The best baseball players born on July 5

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 5.

1) Rich Gossage (1951)
Arguably the game's most dominant relief pitcher during his heyday, Gossage registered 254 saves and a 2.41 ERA through nearly 1,200 innings from 1975-85. He was named to nine All-Star teams and finished among the top five in the Cy Young Award voting four times in that 11-season span. Gossage was nicknamed "Goose" during his 1972 rookie season by one of his White Sox teammates because of how he craned his neck to look in for the signs from his catcher prior to each pitch. Known for his mid-90s fastball and thick Fu Manchu mustache, Gossage racked up 310 career saves during his 22-year career. He ranks second in MLB history with 193 saves that required more than one inning pitched. His most famous multi-inning effort came in 1978, when Gossage threw the final 2 2/3 innings and got the save in the Yankees' 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in a one-game playoff to decide the AL East. Gossage would go on to toss six scoreless innings during that year's Fall Classic en route to his only World Series championship. A member of the 2008 Hall of Fame class, Gossage was on the mound for Pete Rose's final at-bat in the Major Leagues. He struck out the hit king.

2) Shohei Ohtani (1994)
Ohtani's 2021 season was nothing short of transcendent. His impact was so profound that he landed a spot on TIME Magazine's list of the year's 100 most influential people. His stat line included 46 home runs, 26 steals and a 3.18 ERA through 130 1/3 innings -- a truly never-before-seen combination of power, speed and pitching ability. Ohtani was the unanimous choice for AL MVP as well as the starting pitcher and leadoff hitter for the American League in the All-Star Game. Ohtani finished second in AL MVP Award voting and fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, when he hit 34 homers with 95 RBIs while going 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA on the mound. He was an All-Star for the second time in his career and then was the World Baseball Classic MVP in 2023, when he earned a save in the championship game, striking out Mike Trout of Team USA to seal the victory for Japan. He hit .435 and posted a 1.86 ERA in the tournament.

But Ohtani has possessed star quality ever since he was a teenager in Japan. Although he originally planned to come to the United States as an 18-year-old in 2012, Ohtani was drafted and then signed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Pro Baseball's Pacific League that year. Ohtani was an All-Star in each of his five seasons with the Fighters. The two-way performer compiled 48 homers and an .854 OPS at the plate to go with a 2.55 ERA across 565 innings on the mound. In 2016, Ohtani left no doubt that he was ready for the Majors with a Pacific League MVP campaign in which he slashed .322/.416/.588 as a hitter and posted a career-best 1.88 ERA. Ohtani also unleashed the fastest pitch in NPB history that season (102.5 mph). He finally arrived in MLB when he signed a deal with the Angels in December 2017 and lived up to the billing right away. Ohtani took home AL Rookie of the Year honors thanks to a 151 OPS+ in 367 plate appearances and a 127 ERA+ through 10 starts in 2018. Injuries really hampered Ohtani over the next two seasons and basically turned him into an offense-only player as he made just three pitching appearances from July 2018 through the end of 2020. But that all set the stage for an unforgettable 2021-23 span, which led to an unprecedented contract with the Dodgers.

3) Gary Matthews (1950)
Matthews began his MLB career by becoming the fourth player in Giants franchise history to be named Rookie of the Year, following Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey. By the end of his 16-season career, Matthews had as many hits as Johnny Mize (2,011), as many home runs as Paul Molitor (234) and the same OPS+ as Pete Rose (118). He was an All-Star with the Braves in 1979 and helped guide the Phillies to the World Series in 1983. Although that regular season wasn't Matthews' best, he shined during the playoffs. He hit three homers and batted .429 during Philadelphia's four-game victory over the Dodgers in the NLCS. Matthews was named NLCS MVP, but he also earned a nickname after the series, given to him by Rose for his performance: "Sarge." Matthews was traded to the Cubs the following spring and paced the Majors that year with a .410 on-base percentage.

4) Rachel Balkovec (1987)
Balkovec made national news in January 2022 when she was hired to be the manager of the Yankees' Low-A club, making her the first female manager in the history of affiliated professional baseball. But Balkovec's track record as a baseball trailblazer dates back well before her role with the Tampa Tarpons. A former softball catcher at Creighton University and the University of New Mexico, Balkovec's pro baseball journey began in 2012, when she received a temporary contract as a strength and conditioning coach for the St. Louis Cardinals' Rookie-ball affiliate. By 2014, Balkovec was the first woman to be a full-time strength and conditioning coordinator in pro baseball. Two years later, she was hired by the Astros to be their Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator -- another first for any female -- and taught herself how to speak Spanish in order to communicate with her players. The history-making continued in November 2019, when Balkovec was tabbed by the Yankees as the first female full-time Minor League hitting coach for a professional club. She was the franchise's first full-time female on-field instructor during Spring Training in 2020 and the first woman to coach in the Futures Game in 2021. Balkovec accomplished all of this before her 35th birthday.

5) Bump Hadley (1904)
Irving Hadley came down with a serious case of mumps during his 1927 rookie season. When his Washington Senators teammates visited him in the hospital, coach Nick Altrock commented that Hadley was covered with so many bumps, he looked like he had been struck repeatedly by Walter Johnson's fastball. Hadley was referred to as "Bumps" the rest of the season, and the moniker stuck. Hadley, a right-handed pitcher, was known on the field as a workhorse. Although he concluded his 16-year MLB career with a sub-.500 record (161-165) and a rather unimpressive 4.24 ERA, he exceeded 200 innings pitched seven times. He led the Majors with 316 2/3 innings in 1933 with the St. Louis Browns. In 1936, Hadley was traded to the Yankees just as they were about to embark on a dynastic run of four consecutive World Series titles. Hadley was on each of those clubs and had a victorious, eight-inning outing in the '36 and the '39 Fall Classic.

Others of note:
Marco Estrada (1983)
Estrada was a stabilizing force in the Blue Jays’ rotation in 2015 and 2016, recording a 3.30 ERA across 57 starts. Toronto qualified for the postseason in each of those years, and Estrada excelled in those playoffs, holding opposing batters to a .195 average and a .548 OPS through 41 2/3 innings. A 12-year veteran, Estrada was an All-Star selection in 2016.

Jorge Polanco (1993)
Polanco hit for the cycle in April 2019, had another five-hit game in May and was the American League's starting shortstop in the Midsummer Classic a couple of months later. His 33 home runs in 2021 were the third-most that season among primary second basemen.

Curt Blefary (1943)
Blefary was one of only 17 qualified hitters to post a 120 OPS+ or better in each year from 1965-67. He won the AL Rookie of the Year Award as a 22-year-old in ‘65 and totaled 67 homers through his first three seasons. However, off-field issues affected his on-field play, and Blefary was out of the Majors before he turned 30 years old.

Gordy Coleman (1934)
Coleman spent eight of his nine seasons with the Reds. In 1961, when Cincinnati claimed its first pennant in 21 years, he hit 26 homers and recorded the third-best fielding percentage among first basemen (.991). Coleman clobbered 28 homers in 1962 and was inducted into the Reds’ Hall of Fame in 1972.

Hod Eller (1894)
Eller produced 60 wins and a 2.62 ERA over five seasons with the Reds from 1917-21. His greatest career achievement – two victories in the 1919 World Series – was subsequently tainted by the Black Sox scandal. But Eller wasn’t exactly a paragon of baseball integrity either as he was known to often throw a shine ball. Eller played his last MLB game less than two years after the pitch was banned in February 1920.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for July 5? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.