The best baseball players born on April 16

Who are the best players born on each day of the year? We have a list for every day on the calendar.

Here’s a subjective ranking of the top five for April 16:

1) Paul Waner (1903)
Warner spent the first 15 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, recording the third-most hits in franchise history behind Roberto Clemente and Honus Wagner. The outfielder starred on the 1920s-30s Bucs alongside his brother, Lloyd, who is also enshrined in Cooperstown. In 1927, Waner recorded an extra-base hit in 14 consecutive games, which stood as a Major League record until Chipper Jones broke it 79 years later. Paul and Lloyd still hold the MLB record for most hits among brothers (5,611), besting the likes of Joe, Dom and Vince DiMaggio and Felipe, Matty and Jesus Alou.

2) Nolan Arenado (1991)
Arenado may well top this list by the time his career is up. The eight-time All-Star earned Gold Gloves in each of his first ten seasons, breaking the record held among third basemen by Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. Arenado, who also has five Silver Sluggers to his credit, received NL MVP votes in five of his eight years with the Rockies before the club traded him to the Cardinals prior to the 2021 season. He has won his sixth consecutive Platinum Glove Award in 2022, and hit his 300th career homer in '23.

3) Dutch Leonard (1892)
Leonard was a hard-throwing left-hander for the Red Sox and Tigers in the early 20th century. He pitched seven big league seasons before recording an ERA higher than 2.77, and he recorded double-digit wins nine times in his 11-year career. Leonard’s best season was his second (1914), as he went 19-5 for the Sox and led the Majors in ERA (0.96), ERA+ (279), FIP (1.95), WHIP (0.89) and K/9 (7.1). He won World Series rings with the Red Sox in 1915 and '16. After moving to the Tigers, a feud with manager Ty Cobb contributed to Leonard calling it a career in 1925.

4) Babe Phelps (1908)
Phelps had short stints with the Senators and Cubs before breaking out with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935. He finished as runner-up for the NL batting title with a .367 average in '36. The left-handed-hitting catcher earned three All-Star nods and batted .310 over his 11-year career. Phelps was inducted into the Dodgers Hall of Fame prior to his death in 1992.

5) Fernando Vina (1969)
Vina earned an All-Star nod with the Brewers in 1998, hitting .311 with 45 RBIs in his sixth big league season. Two years later, the second baseman began a solid four-year run with the Cardinals, earning a pair of Gold Gloves during his time in St. Louis.

Others of note:

Jim Lonborg (1942)
The right-hander won the 1967 AL Cy Young Award with the Boston Red Sox, going 22-9 with a league-high 246 strikeouts.

Travis Shaw (1990)
The slugging corner infielder recorded 10.8 WAR over his first four seasons.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for April 16? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.