The best baseball players born on July 28

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 28:

1) Bullet Rogan (1893)
Rogan’s exact birthdate is actually a bit of a mystery, but July 28 is the best guess. What is certain is that, 100 years before Shohei Ohtani, Rogan was doing it all. Described by Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick as “the quintessential two-way player,” Rogan was an elite pitcher who batted in the middle of the lineup, played center field and could run. A longtime star with the Kansas City Monarchs, Rogan ranks fourth all-time in Seamheads’ Negro Leagues WAR leaderboard, combining a 143 ERA+ on the mound with a 156 OPS+ at the plate. In 1922, to pick one example, Rogan posted a 2.93 ERA in more than 200 innings, slashed .368/.453/.648 with 15 homers in 294 plate appearances, stole 17 bases and also played all three outfield positions.

2) Vida Blue (1949)
The left-hander pitched 17 seasons in the Majors, threw more than 3,300 innings, won more than 200 games and was a six-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion. Yet one can’t help but fixate on his 1971 season, when a 21-year-old Blue won the AL Cy Young and MVP Awards by going 24-8 with an AL-best 1.82 ERA and eight shutouts. He threw 312 innings that year -- a shocking total by today’s standards, especially for a young pitcher. In the Modern Era (since 1900), Blue’s 301 strikeouts in ‘71 remain a record for a pitcher 21 or younger.

3) Walker Buehler (1994)
Regardless of where his career goes, Dodgers fans will never forget Buehler’s leading role in helping the club snap its 32-year title drought in 2020. L.A. won four of the righty’s five starts that postseason, as he posted a 1.80 ERA and struck out 39 in 25 innings, with brilliant performances in NLCS Game 6 (an elimination game) and World Series Game 3.

4) Freddie Fitzsimmons (1901)
Not blessed with an imposing physique or sizzling velocity, Fitzsimmons instead carved out an impressive career with deception and a nasty knuckleball that some have compared more to a knuckle-curve. The righty would turn his back to home plate during his delivery and combine that with a forceful grunt -- one that legendary manager Leo Durocher described in his autobiography as sounding “like a rhinoceros in heat.”

5) Carmelo Martinez (1960)
He couldn’t match his cousin Edgar’s Hall of Fame career, but Carmelo could hold his own with the bat. After coming up with the Cubs in 1983, the Puerto Rico native was sent to San Diego in a three-team trade and became the regular left fielder for the Padres’ 1984 NL pennant-winning club. Over his first five seasons with the Friars, Martinez posted a 112 OPS+ and averaged 15 homers.

Others of note:

Duke Esper (1867)
Esper (given name Charles) sported a fine mustache and enjoyed his greatest success with the back-to-back-to-back NL champion Baltimore Orioles -- no relation to the current franchise -- from 1894-96.

Bob Milacki (1964)
On July 13, 1991, at Oakland, the Baltimore righty threw the first six innings of a combined no-hitter but lost his chance at solo history when a line drive hit by Willie Wilson drilled Milacki and forced him out of the game.

Darin Ruf (1986)
The slugging first baseman/outfielder spent parts of 2012-16 with the Phillies before transforming his career in the Korean Baseball Organization from 2017-19 and returning to find greater success with the Giants.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for July 28? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.