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Williamson among 72 Minnesotans with a big league win
Martin County West graduate Brandon Williamson is one of 72 Minnesota-born players to be the winning pitcher in a major league baseball game.
Williamson, who has a career record of 5-5, is on Cincinnati Reds 26-man roster that will open the season at home Thursday vs. the Boston Red Sox.
The left hander recorded his first career win at Kansas City on June 16, 2023. It was his sixth start after being called up from Triple-A Louisville on May 16.
Cincinnati manager Terry Francona will start the season with six pitchers filling a five-man starting rotation.
Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo and Brady Singer will take up three spots in the rotation. A combination of Williamson, Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder fill the other three.
None of the younger three (Williamson. Burns or Lowder) will pitch in the opening series vs. Boston, but two will start the three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates the next series, and the other will come into a game in relief.
The top two pitchers on the list of Minnesota-born pitchers to win games in the majors recorded 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, recorded 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 that area, 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 graduated 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.
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
40
Brad Hand, St. Paul
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
Jake Thielman, St. Cloud
29
Mike Mason, Faribault
27
Blix Donnelly, Olivia
26
Bryan Houck, Prosper
Caleb Thielbar, Northfield
23
Tom Johnson, St. Paul
22
Jake Irvin, Bloomington
21
Bryan Hickerson, Bemidji
Michael Wuertz, Austin
17
Fred Baczewski, St. Paul
A.J. Puk, Minneapolis
16
George Cunningham, Sturgeon Lake
15
Mike Baumann, Mahtomedi
14
Nick Anderson, Crosby
12
Bill Burdick, Austin
Mike Morin, Andover
Jerry Ujdur, Duluth
11
Paul Giel, Winona
10
George Dumont, Minneapolis
Dana Kiecker, Sleepy Eye
Jake Petricka, Northfield
Bill Phyle, Duluth
9
Henry Thielman, St. Cloud
Louis Varland
6
Ernie Nevers, Willow River
7
Sean Hjelle, Fridley
Sam Hentges, Maplewood
6
Max Meyer
Ernie Nevers, Willow River
5
Cole De Vries, St. Louis Park
Sammy Solis, Minneapolis
Brandon Williamson, Fairmont
4
Roger Denzer, Le Sueur
Louie Varland, St. Paul
3
Brian Denman, Minneapolis
Hank Gehring, St. Paul
Paul Siebert, Minneapolis
2
Bob Mahoney, Le Roy
Jeff Schmidt, Northfield
Gus Varland
Neil Wagner, Minneapolis
1
Bert Brenner, Minneapolis
Bob Gebhard, Lamberton
Joey Gerber, Maple Grove
Mark Hamburger, St. Paul
Ben Hendrickson, St. Cloud
Dave Maurer, Minneapolis
Adam Mazur, St. Paul
Gary Mielke, St. James
Dan Smith, St. Paul
Carl Thomas, Minneapolis
Chris Zavaras, Duluth