The Best Baseball Player Born in Wyoming: Tom Browning

The last state in the United States alphabetically and it’s maybe the hardest decision to choose which player is the best born there.

Wyoming has had only a very few baseball players come from there and nobody really stands out. Mike Lansing leads in hits, John Buck leads in home runs, and my choice Tom Browning leads in wins.

I’ll keep it short because there’s really not much to say about the career of Browning. He got the nod over Lansing mostly due to his 1991 All-Star Game selection. He also won 20 games in his rookie season in 1985.

The Best Baseball Player Born in Wisconsin: Kid Nichols

Wisconsin has some great baseball players from the state, particularly from the beginning of the 20th century. Guys like Burleigh Grimes, Addie Joss, and Al Simmons are all from the same state. The best, though, is pitcher Kid Nichols.

Nichols won 361 career games and was one of the best pitchers in the 1800s. He’s not at the level of Cy Young or Walter Johnson, but how can anyone ignore all of those victories?

Nichols’ name seems to come up often whenever I research baseball history. I admit, I never knew the name before creating the Cleat Report. The more I learn about baseball the more I appreciate him and other players from his era.

The Best Baseball Player Born in West Virginia: George Brett

Determining the best baseball player born in West Virginia is pretty easy because the man for the title is one of the best at his position too.

George Brett, a member of the 3000 Hit Club, is the best baseball player born in West Virginia. The Hall of Fame third baseman was more than a crazy man dashing out of the dugout at umpires because he had too much pine tar on his bat. Brett won 3 batting titles and was an All-Star every season from 1976-1988.

By George_Brett_1990.jpg: photo by SW (via MissouriStateArchives, on Flickr derivative work: Delaywaves talk (George_Brett_1990.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Best Baseball Player Born in Washington: Ron Santo

After careful review of the nominees in the process of naming the best baseball player born in Washington, it appears the best current choices are Chicago Cubs.

Both Ron Santo and Ryne Sandberg were born in Washington. Both are in the Hall of Fame and both have some very similar statistics. The biggest difference might be how long it took each to enter Cooperstown. Sandberg got in pretty quickly while Santo had to wait. Reviewing the numbers, Santo actually appears a bit more superior.

Santo had more home runs and RBIs than Sandberg. Slightly behind him in a few other categories like hits and batting average, Santo still had very comparable statistics to Sandberg. I’d also like to give Santo the benefit of playing in a less offense-oriented era.

In this case, an “ask the audience” might be appropriate. Using Baseball-Reference’s Fan EloRater, Santo ranks 56th and Sandberg is 58th.

The best baseball player born in Washington is a Cub and his name is Santo.

The Best Baseball Player Born in Virginia: Billy Wagner

The majority of talented baseball players from Virginia began their careers in the 1800s or played in the 2000s. Active players like David Wright, Justin Verlander, and Michael Cuddyer were all considered. The best, however, is retired closer Billy Wagner.

One of only a very few to save over 400 games in his career, Wagner was consistently one of the best ninth-inning men no matter what team he played for. His 2.31 ERA is great, but not as good as his 11.9 strikeouts per 9.

Wagner has a realistic chance at entering Cooperstown when eligible. If he does, he’ll join Eppa Rixey as the only other Virginia native in the Hall of Fame.

By Alex Kim from NYC, US (Wagner pitches…) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The Best Baseball Player Born in Vermont: Carlton Fisk

The best baseball player born in Vermont is easily Carlton Fisk. Nobody else born in the state comes close.

Fisk is a Hall of Famer with over 2300 hits and over 350 home runs. As a catcher, he also stole 128 bases while being named to 11 All-Star teams.

Fisk’s crowning moment in baseball is his home run in the World Series for the Boston Red Sox. His famous “waving it fair” gesture is as iconic as any in sports lore.

The Best Baseball Player Born in Utah: Bruce Hurst

Utah doesn’t have too many great baseball players to choose from when trying to find the best. The clear winner is pitcher Bruce Hurst who won 145 games in his career.

In addition to his individual numbers, Hurst is the only Utah-born player to ever receive an All-Star selection. He also finished 5th in the 1988 American League Cy Young Award voting while with the Boston Red Sox.

The Best Baseball Player Born in Texas: Nolan Ryan

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the amount of great baseball players born in the state.

From the offensive side of things there’s Tris Speaker, Frank Robinson, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Morgan, Ernie Banks, and Eddie Mathews to choose from. For the pitchers, there’s Greg Maddux and my choice, Nolan Ryan.

No player is better associated with Texas than Ryan anyway so he’s a perfect representative. It’s also very hard to leave off a guy who struck out far more batters than anyone else. Although Maddux won more games than Ryan, their ERAs were almost identical even if we don’t think of Ryan as someone with a particularly low earned run average.

Backed by his 5714 strikeouts, Ryan is the best baseball player born in Texas.

By Chuck Andersen (Nolan Ryan – Tiger Statium 1990) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The Best Baseball Player Born in Tennessee: Todd Helton

Tennessee has a lot of baseball players from the state without a single Hall of Famer. This could change eventually; pitcher David Price is still active. Plus the best player ever from Tennessee is not yet eligible, former Colorado Rockies’ first baseman Todd Helton.

Helton hit 369 home runs and had a lifetime .316 batting average. His .414 on-base percentage is certainly better than most man can claim to have.

Of everyone in Tennessee, Helton is first in home runs and RBIs. He’s also not far behind Vada Pinson in hits.

Although not the easiest decision, I’m comfortable naming Helton the best player born in Tennessee.

By dbking on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “IMG_9196”) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The Best Baseball Player Born in South Dakota: Keith Foulke

As you may imagine, South Dakota isn’t a hub of baseball talent. Graduating classes you could count on one finger, there haven’t been very many players to even come from the state.

Selecting the best was easy because he had nearly 200 saves and a nice 3.33 ERA over a long career. I’m of course referring to Keith Foulke.

Foulke may one day be passed by Sean Doolittle – the current closer for the Oakland Athletics – as the best from South Dakota. Foulke did it first though when in 2003 he saved a league leading 43 games for the A’s and finished 7th in the Cy Young Award voting.