The best baseball players born on April 8

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 8.

1) Gary Carter (1954)
Known as "The Kid" for his joyful exuberance, Carter was one of baseball's best catchers throughout his 19-year career. He finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1975 and earned his first of 11 All-Star selections while batting .270 with 17 homers and 83 RBIs. Carter surpassed 30 homers for the first time in 1977 and began a run of 10 consecutive All-Star nods in 1979. He also won three Gold Glove Awards with the Expos before being traded to the Mets before the 1985 season.

Carter quickly embraced the bright lights of New York City, becoming a vocal leader for an up-and-coming squad. Stepping into the cleanup spot, Carter hit a walk-off home run in his Mets debut and slugged a career-high 32 homers for the season. Carter came up clutch in the 1986 postseason, starting with the game-winning hit in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Astros. He added a game-tying sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of World Series Game 6, and singled to ignite the game-winning rally in the 10th against the Red Sox. He also drove in the tying run in Game 7 as the Mets became World Series champs. Carter finished his career with 2,092 hits, 324 homers and 1,225 RBIs and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

2) Félix Hernández (1986)
King Félix burst onto the scene in 2005 at age 19 and became the first teenager since Dwight Gooden and José Rijo in 1984 to win a big league game. He made his first All-Star team and was AL Cy Young runner-up in 2009, when he went 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA. Félix followed that up by leading the Majors with a 2.27 ERA and winning his first Cy Young Award. He was an All-Star in each of the next five seasons, including another Cy Young runner-up finish in 2014 while posting a career-best 2.14 ERA. Félix also had some success with the bat, becoming the first AL pitcher since 1971 to hit a grand slam when he took Johan Santana deep on June 23, 2008. But the highlight of his tenure with the Mariners was Aug. 15, 2012, when Hernández threw the first perfect game in franchise history. He struck out 12 Rays hitters at Safeco Field, including five of the last six he faced.

3) Catfish Hunter (1946)
Signed out of high school by the Kansas City A's, Jim Hunter was dubbed "Catfish" by owner Charlie Finley. The name stuck as Hunter put together a Hall of Fame career with his big-game pitching and immaculate control. He debuted in 1965 and was an All-Star in '66 and '67 for Kansas City, but it was when the franchise moved to Oakland that he really began to make history. On May 8, 1968, Hunter threw the American League's first perfect game in 46 years. In 1971, he began a run of five consecutive 20-win seasons, including his lone Cy Young Award in his last year with the A's in 1974. He went 25-12 with a 2.49 ERA before becoming the first free agent in baseball's modern era.

The Yankees won a bidding war for Catfish's services by signing him to a five-year, $3.75 million contract. After winning three straight World Series with the A's from 1972-'74, he won two more with the Yankees in '77 and '78. Hunter struggled in 1979 and retired with a 224-166 record and 3.26 ERA with 2,012 strikeouts and only 954 walks in 3,449 1/3 innings. Upon being voted into the Hall of Fame in 1987, he could not choose between the A's and Yankees, so his plaque is one of the few in Cooperstown with no insignia on the cap.

4) Carlos Santana (1986)
One of the top prospects in baseball in the Dodgers' system when he was traded to Cleveland, Santana debuted in 2010 and showed a keen eye at the plate from the start. He posted a .401 on-base percentage in limited action and topped .350 in each of his first nine full big league seasons. Primarily a catcher early in his career, Santana also played first base and started a triple play in his first career start there in 2011. He played some third base but ultimately ended up at first base long-term in 2014 and continued to rack up walks at the plate, surpassing 100 for the first time. After one season with the Phillies, Santana returned to Cleveland in 2019 and made his first All-Star team while matching his career high with 34 homers and driving in a career-high 93 runs.

5) John Hiller (1943)
Hiller pitched 15 seasons for the Tigers, starting off as a swingman and going 9-6 with a 2.39 ERA for the 1968 World Series champions. His career looked to be in jeopardy when he suffered a heart attack and missed the entire 1971 season, but he returned and established himself as one of baseball's top relievers. He led the Majors with 38 saves in 1973 and put up a 1.44 ERA while finishing fourth in AL MVP and Cy Young voting. Hiller was an All-Star the following season, when he saved 13 games and won 17 more, racking up 150 innings in 59 relief appearances. He won another 11 games in relief in 1976 before getting the start in the final game of the regular season and tossing a four-hit shutout.

Others of note:

Turk Farrell (1934)
Farrell had the distinction of losing 20 games and being an All-Star -- in the same season. The right-hander went 10-20 with a 3.02 ERA and struck out 203 while walking only 55 in 241 2/3 innings for the Houston Colt .45s in 1962. Farrell was no stranger to adversity, overcoming polio as a baby and being in and out of the hospital until he was 18. He nevertheless went on to become a four-time All-Star and pitch in the Majors for 14 years.

Jeff McNeil (1992)
McNeil took the Big Apple by storm in 2018 for the Mets, debuting on July 24 and hitting .329 to finish sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. He kept on hitting in his first full season, batting .318 and adding power to his game with 23 home runs and a .531 slugging percentage. McNeil also made his first All-Star team and displayed versatility by playing second base, third base, left field and right field. He led the Majors with a .326 batting average and was an All-Star for the second time in his career while helping the Mets to 101 wins in 2022.

Jeremy Guthrie (1979)
Guthrie took a long and winding road to his first Major League victory. He pitched one year at Brigham Young University, spent two years in Spain on a Mormon mission and returned to pitch two years at Stanford before being selected by Cleveland in the first round of the 2002 Draft. Guthrie pitched 16 games over three seasons with Cleveland without winning a game before landing with the Orioles for the 2007 season. He finally got his first MLB win eight days after his 28th birthday and ended up with 91 career victories over 13 seasons.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for April 8? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.