The best baseball players born on July 26

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 26.

1) Hoyt Wilhelm (1922)
Wilhelm was 29 when he made his big league debut for the New York Giants on April 18, 1952. That was the first of 1,070 career games for the right-handed knuckleballer, who pitched until he was 49 in 1972. Prior to reaching the Majors, Wilhelm served in the Army during World War II and received a Purple Heart after getting struck with a fragment of a German artillery blast. As the Baseball Hall of Fame notes, Wilhelm pitched his entire MLB career with the piece of metal still lodged in his back. Wilhelm went on to post a 2.52 career ERA, earn eight All-Star selections, win two ERA titles (National League in 1952, American League in '59) and become the first MLB pitcher to appear in 1,000 games. He won the World Series with the Giants in 1954, and he was later inducted into the Hall of Fame in '85.

2) Sad Sam Jones (1892)
Jones pitched for six teams over 22 big league seasons, going 229-217 with a 3.84 ERA in 647 career games (487 starts). He won a World Series championship with two franchises. With the Red Sox in 1918, he took a complete-game loss in Game 5 of the Series against the Cubs, despite allowing only three runs in nine innings. Boston went on to win in six games, then didn't capture another title until 2004. Jones also won the World Series with the Yankees in 1923, posting a 0.90 ERA in two games (one start) in their six-game Series victory against the New York Giants. Not only did Jones help the Yanks win the title that year, but he pitched the second no-hitter in franchise history on Sept. 4, 1923, against the Philadelphia A's. He issued a walk in the first and a runner reached via error in the eighth, and Jones recorded no strikeouts in the outing.

3) Norm Siebern (1933)
Siebern played for six teams over a solid 12-year big league career, during which the first baseman/left fielder batted .272/.369/.423 with 132 homers and 636 RBIs in 1,406 games. He won an AL Gold Glove Award in the outfield for the Yankees in 1958, and he made it to the All-Star Game every year from 1962-64. His best season came with the Kansas City A's in '62, when he played in all 162 games and batted .308/.412/.495 with career highs in homers (25), RBIs (117), hits (185) and walks (110). He finished seventh in AL MVP Award voting that year. Siebern was one of the four players traded from the Yankees to the A's in December 1959, in the deal that sent Roger Maris to New York.

4) Ellis Kinder (1914)
Kinder was a starter near the beginning of his 12-year big league career, which started when he was 31 in 1946. He played eight seasons for the Red Sox from 1948-55, and he primarily started for his first three years with the club. In '49, he went 23-6 with a 3.36 ERA in 43 games (30 starts) and led the AL with six shutouts. When Boston moved Kinder to the bullpen in 1951, he continued to pitch well. Over his final five seasons with the Red Sox from 1951-55, the right-hander had a 2.67 ERA in 246 appearances. He also led the AL in games pitched in '51 (63) and '53 (69). Kinder finished his career with a 3.43 ERA in 484 games (122 starts), and he was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2006.

5) Joaquin Benoit (1977)
Benoit broke into MLB as a starter for the Rangers, as 46 of his 71 appearances from 2001-04 were starts. However, the right-hander posted a 5.59 ERA over that stretch and was moved to the bullpen, where he had success for the remainder of his 16-year big league career. Benoit missed the 2009 season due to a torn rotator cuff, and he returned in '10 with the Rays, marking the first time he switched teams in his career. Benoit immediately had his best season, posting a 1.34 ERA over 63 appearances in his lone year with Tampa Bay. From 2010-16, Benoit had a 2.40 ERA in 439 games while playing for five teams.

Others of note:
Pete Ward (1937)
Ward received AL MVP Award votes in each of his first two full MLB seasons, which came in 1963 and '64 for the White Sox. He batted .289/.350/.478 with 62 doubles, 45 homers and 178 RBIs in 301 games over that span. He spent seven of his nine big league seasons with Chicago.

Brandon Morrow (1984)
Morrow pitched for five teams over 12 big league seasons from 2007-18. He was a key member of the Blue Jays' starting rotation from 2010-12, winning 31 games and posting a 4.16 ERA in 77 starts over that span. He later had success as a reliever, posting a 2.06 ERA in 45 games for the Dodgers in '17, then recording a 1.47 ERA in 35 games for the Cubs in '18.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for July 26? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.