The best baseball players born on Sept. 22

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 Sept. 22:

1) Carlos Correa (1994)
Correa is only third in all-time WAR among players born on this date at 44.4, but he should move to No. 1 in due time. The first pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, the shortstop was the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year. He's a three-time All-Star and captured his first Gold Glove in 2021 -- in fact, he was the AL Platinum Glove winner. Correa famously proposed to his girlfriend, Miss Texas USA 2016 Daniella Rodriguez, on national TV right after winning the 2017 World Series. She said yes. After seven seasons with the Astros, he signed with the Twins in 2022.

2) Bob Lemon (1920)
The Hall of Fame right-hander won more than 200 games and was a seven-time All-Star for Cleveland in the 1940s and '50s, and he was central to the most recent World Series title in franchise history in 1948. Lemon also is tied for second all-time in home runs among pitchers with 35 (plus two more as a pinch-hitter). He went on to manage across nine seasons, four of them famously with the Yankees as an unintended third wheel in the George Steinbrenner-Billy Martin saga. He managed only 172 games total in those four seasons, but he won the 1978 World Series and the 1981 AL pennant.

3) Vince Coleman (1961)
The speedy Cardinals outfielder ranks sixth all-time in stolen bases with 752 and, the way the game is played now, is likely to stay there for some time. The 1985 NL Rookie of the Year, Coleman led the league in steals his first six seasons, surpassing 100 in the first three. He missed the 1985 World Series against the Royals after famously being gobbled up by a tarp during the NLCS.

4) Urban Shocker (1890)
The right-hander spent 13 seasons with the Yankees, St. Louis Browns and again the Yankees beginning in 1916. He won 187 games and is the all-time WAR leader for this birthdate at 58.6. But even though he was part of the biggest dynasty in baseball history -- including going 18-6 for the 1927 Murderers' Row Yankees -- he pitched in only one career World Series game, a loss in 1926. Shocker's real claim to fame, however, was as one of the last legal spitball pitchers in history.

5) Alexei Ramirez (1981)
The shortstop debuted with the White Sox in 2008, finishing second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to the Rays' Evan Longoria. Ramirez hit three grand slams that season to tie an AL rookie record. He won two Silver Slugger Awards, was a 2014 All-Star and was nicknamed "The Cuban Missile" by Sox manager (and former shortstop) Ozzie Guillen.

Others of note:
Larry Dierker (1946)
If there ever was an all-time Mr. Astro, Dierker might be the guy. He played in Houston for 13 of his 14 MLB seasons and remains the team's all-time leader in innings pitched, complete games and shutouts. He was an Astros radio broadcaster for almost two decades. He managed the club for five years -- winning four division titles and the 1998 NL Manager of the Year Award. And then he was in the front office for a few years. Dierker's best season was 1969, when he won 20 of his lifetime 139 victories and made the first of his two All-Star Games.

Hooks Dauss (1889)
George Hauss won 223 career games with the Tigers from 1912-26, all of them as Ty Cobb's teammate. Guess why they called him Hooks.

Wally Backman (1959)
The scrappy second baseman hit .320 as a key cog on the 1986 world champion Mets. Backman was the manager of the D-backs in 2004, but only for four days.

Bob Geren (1961)
The former A's manager and current Dodgers Major League field coordinator spent five years in the bigs as a catcher with the Yankees and Padres.

Jeremy Peña (1997)
Peña took over at shortstop for the Astros as a rookie after Correa signed with the Twins in 2022, and he was named the World Series MVP that year, becoming the first rookie position player to win the Fall Classic honor.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Sept. 22? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.