The best baseball players born on Feb. 17

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 Feb. 17.

1) Wally Pipp (1893)
Pipp is best remembered as the player Lou Gehrig replaced in the Yankees’ starting lineup in 1925 after New York’s regular first baseman purportedly requested a day off due to a headache. Gehrig went on to play 2,130 consecutive games, and getting “Wally Pipped” entered the sports lexicon. Before losing his job to Gehrig, Pipp was one of the top sluggers of the Dead Ball Era (pre-1920), leading all players with 12 homers in 1916 and the American League with nine the following year. He also helped the Yankees win their first World Series title in 1923.

2) Josh Willingham (1979)
Willingham famously pulled off the rare feat of hitting two grand slams in a game in 2009, part of a solid career in which he produced 195 homers and a 121 OPS+. The outfielder played for five teams and had a 20-homer season for four of them, with a career high of 35 dingers as a member of the Twins in 2012.

3) Scott Williamson (1976)
Williamson won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1999 after recording a 2.41 ERA with 19 saves and 107 strikeouts over 93 1/3 innings for the Reds. He later pitched for the Red Sox, Cubs, Padres and Orioles and saved all three of Boston's wins in the 2003 AL Championship Series against the Yankees.

4) Dick Bosman (1944)
Bosman pitched for the Senators/Rangers, Indians and A’s in an 11-year career that was highlighted by an AL ERA title in 1969. The right-hander threw 193 innings for Washington that year and finished with a 2.19 ERA, edging out Orioles teammates Jim Palmer (2.34) and Mike Cuellar (2.38) for the crown, though Cuellar won the Cy Young Award.

5) Roger Craig (1930)
A right-handed pitcher, Craig won three World Series titles as a player -- two with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1955, 1959) and one with the Cardinals (1964) -- and another as the Tigers’ pitching coach in 1984. As a manager, he led the 1989 Giants to the NL pennant. Craig also started the first game in Mets history on Opening Day in 1962.

Others of note:

Whammy Douglas (1935)
Despite losing an eye as a child, Douglas reached the Majors with the Pirates in 1957 and posted a 3.26 ERA over 47 innings. He was later included in the 1959 trade between the Pirates and Reds that brought Harvey Haddix, Don Hoak and Smoky Burgess to Pittsburgh. All three played key roles in the Pirates’ 1960 World Series championship.

Michael Jordan (1963)
All eyes were on the Double-A Birmingham Barons in 1994 when the basketball icon played 127 games for the White Sox affiliate during his first brief retirement from the NBA.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Feb. 17? Find the complete list on Baseball-Reference.