Minnesotan Major Leaguers

This list of Minnesota-raised major leaguers is a work in progress.

The purpose of this list is to catalog the major leaguers who “grew up” in Minnesota. This list does not include players who were born in Minnesota, but moved away at a young age—such as Roger Maris, Tom Kelly, and Aaron Sele (included on second list below)—but does include players who were born in other states and moved to Minnesota at a young age—such as Tim Laudner, and Pat Neshek.

I need your help filling in the blanks—particularly what town(s) the player lived in growing up, what (if any) high school they attended, and when/if they graduated.

The point is to establish where a player “grew up.” In some cases of older players, all I know is where they were born and where they first broke into professional baseball.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP, Ancestry.com is a useful resource for ascertaining where a player spent their formative years. If you have anything to contribute, please use the comment box at the bottom of the page, email me at Matt@TwinsAlmanac.com, or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.

In most cases I’m aware of so far, the player either moved to or away from Minnesota pretty young, so there’s not much ambiguity about where they “grew up.” George Pipgras is an exception, and possibly Dick Siebert, whose family moved to Minnesota when he was 11.

As I said, this list is a work in progress. Some players included may have in fact moved away from Minnesota at a young age. And there may be more major leaguers out there who grew up in Minnesota. For instance, I just recently became aware of 1942 Watertown graduate Harry Elliott (born in San Francisco). Although I still don’t know when he moved to Minnesota.

Baseball Reference has a list of the 167 major leaguers who were born in Minnesota (click here).

For those interested in learning more about Minnesotan major leaguers, I highly recommend the book Minnesotans in Baseball, written by the members of the Halsey Hall chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Thanks in advance for any research you can contribute!

Minnesotan Major Leaguers
(in order of major league debut)

Name	Birthdate	Birthplace	High School	Grad Year	MLB Yrs	From	To	Games
Bill Barnes	4/13/1858	Shakopee			1	1884	1884	8
Joe Werrick	10/25/1861	St. Paul			4	1884	1888	392
Lou Galvin	4/23/1863	St. Paul			1	1884	1884	3
Joe Visner	9/27/1859	Minneapolis			4	1885	1891	238
Elmer Foster	8/15/1861	Minneapolis			5	1886	1891	105
Bill Burdick	10/11/1859	Austin			2	1888	1889	31
Jack Crooks	11/9/1865	St. Paul			8	1889	1898	795
Pete Lohman	10/21/1864	Washington County			1	1891	1891	32
Roger Denzer	10/5/1871	Le Sueur			2	1897	1901	23
Bill Phyle	6/25/1875	Duluth			4	1898	1906	61
Henry Thielman	10/3/1880	St. Cloud			2	1902	1903	43
Lew Drill	5/9/1877	Browerville			4	1902	1905	293
Mike Lynch	9/10/1875	St. Paul			1	1902	1902	7
Lou Polchow	3/14/1880	Mankato			1	1902	1902	1
Chief Bender HOF	5/5/1884	Crow Wing County	Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA)		16	1903	1925	507
Jack Zalusky	6/22/1879	Minneapolis			1	1903	1903	7
Joe Marshall	2/19/1876	Audubon			2	1903	1906	43
Jack Hickey	11/3/1881	Minneapolis			1	1904	1904	2
Bill Carney	3/25/1874	St. Paul			1	1904	1904	2
Jake Thielman	5/20/1879	St. Cloud			4	1905	1908	70
Charlie Roy	6/22/1884	Beaulieu	Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA)		1	1906	1906	8
Frank Jude	11/11/1884	Libby	Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA)		1	1906	1906	80
Lee Quillin	5/5/1882	North Branch			2	1906	1907	53
Hank Gehring	1/24/1881	St. Paul			2	1907	1908	25
Andy Nelson	11/30/1884	St. Paul			1	1908	1908	2
Russ Ford	4/25/1883	Brandon, Manitoba	Minneapolis Central		7	1909	1915	199
Jim Rutherford	9/26/1886	Stillwater			1	1910	1910	1
Chief Chouneau	9/2/1888	Cloquet			1	1910	1910	1
Hap Morse	12/6/1886	St. Paul			1	1911	1911	4
Hack Spencer	4/25/1885	St. Cloud			1	1912	1912	1
Ralph Capron	6/16/1889	Minneapolis			2	1912	1913	3
Moxie Meixell	10/18/1887	Lake Crystal	Lake Crystal                                        1907		1	1912	1912	3
Bert Brenner	7/18/1887	Minneapolis			1	1912	1912	2
Ellis Johnson	12/8/1892	Minneapolis			3	1912	1917	8
Bullet Joe Bush	11/27/1892	Ehime	Brainerd		17	1912	1928	580
George Dumont	11/13/1895	Minneapolis	Minneapolis North		5	1915	1919	77
George Cunningham	7/13/1894	Sturgeon Lake			5	1916	1921	162
Tony Brottem	4/30/1891	Halstad			3	1916	1921	62
Joe Fautsch	2/28/1887	Minneapolis			1	1916	1916	1
Cy Wright	8/16/1893	Minneapolis			1	1916	1916	8
Rip Conway	4/18/1896	White Bear Lake			1	1918	1918	14
Joe Jaeger	3/3/1895	St. Cloud			1	1920	1920	2
Ollie Fuhrman	7/20/1896	Jordan			1	1922	1922	6
Doc Hamann	12/21/1900	New Ulm	New Ulm		1	1922	1922	1
Rip Wade	1/12/1898	Duluth	Duluth Denfeld	1916	1	1923	1923	33
Showboat Fisher	1/16/1899	Wesley, IA	Albany		4	1923	1932	138
Rube Walberg	7/27/1896	Pine City			15	1923	1937	547
Paul Castner	2/16/1897	St. Paul	St. Thomas Acadmey		1	1923	1923	6
Pete Turgeon	1/3/1897	Minneapolis			1	1923	1923	3
Julie Wera	2/9/1902	Winona	Winona		2	1927	1929	43
Frank Stewart	9/8/1906	Minneapolis			1	1927	1927	1
Wally Gilbert	12/19/1900	Oscoda, MI	Duluth Denfeld	1920	5	1928	1932	591
Dick Siebert	2/19/1912	Fall River, MA	Concordia Academy	1928	11	1932	1945	1035
Hy Vandenberg	3/17/1906	Abilene, KS	Minneapolis Roosevelt, Minneapolis South		7	1935	1945	90
Lefty Bertrand	2/28/1909	Cobden	St. Mary’s (Sleepy Eye)		1	1936	1936	1
Tony Giuliani	11/24/1912	St. Paul	St. Thomas Military Academy		7	1936	1943	243
Larry Rosenthal	5/21/1910	St. Paul	St. Agnes (St. Paul)		8	1936	1945	579
Les Rock	8/19/1912	Springfield			1	1936	1936	2
Gene Corbett	10/25/1913	Winona	In St. Paul?		3	1936	1938	37
Jimmy Pofahl	6/18/1917	Faribault	Faribault		3	1940	1942	225
Mickey Rocco	3/2/1916	St. Paul	St. Paul Central		4	1943	1946	440
Howie Schultz	7/3/1922	St. Paul	St. Paul Central		6	1943	1948	470
Blix Donnelly	1/21/1914	Olivia	Olivia	1932	8	1944	1951	190
Loren Bain	7/4/1922	Staples			1	1945	1945	3
Wes Westrum	11/28/1922	Clearbrook	Minneapolis South	1940	11	1947	1957	919
Don Wheeler	9/29/1922	Minneapolis	Minneapolis South		1	1949	1949	67
Milt Nielsen	2/8/1925	Tyler			2	1949	1951	19
Bob Mahoney	6/20/1928	St. Paul			2	1951	1952	36
Red Hardy	1/6/1923	Marmarth, ND	Minneapolis South		1	1951	1951	2
Rip Repulski	10/4/1928	Sauk Rapids	Sauk Rapids-Rice		9	1953	1961	928
Fred Baczewski	5/15/1926	St. Paul	St. Paul Humbolt		3	1953	1955	63
Walt Moryn	4/12/1926	St. Paul	St. Paul Harding	1944	8	1954	1961	785
Paul Giel	9/29/1932	Winona	Winona	1950	6	1954	1961	386
Johnny Blanchard	2/26/1933	Minneapolis	Minneapolis Central	1951?	8	1955	1965	516
Jerry Kindall	5/27/1935	St. Paul	St. Paul Washington	1953	9	1956	1965	742
Gordie Sundin	10/10/1937	Minneapolis	Minneapolis Washburn	1955	1	1956	1956	1
George Thomas	11/29/1937	Minneapolis	Bloomington		13	1957	1971	685
John Anderson	11/23/1929	St. Paul			3	1958	1962	24
Carl Thomas	5/28/1932	Minneapolis	Minneapolis Central		1	1960	1960	5
Bob Johnson	3/4/1936	Omaha, NE	Edina Morningside	1954	11	1960	1970	874
Dick Stigman	1/24/1936	Nimrod	Sebeka	1954	7	1960	1966	235
Fred Bruckbauer	5/27/1938	New Ulm	St. Mary’s (Sleepy Eye)		1	1961	1961	1
Dave Thies	3/21/1937	Minneapolis	Minneapolis De LaSalle		1	1963	1963	9
Bill Davis	6/6/1942	Graceville	Richfield		3	1965	1969	64
Don Arlich	2/15/1943	Wayne, MI	St. Paul North	1961	2	1965	1966	8
Arlo Brunsberg	8/15/1940	Fertile	Fertile-Beltrami		1	1966	1966	2
Jerry Koosman	12/23/1942	Appleton	West Central School of Agriculture (Morris)		19	1967	1985	612
Tom Burgmeier	8/2/1943	St. Paul	St. Cloud Cathedral	1961	17	1968	1984	745
Charlie Walters	2/21/1947	Minneapolis	Minneapolis Edison	1965	1	1969	1969	6
Mike Davison	8/4/1945	Galesburg, IL	Springfield		2	1969	1970	32
Bob Gebhard	1/3/1943	Lamberton	Lamberton		3	1971	1974	31
Bob Fenwick	12/10/1946	Naha, Okinawa, Japan	Anoka		2	1972	1973	41
Dave Goltz	6/23/1949	Pelican Rapids	Rothsay	1967	12	1972	1983	353
Mike Sadek	5/30/1946	Minneapolis	Richfield	1964	8	1973	1981	383
Jerry Terrell	7/13/1946	Waseca	Waterville	1964	8	1973	1980	656
Dave Winfield HOF	10/3/1951	St. Paul	St. Paul Central	1969	22	1973	1995	2973
Mike Johnson	3/2/1951	Slayton	Faribault	1969	1	1974	1974	18
Paul Siebert	6/5/1953	Minneapolis	Edina		5	1974	1978	87
Tom Johnson	4/2/1951	St. Paul	St. Paul Murray	1969	5	1974	1978	129
Pat Scanlon	9/23/1952	Minneapolis	Benilde-St. Margaret’s	1970	4	1974	1977	120
Mike Poepping	8/7/1950	Little Falls	Pierz		1	1975	1975	14
Gary Serum	10/24/1956	Fargo, ND	Alexandria	1975	3	1977	1979	62
Jack Morris HOF	5/16/1955	St. Paul	St. Paul Highland Park	1973	18	1977	1994	549
Paul Molitor HOF	8/22/1956	St. Paul	Cretin	1974	21	1978	1998	2683
Greg Thayer	10/23/1949	Cedar Rapids, IA	St. Cloud Tech		1	1978	1978	20
Steve Comer	1/13/1954	Minneapolis	Minnetonka	1972	7	1978	1984	176
Brad Gulden	6/10/1956	New Ulm	Chaska	1975	7	1978	1986	182
Jerry Ujdur	3/5/1957	Duluth	Hermantown	1975	5	1980	1984	53
Kent Hrbek	5/21/1960	Minneapolis	Bloomington Kennedy	1978	14	1981	1994	1747
Tim Laudner	6/7/1958	Mason City, IA	Park Center	1976	9	1981	1989	734
Jim Eisenreich	4/18/1959	St. Cloud	St. Cloud Tech	1977	15	1982	1998	1422
Brian Denman	2/12/1956	Minneapolis	Richfield	1974	1	1982	1982	9
Mike Mason	11/21/1958	Faribault	Benilde-St. Margaret’s	1977	7	1982	1988	140
Bob Hegman	2/26/1958	Springfield	Sauk Rapids-Rice	1976	1	1985	1985	1
Mike Kingery	3/29/1961	St. James	Atwater	1979	10	1986	1996	819
Terry Steinbach	3/2/1962	New Ulm	New Ulm	1980	14	1986	1999	1546
Gary Mielke	1/28/1963	St. James	Mankato West	1981	3	1987	1990	79
Greg Olson	9/6/1960	Marshall	Edina East	1979	5	1989	1993	414
Dana Kiecker	2/25/1961	Sleepy Eye	Fairfax	1979	2	1990	1991	50
Tim McIntosh	3/21/1965	Minneapolis	Hopkins	1983	5	1990	1996	71
Tom Quinlan	3/27/1968	St. Paul	Hill-Murray (Maplewood)	1986	4	1990	1996	42
Bryan Hickerson	10/13/1963	Bemidji	Bemidji	1982	5	1991	1995	209
Tom Drees	6/17/1963	Des Moines, IA	Edina	1981	1	1991	1991	4
Todd Revenig	6/28/1969	Brainerd	Brainerd	1987	1	1992	1992	2
Dan Smith	4/20/1969	St. Paul	Apple Valley	1987	2	1992	1994	17
Kerry Taylor	1/25/1971	Bemidji	Roseau	1989	2	1993	1994	37
Brian Raabe	11/5/1967	New Ulm	New Ulm	1986	3	1995	1997	17
Kerry Ligtenberg	5/11/1971	Rapid City, SD	Park (Cottage Grove)	1989	8	1997	2005	252
Jim Brower	12/29/1972	Edina	Minnetonka	1991	9	1999	2007	354
Dave Maurer	2/23/1975	Minneapolis	Apple Valley	1993	4	2000	2004	22
Michael Restovich	1/3/1979	Rochester	Rochester Mayo	1997	6	2002	2007	152
Robb Quinlan	3/17/1977	St. Paul	Hill-Murray (Maplewood)	1995	8	2003	2010	458
Joe Mauer	4/19/1983	St. Paul	Cretin-Derham Hall	2001	14	2004	2017	1731
Michael Wuertz	12/15/1978	Austin	Austin	1997	8	2004	2011	426
Ben Hendrickson	2/4/1981	St. Cloud	Bloomington Jefferson	1999	2	2004	2006	14
Dan Johnson	8/10/1979	Coon Rapids	Blaine	1997 (?)	10	2005	2015	443
Jack Hannahan	3/4/1980	St. Paul	Cretin-Derham Hall	1998	8	2006	2014	614
Pat Neshek	9/4/1980	Madison, WI	Park Center	1999	11	2006	2017	494
T.J. Bohn	1/17/1980	St. Louis Park	St. Louis Park	1998	2	2006	2008	32
Glen Perkins	3/2/1983	St. Paul	Stillwater	2001	12	2006	2017	409
Jamie Hoffmann	8/20/1984	New Ulm	New Ulm	2003 (?)	2	2009	2011	16
Brad Hand	3/20/1990	Minneapolis	Chaska	2008	7	2011	2017	244
Steve Edlefsen	6/27/1985	Minneapolis	Bloomington Jefferson		2	2011	2012	27
Neil Wagner	1/1/1984	Minneapolis	Eden Prairie	2002	3	2011	2014	52
Mark Hamburger	2/5/1987	St. Paul	Mounds View	2005	1	2011	2011	5
John Gaub	4/28/1985	St. Paul	St. Paul South	2003	1	2011	2011	4
Cole De Vries	2/12/1985	St. Louis Park	Eden Prairie	2003	2	2012	2013	21
Caleb Thielbar	1/31/1987	Northfield	Randolph	2005	3	2013	2015	109
Jake Petricka	6/5/1988	Northfield, IL	Faribault	2006	5	2013	2017	181
Seth Rosin	11/2/1988	Fargo, ND	Mounds View	2007	2	2014	2015	4
Jake Esch	3/27/1990	St. Paul	Cretin-Derham Hall	2008	2	2016	2017	4

Players born in Minnesota, but who grew up elsewhere

Did any of these men live in Minnesota into their formative ballplaying years?

Name	Birthdate	Birthplace	High School (or where raised)
DeMontreville, Gene	3/10/1873	St. Paul, MN	Washington HS (Washington, DC)
DeMontreville, Lee	9/23/1874	Washington County, MN	Washington HS (Washington, DC)
Hart, Jimmy	11/27/1875	St. Paul, MN	Sometime after 1880, family moved to west-central Wisconsin
Remneas, Alex	2/21/1886	Minneapolis, MN	Watson Township, MT
Gandil, Chick	1/19/1888	St. Paul, MN	Oakland HS (Oakland, CA)
Houck, Byron	8/28/1891	Prosper, MN	Attended University of Oregon. Began pro career in Spokane. Played primarily in Pacific Coast League.
Hill, Carmen	10/1/1895	Royalton, MN	Corry HS (Corry, PA)
Buckeye, Garland	10/6/1897	Heron Lake, MN	Joliet Township HS (Joliet, IL)
Harris, Spencer	8/12/1900	Duluth, MN	Broadway HS (Seattle, WA)
Nevers, Ernie	6/11/1902	Willow River, MN	Santa Rosa HS (Santa Rosa, CA)
Chozen, Harry	9/27/1915	Winnebago, MN	High School in Pasadena, I think
Graham, Jack	12/24/1916	Minneapolis, MN	Woodrow Wilson HS (Long Beach, CA)
Mauro, Carmen	11/10/1926	St. Paul, MN	Morton HS (Cicero, IL)
Maris, Roger	9/10/1934	Hibbing, MN	Bishop Shanley HS (Fargo, ND)
Robinson, Dave	5/22/1946	Minneapolis, MN	Clairmont HS (Clairmont, CA), La Jolla HS (La Jolla, CA)
Nordhagen, Wayne	7/4/1948	Thief River Falls, MN	Glide HS (Glide, OR)
Foucault, Steve	10/3/1949	Duluth, MN	Coral Park HS (Miami, FL)
Kelly, Tom	8/15/1950	Graceville, MN	St. Mary’s HS (South Amboy, NJ)
Dimmel, Mike	10/16/1954	Albert Lea, MN	Logansport HS (Logansport, IN)
Sularz, Guy	11/7/1955	Minneapolis, MN	North Hollywood HS (North Hollywood, CA)
Hargis, Gary	11/2/1956	Minneapolis, MN	Cabrillo HS (Lompoc, CA)
Gullickson, Bill	2/20/1959	Marshall, MN	Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet, IL)
Niedenfuer, Tom	8/13/1959	St. Louis Park, MN	Redmond HS (Redmond, WA)
Sele, Aaron	6/25/1970	Golden Valley, MN	North Kitsap HS (Poulsbo, WA)
Schmidt, Jeff	2/21/1971	Northfield, MN	La Crosse Central HS (La Crosse, WI)
Crowell, Jim	5/14/1974	Minneapolis, MN	Vaparaiso HS (Valparaiso, IN)
Reitsma, Chris	12/31/1977	Minneapolis, MN	Calgary Christian HS (Calgary, AB)
Johnson, Josh	1/31/1984	Minneapolis, MN	Jenks HS (Jenks, OK)
Davis, Ike	3/22/1987	Edina, MN	Chaparral HS (Scottsdale, AZ)
Solis, Sammy	8/10/1988	Minneapolis, MN	Agua Fria HS (Avondale, AZ)
Lombardozzi, Steve	9/20/1988	Edina, MN	Atholton HS (Columbia, MD)
Morin, Mike	5/3/1991	Andover, MN	Shawnee Mission South HS (Overland Park, KS)
Reed, Michael	11/18/1992	Maplewood, MN	Leander HS (Leander, TX)