When a town’s citizen receives the call to the Bigs, his hometown usually goes crazy.
He gets a parade, streets are named after him, the whole deal.
But what happens when the local neighborhood kid is playing for the local favorite team? Everyone goes crazy.
The standard for a hometown hero was set long ago, when Lou Gehrig, a young man from the Yorkville neighborhood of New York City, began his career with the New York Yankees.
“The Iron Horse” would end up setting the record for consecutive games played (since broken by Cal Ripken, another star playing in his hometown) and career hits as a Yankee (since broken by Derek Jeter, who was born in Northern New Jersey).
Since then, greats such as Pete Rose and Tony Gwynn have played in their hometown.
The general consensus around baseball is that Joe Mauer is the one of the greatest players in baseball. But which hometown hero is having the best 2010?
Here are the top ten.