The best baseball players born on June 14

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 June 14:

1. Charlie Buffinton (1861)

Forget the 200-inning benchmark. Forget 300. In 1884, Buffinton threw 587 innings for the Boston Beaneaters, going 48-16. That’s the 20th-most innings thrown by a pitcher in MLB history, and Buffinton topped 400 innings in two other seasons. His 63 complete games from 1884 aren’t something we’ll see again.

2. Don Newcombe (1926)

Newcombe was the third Black pitcher to appear in a Major League game, following Satchel Paige and Dan Bankhead. The Dodgers legend won the 1949 Rookie of the Year Award, the 1956 NL MVP Award and the 1956 Cy Young Award, making him the first player to win all three alongside a World Series championship (1955), a title he’d hold until Justin Verlander did the same in 2017. Newcombe's finest season was in ’56, pitching to a 3.06 ERA over 268 innings with 27 wins.

3. Dick McBride (1847)

Debuting in 1871 with the Philadelphia Athletics, McBride topped 400 innings in a single season three times, peaking at 538 in '75. His best came in '74, though, when McBride posted a 1.64 ERA over 55 starts, pitching a complete game in each for a total of 487 innings. To show how much baseball has changed, McBride struck out just 37 batters that year.

4. Ray Morgan (1889)

On June 23, 1917, Babe Ruth started for the Boston Red Sox against the Washington Senators. Morgan was the Sens’ leadoff man, and when Ruth walked him to open the game, Ruth was so upset with the umpire's calls that he threw a punch, leading to his ejection. Morgan was soon caught trying to steal second base, but the real story was Ernie Shore, the pitcher who took over for Ruth. Shore retired the next 26 batters, and while it was considered a perfect game at the time, it’s now documented as a no-hitter.

5. Greg Brock (1957)

A first baseman, Brock split his 10-year Major League career evenly between the Dodgers and Brewers. Brock reached the 20-homer plateau twice, peaking at 21 in 1985 with the Dodgers.

Others of note:

Bobby Witt Jr. (2000)

Witt made his Major League debut on Opening Day of 2022 with the Royals as a much heralded prospect. The speedy infielder impressed during his rookie campaign clubbing 20 homers and stealing 30 bases. His father, Bobby Sr., pitched 16 seasons in the bigs.

Héctor Neris (1989)

Neris spent eight seasons as a reliever for the Phils before joining the Astros prior to the 2022 season. During his first season with Houston, he pitched in a combined no-hitter against the Yankees and he helped the Astros capture the World Series championship.

Luis Aponte (1953)

Aponte pitched parts of five MLB seasons, mostly with the Red Sox, but he also participated in one of the strangest games in baseball history. Beginning on April 18, 1981, between the Triple-A Rochester and Pawtucket, the 33-inning game took eight hours and 25 minutes to complete. Aponte pitched four innings of relief in that game for Pawtucket, getting the game into extras, but surely he didn’t know there were another 20-plus innings to come.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for June 14? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.