued to play winter ball again after the 2015 season.  He does not appear to be playing anywhere this season.  In his big league career he appeared in 25 games (eight starts), going 3-4, 6.86, 1.69 WHIP in 60.1 innings.  He is thirty-three today.  It seems really unlikely that he'll ever return to the majors, but if he's still active, then it's always possible.

Right-hander Bryan Christopher Augenstein did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for two months in 2013.  Born and raised in Sebastian, Florida, he attended the University of Florida, and was drafted by Arizona in the seventh round in 2007.  He pitched very well in the low minors, but struggled when promoted to AAA in 2009.  Despite that, he made two starts for the Diamondbacks in May and got a September call-up, making five appearances out of the bullpen.  He struggled in AAA again in 2010 and was placed on waivers by Arizona after the season.  St. Louis claimed him and surprisingly, he made the Cardinals out of spring training.  Unsurprisingly, he did not do well in five appearances, although one really bad appearance makes his numbers look worse than they would have been otherwise.  He did better in AAA in 2011, but was not really good, and was released after the season.  Tampa Bay signed him and sent him to AAA again for 2012.  He actually had a fairly good season working out of the bullpen (he had been converted to relief in 2011), but did not get called up and was released by the Rays after the season.  Minnesota signed him for 2013, but he was injured, did not pitch for any of the Twins affiliates, and was released at the end of May.  He sat out the rest of the 2013 season, but signed with Detroit for 2014, pitching mostly at AA Erie. That brought his playing career to an end.  In his major league career, he was 0-2, 8.34, 1.90 WHIP in 22.2 innings.  He pitched in twelve major league games, which is twelve more than most people reading this have pitched in, and started two of them.  It appears that he has returned to his home town of Sebastian and is helping coach his old high school baseball team, the Sebastian River Sharks.