The best baseball players born on Oct. 24

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 Oct. 24.

1) Rafael Furcal (1977)
“Furkey” played 14 years in the Majors with four clubs, but he split the majority of his career between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 2000 NL Rookie of the Year, Furcal was selected to three All-Star Games. He battled injuries throughout his career and after breaking his thumb sliding into third base for the Dodgers in April 2011, Furcal was traded to the Cardinals where he played solid defense and was an important contributor to their 2011 World Series championship club. His final season in the Majors was 2014 in a brief nine games with the Miami Marlins.

2) Rafael Devers (1996)
He signed with the Red Sox at the age of 17 in 2014 and made his Major League debut in 2017, playing in 58 games, batting .284, hitting 10 homers and driving in 30 runs. Playing 121 games for the Red Sox in 2018 he saw his batting average dip to .240, but he still hit 24 doubles and 21 home runs, helping the Red Sox win the World Series. Devers led the AL with 54 doubles and 359 total bases in 2019, while hitting 32 homers and driving in 115 runs. He was an AL All-Star and won the AL Silver Slugger as the Red Sox third baseman in 2021, hitting a career-high 38 home runs and driving in 113 runs. He won a second Silver Slugger in '23 and made his third All-Star team in '24.

3) Ned Williamson (1857)
Williamson was primarily a shortstop and third baseman during his 13-year career. Over that span he accumulated an impressive 35.7 WAR, while spending the majority of his career with the Chicago White Stockings. He led the league in doubles with 49 in 1883 and in home runs with 27 in 1884, a single-season record until Babe Ruth broke it with 29 homers in 1919. Williamson hit 25 of his 27 homers at his home ballpark of Lake Front Park, where the right-field fence was only 196 feet away. It was the only season of his career in which he hit double-digit homers. Prior to 1884 balls hit over the right-field fence were ground-rule doubles, hence his 49 two-baggers in 1883.

4) Eric Hosmer (1989)
Known as a slick-fielding first baseman, his most famous moment in baseball is his mad dash from third base to home in the top of the ninth to tie Game 5 of the 2015 World Series against the New York Mets. The Royals went on to win the game and the Series in 12 innings. Hosmer was a four-time Gold Glove winner -- all in the American League -- and he won the AL Silver Slugger in 2017, his final season with the Royals, tying a career-high with 25 homers. He also drove in 94 runs. In 2016 he received his first and only All-Star team selection. He has three 20-plus homer seasons in 13 years, the last coming in 2019 with the San Diego Padres.

5) Ossie Bluege (1900)
Oswald Louis Bluege was a slick-fielding third baseman for the majority of his 18-year Major League career with the Washington Senators. He is credited with coming up with the idea to play closer to home plate to reduce the angle for hitters trying to hit a ball past the third baseman. He is also the first third baseman to guard the line in the late innings of games. In the offseason he was an accountant, which earned him the nickname “The Accountant” and paid off after his playing days when he became the Senators’ Comptroller. He made the move with the club from Washington to Minnesota and retired in 1971. Bluege won a World Series with the Senators in 1924 and was an All-Star in 1935. Following his playing career, he managed the Senators for four seasons, winning Manager of the Year in 1945.

Others of note:

Jack Russell (1905)
Russell was the first reliever to be named an All-Star when he was selected in 1934 to represent the Washington Senators. Despite having one of the lowest strikeout rates in baseball history, he was an effective relief pitcher. He tossed over 200 innings in a season four times, but his best strikeout total was just 45. In his career, he struck out 1.83 batters per 9 innings and surrendered 99 more walks than strikeouts.

Arthur Rhodes (1969)
The left-hander had a nice 20-year career as a middle reliever and when he retired after the 2011 season, he held the record for holds with 231 (MLB didn’t start recording holds until 1991). Rhodes was an All-Star selection in 2010 and won a World Series ring with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011.

Ron Gardenhire (1957)
“Gardy” played just five years in the Majors and is known much more for his stint as manager of the Minnesota Twins. Named the Twins’ manager in 2002, he won the AL Central in his first four seasons at the helm. He won two more division titles in 2009 and 2010. Gardenhire won his 1,000th game in 2014, but was dismissed by the Twins following a third straight last-place finish in the AL Central. He was named manager of the Detroit Tigers in October 2017, but after dealing with the stress of managing a young club, Gardenhire retired during the 2020 season.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Oct. 24? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.