The best baseball players born on April 22

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 22:

1) Jimmy Key (1961)

A quiet, steady pitcher, Key left his mark on baseball and the Blue Jays’ organization thanks to his excellent mechanics and control. A cornerstone for Toronto in the 1980s and ‘90s, Key provided consistency throughout his career. Key secured the crucial Game 6 win in both Toronto’s 1992 World Series championship and in New York’s 1996 title-winning campaign. A four-time All-Star, Key holds the record for lowest Blue Jays ERA (3.42, tied with Dave Stieb) among pitchers who threw at least 500 innings with the team. He also won at least 12 games in Toronto for eight seasons in a row (1985-92), and he finished in the top 5 in AL Cy Young voting three times. In 2009 he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

2) Mickey Vernon (1918)

Considered by many to be one of the best baseball players of the 1940s, Vernon excelled both at the plate and at first base. A seven-time All-Star, Vernon was a gem on and off the field: “He was one of the finest human beings I met in all my years in baseball,” said former New York sportswriter and baseball executive Arthur Richman. Vernon enlisted in the Navy and served in the south Pacific during WWII, missing the 1944 and ‘45 seasons. Among his accomplishments at the plate were: hitting for the cycle and hitting two grand slams, four inside-the-park home runs and two pinch-hit homers. On the field, Vernon turned 2,044 double plays during his career, the most of any first baseman. He finished among the top 25 AL MVP vote-getters five times, including third in 1953, the same year he won his second NL Batting Title (the first came in 1946).

3) Dee Strange-Gordon (1988)

An NL Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, Strange-Gordon put as much effort into his time spent off the field as he did playing. The speedy shortstop was a four-time Roberto Clemente Award nominee and is known for his time spent giving back to various charities that help kids, single parents and survivors of domestic violence. As a player, Strange-Gordon led the Majors in stolen bases three times and ranked first among active players with 333 career steals (as of the 2021 season). His work with the Marlins in 2015 (a .333/.359/.418 slash line and 205 hits) earned him the NL Batting Title and his second All-Star selection. In 2019, Strange-Gordon was the Hutch Award winner.

4) Bob Smith (1895)

Smith, a shortstop turned pitcher who lied about his age for his entire MLB career (he claimed he was three years younger than he actually was), spent 13 years in the Majors. In 1927, Smith pitched a 22-inning complete game. Though he lost, and though the pitch count was not recorded, he must have thrown upwards of 200 pitches as he faced 89 batters. That outing was the third-longest marathon start in AL/NL history. Though he was relegated to the bullpen in 1932, the Cubs made the World Series and Smith entered the opener in the eighth inning. He struck out Red Ruffing and retired Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, though he did allow a pair of hits. Smith threw his final big league pitch at age 42, as a player-coach with the Boston Bees.

5) Ray Benge (1902)

A solid right-handed pitcher, Benge pitched for teams with a combined .412 winning percentage for approximately 90% of his 12-year career. That’s rough. But Benge persisted, and after his playing days were over he spent 12 years as baseball coach for Sam Houston State University (which reached the NAIA World Series six times and won the championship once during Benge’s tenure). Benge exhibited his prowess on the mound in his first start, becoming the first known Cleveland pitcher to register at least 7 2/3 scoreless innings in their debut when he hurled a four-hit shutout. (His next outing didn’t go quite as well, and he was chased after just 2 2/3 innings.) Benge finished his career with a 4.11 ERA, 655 strikeouts and a 101-129 record.

Other notable players:

Marshall Riddle (1918)

A seven-year veteran in the Negro American League, Riddle was named to two All-Star teams, and in 1940 he led the NAL with a .377 average, a .607 slugging percentage and four triples.

Mickey Morandini (1966)

The Philly native played for the Phillies for nine years and made one All-Star Game. Morandini was also responsible for one of the Phils’ two unassisted triple plays on Sept. 20, 1992, on a line drive that Jeff King hit off of Curt Schilling in the sixth inning.

Tyson Ross (1987)

Ross made his sole All-Star team in 2014, when he recorded a 2.81 ERA over 31 starts while racking up 195 strikeouts. Two seasons later, Ross walked a league-high 84 batters.

Kevin Kiermaier (1990)

With three Gold Glove Awards, Kiermaier has been one of the best defensive players in recent history in the Majors. Oh, and he also won a Platinum Glove in 2015 as the AL’s best overall defensive player. In 2015 and ‘16 he led the AL in defensive WAR (4.6 and 3.1, respectively). He also had a perfect (1.000) fielding percentage in 2020, and was near-perfect in ‘21 (.996).

Want to see more baseball birthdays for April 22? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.