Top 5 - Baseball Players from Illinois

Here are who I consider the top 5 players born in Illinois.

1. Rickey Henderson - the all-time stolen base king
2. Robin Yount - Hall of Famer and 2-time AL MVP
3. Robin Roberts - Hall of Fame pitcher - 286-245 with a career 3.41 ERA
4. Kirby Puckett - Hall of Fame outfielder
5. Al Spalding - Hall of Fame pitcher - 253-65 (an incredible .796 winning percentage - the best of all-time) with a career 2.14 ERA (9th best all-time). Spalding also started the sporting goods empire that bears his name even today.

Just missing the cut:

- Jim Bottomley - Hall of Fame 1st baseman and 1928 NL MVP
- Freddie Lindstrom - Hall of Fame infielder
- Freddie Lynn - AL ROY and MVP in 1975 (I always thought he was from California). I firmly believe that if Lynn stayed in Boston that he'd be in the HoF today.
- Ray Schalk - Hall of fame catcher
- Red Schoendienst - Hall of fame 2nd baseman - 10-time All-Star
- Jim Thome - will he be in the Hall of Fame?
- Joe McGinnity - Hall of fame pitcher - 246-142 with a career 2.66 ERA
- Red Ruffing - Hall of Fame pitcher - 273-225 with a career 3.80 ERA