Extending this to baseball, here’s an idea I created to name a birthday of a major league player or personality for each day of the year. The format is to take the top player for each day.
In doing this, it was difficult to take one name, but the object is to select the best for each day. I included multiple players to certain days when their contributions or excellence in the game was comparable. For example, January 31 is a birthday shared by three Hall of Famers—Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks and Nolan Ryan. Each of these stars deserves to be recognized on that day for their achievements in the game. Robinson for breaking the color barrier in 1947, being the first recipient for Rookie of the Year honors, capturing an N.L. MVP award and helping Brooklyn to a World Series title. Banks for becoming the first power-hitting shortstop and the first at his position to win consecutive league MVP honors. Ryan for becoming the all-time strikeout king for a single-season and a career, winning 300 games and tossing a record seven no-hitters.
For the date February 5, two Hall of Famers share that birthday—Hank Aaron and Roberto Alomar. But if I had to choose one over the other, Aaron is an easy choice. The same can be said of Honus Wagner over Eddie Murray (Feb. 24), Ron Santo over Monte Irvin (Feb. 25), Mickey Cochrane over Bert Blyleven (April 6), Miguel Cabrera over Sam Crawford (April 18) or George Brett over John Smoltz (May 15). There were several others, so I picked the player I believed was the one most fans would choose as the better big league performer.
There were some players who share the same birthday that were equal and were both named. And for some dates lacking a big-time star . . . well some dates just didn’t have a superstar born on that day, which is why such players like Donn Clendenon was the winner of the July 15 B-day.
The choices made are all for fun, so here are my selections for the top players for birthdays for each day of the year.