When Brandon Williamson picked up his first major league win at Kansas City Tuesday, he became the 67th Minnesota-born player to do so.
The Martin County West graduate recorded the win in his sixth start since being brought up from Triple-A Louisville on May 16. While it was his first decision, the Reds are now 5-1 when Williamson starts.
Williamson is scheduled to start at home Monday vs. Colorado. He made his first start vs. the Rockies on May 16 in Denver.
The top two pitchers on the list earned some of their wins with the home-state Twins.
St. Paul’s Jack Morris is first with 254 career wins with Detroit (198), Toronto (28), Minnesota (18) and Cleveland (10).
Jerry Koosman, who was born in Appleton, picked up 222 wins with the New York Mets (140), Twins (39), White Sox (23) and Phillies (20).
Southwest Minnesota
Using a somewhat loose definition of southwest Minnesota, seven pitchers with a win have come from southwest Minnesota, led by Marshall-born Bill Gullickson, who won 162 games with Montreal (72), Detroit (51), Cincinnati (25), Houston (10) and the New York Yankees (4).
Gullickson graduate from Joliet, Ill. Catholic. He won 20 games for the Tigers in 1990.
We’ve previously discussed Garland Buckeye in this space. He was born in Heron Lake in 1897 and graduated from Joliet Township, Ill.
Buckeye spent more time as a position player, but did win 30 games in the majors, all during his four years with Cleveland including a high of 13 in 1925. He also played one year each with the Washington Senators and New York Giants and played in the American Pro Football Association and the first American Football League.
Blix Donnelly was born in Olivia and graduated from Olivia High School. He played with the National League team in two-team cities as he won 27 games in his , 16 with the Philadelphia Phillies and 11 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Donnelly also made six appearances in his one season with the Boston Braves.
Donnelly was the winning pitcher in Game 2 of the 1944 World Series as the Cardinals beat the crosstown rival St. Louis Browns 4-3 in 11 innings. He didn’t allow a run in four innings, giving up two hits, walking one and striking out seven.
Dana Kiecker was born in Sleepy Eye and graduated from Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. He won 10 games in two seasons with the Red Sox.
Kiecker was Rookie of the Year on Boston’s Eastern Division championship team in 1990 and started Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. He went 5.2 innings, allowing one run on six hits, walking one and striking out two. The game was tied 1-1 when he left. The A’s won the game 4-1 and would sweep the series.
Gary Mielke was born in St. James and attended Mankato West High School and Minnesota State University. He appeared in 79 games in three seasons with the Texas Rangers and recorded one victory in 1989.
Rounding out the list is Bob Gebhard, who was born in Lamberton and attended Lamberton High School and the University of Iowa. He appeared in 30 games over the 1971 and 1972 seasons with the Twins and recorded his only win over the White Sox on Aug. 21, 1971 before a crowd of 5,640 at Metropolitan Stadium. He was signed as a free agent by Montreal in 1974 and appeared in one game for the Expos that September.
His front office career began with Montreal in 1976 as field director of minor league operations. He then returned to the Twins as assistant general manager and worked with Minnesota during its 1987 and 1991 championship seasons. Gebhard became the first GM in Colorado Rockies' history during the 1991–92 offseason.
Active pitchers
There are nine active Minnesota-born pitchers who have recorded wins, led by the Twins’ Caleb Thielbar, who was born in Northfield and played high school baseball at Randolph.
He has 18 career wins, all with Minnesota.
Here’s the list of active pitchers born in Minnesota. Win totals as of June 16. Listed are name, town born, high school and wins with each team they played for.
18
Caleb Thielbar, Northfield, Randolph, all wins with Minnesota.
11
Nick Anderson, Crosby, Brainerd, all with Atlanta.
9
A.J. Puk, Minneapolis, Cedar Rapids Washington, 6 with Oakland and 3 with Miami.
6
Mike Baumann, Mahtomedi, Mahtomedi, all with Baltimore.
4
Sam Hentges, Maplewood, Mounds View, all with Cleveland
Louie Varland, St. Paul, North, all with Minnesota
2
Sean Hjelle, Fridley, Mahtomedi, all with San Francisco
1
Jake Irvin, Bloomington, Bloomington Jefferson, all with Washington
Brandon Williamson, Fairmont, Martin County West, all with Cincinnati
Career wins
Career wins by pitchers born in Minnesota. Listed are name and city born.
254
Jack Morris, St. Paul
222
Jerry Koosman, Appleton
212
Charles Bender, Crow Wing County
196
Bullet Joe Bush, Ehime
162
Bill Gullickson, Marshall
155
Rube Walberg, Pine City
148
Aaron Sele, Golden Valley
113
Dave Goltz, Pelican Rapids
79
Tom Burgmeier, St. Paul
58
Josh Johnson, Minneapolis
49
Carmen Hill, Royalton
46
Dick Stigman, Nimrod
44
Steve Comer, Cloquet
37
Brad Hand, St. Paul – x
36
Tom Niedenfuer, St. Louis Park
35
Steve Foucault, Duluth
Glen Perkins, St. Paul
33
Jim Brower, Edina
32
Chris Reitsma, Minneapolis
30
Garland Buckeye, Heron Lake
29
Mike Mason, Faribault
27
Blix Donnelly, Olivia
26
Bryan Houck, Prosper
23
Tom Johnson, St. Paul
21
Bryan Hickerson, Bemidji
Michael Wuertz, Austin
18
Caleb Thielbar, Northfield-x
17
Fred Baczewski, St. Paul
16
George Cunningham, Sturgeon Lake
12
Bill Burdick, Austin
Mike Morin, Andover
Jerry Ujdur, Duluth
11
Nick Anderson, Crosby-x
Paul Giel, Winona
10
George Dumont, Minneapolis
Dana Kiecker, Sleepy Eye
Jake Petricka, Northfield
Bill Phyle, Duluth
Jake Thielman, St. Cloud
9
A.J. Puk, Minneapolis-x
Henry Thielman, St. Cloud
6
Mike Baumann, Mahtomedi-x
Ernie Nevers, Willow River
5
Cole De Vries, St. Louis Park
Sammy Solis, Minneapolis
4
Roger Denzer, Le Sueur
Sam Hentges, Maplewood-x
Louie Varland, St. Paul-x
3
Brian Denman, Minneapolis
Hank Gehring, St. Paul
Paul Siebert, Minneapolis
2
Sean Hjelle, Fridley-x
Bob Mahoney, Le Roy
Jeff Schmidt, Northfield
Neil Wagner, Minneapolis
1
Bert Brenner, Minneapolis
Bob Gebhard, Lamberton
Joey Gerber, Maple Grove
Mark Hamburger, St. Paul
Ben Hendrickson, St. Cloud
Jake Irvin, Bloomington-x
Dave Maurer, Minneapolis
Gary Mielke, St. James
Dan Smith, St. Paul
Carl Thomas, Minneapolis
Brandon Williamson, Fairmont-x
Chris Zavaras, Duluth
x-active