Minnesota Twins: The Top 10 Minnesota-Born Baseball Players
By Otto Johnson
We rank the 10 best Minnesota players to ever play in Major League Baseball, including several Minnesota Twins.
With the NFL draft underway, several players with Minnesota ties have been drafted this weekend. With that in mind, we wanted to take a look at the 10 best players to ever be born in Minnesota. Most of these players spent at least a season with the Minnesota Twins, while others did not.
In order to make this list, the player has to be officially born in Minnesota and play at a high level for a consistent amount of time. With those being the only marks, let’s get this list under way, starting with the honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions
Tom Kelly
Birthplace: Graceville, MN
If we included managers on this list, Tom Kelly would be in the top 5. Unfortunately, we are not, but Kelly still deserves a mention for his work leading the Minnesota Twins to two World Series titles. Thus, here he is.
Rube Walberg
Birthplace: Pine City, MN
Born in the small town of Pine City, Rube Walberg would go on to have a lengthy career (15 years) mostly with the Philadelphia Athletics where he helped them win two World Series as their ace. He won 20 games once and at least 16 games five times. Unfortunately for Rube, there were a lot of good Minnesotan ball players, keeping him as just a mention.
Tom Burgmeier
Birthplace: St. Paul, MN
An extremely reliable reliever, Tom Burgmeier is the all-time leader in games pitched by a Minnesota. A member of the Minnesota Twins for four seasons, Burgmeier was a journeyman pitcher who played for five teams over the course of a seventeen year career. As good as Burgmeier was, there were simply ten players better than him who got a spot ahead of him.