The best baseball players born on July 2

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 July 2:

1) Jose Canseco (1964)
He won a World Series, hit 462 career homers, was an MVP and Rookie of the Year and generally terrorized pitching for much of the late 1980s and '90s. But one seemingly harmless fly ball off the bat of Carlos Martinez on the afternoon of May 26, 1993, perhaps eclipsed all that Canseco accomplished on the field, as far as leaving an inedible image in the minds of fans goes.

With the Rangers in the thick of the early AL West race, Texas was closing out a three-game series in Cleveland. Martinez lifted a fly ball to right in the bottom of the fourth and Canseco drifted back on the ball with his glove extended. Only instead of making the catch, the ball bounced off his head and over the wall for a home run.

Ever the showman, the former "Bash Brother" took it all in stride. “I’ll be on ESPN for a month,” Canseco said. “I’m entertaining. How can I be embarrassed?”

2) Tony Armas (1953)
Before there was Miguel Cabrera, there was Andres Galarraga. The two are generally regarded as the top Venezuelan sluggers of their era. But make no mistake about it, Armas came first and made a lasting impression. After starring for the "Billy Ball" A's, he was traded to the Red Sox in 1982 in a deal that brought Carney Lansford to Oakland. And in his second season in Boston, Armas became the first Venezuela-born player to lead the Majors in homers (43) and RBIs (123). Armas topped the AL in homers from 1980-85 with 187, but injuries (12 stints on the DL) took their toll and he never exceeded 13 round-trippers in a season afterward, retiring after spending 1989 with the Angels.

3) Chuck Stobbs (1929)
Signed by the Red Sox before the 1947 season as one of the original "Bonus Babies," Stobbs, who pitched and hit, played 15 seasons in the Majors. Just as he was reaching his stride as a player in 1951, Stubbs looked all but certain to be heading toward enlistment in the U.S. Army, only to be rejected twice due to asthma. In 1953, Stobbs gained his greatest level of fame by surrendering a homer to Mickey Mantle that completely left Washington's Griffith Stadium. The blast was measured at an often-disputed 565 feet, one of the longest home runs in MLB history.

4) Ángel Págan (1981)
Acquired in a December 2011 trade with the Mets, the Giants took a flier on Págan, hoping he would rebound from a down season and find his form in his final year of arbitration. And that's exactly what happened. He batted .288 with 38 doubles and a Major League-best 15 triples in 2012 and sparked the Giants down the stretch as they won their second World Series title in three years.

5) Sean Casey (1974)
"The Mayor" was a three-time All-Star (all with the Reds) and a grounded-into-a-double-play machine, ranking in the top 300 all time with 156, including a Major League-leading 27 in 2005. He retired with a career .302 average. In a 2007 Sports Illustrated players poll, Casey was voted "friendliest player in baseball" by his peers.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for July 2? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.