The best baseball players born on Sept. 7

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. 7:

1. Curt Davis (1903)
Some of the best pitchers in baseball right now are in their 30s, and Curt Davis is very much of their spirit: He didn’t make his big league debut until after he was already 30 years old. (He’d worked a series of odd jobs and only started playing baseball when he was attending a semi-pro game and boasted that he could do better than these chumps. It turned out he could.) He pitched until he was 43 and still holds the MLB record for most wins for a pitcher who made his debut after the age of 30 (158). He was once traded for Dizzy Dean and also pitched against Joe DiMaggio, a former teammate with the San Francisco Seals, in the World Series.

2. Joe Rudi (1946)
A three-time All-Star who won three World Series for the A’s in the 1970s, Rudi also finished second in the 1972 and '74 AL MVP voting. He won three Gold Gloves and caught the final out of the '72 World Series.

3. Dave Foutz (1856)
OK, so maybe he died four years before the 20th century even began. He was still a terrific hitter and pitcher for the St. Louis Browns and Brooklyn Bridegrooms (where he was also the manager), and he once pulled off a play that hasn’t been pulled off since he picked a runner off first base unassisted by pretending he wasn’t watching the runner lead off and then sprinted toward him and tagged him before he got back to the base.

4. Jason Isringhausen (1972)
Originally part of the triumvirate of starting pitching prospects that were supposed to rejuvenate the Mets, he ended up having the best career of any of them by far, but as a reliever, not a starter. He finished his career with 300 saves, tied with Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter for 30th all-time.

5. Mark Prior (1980)
His career was famously cut short by injuries, but at his peak, he looked like the platonic ideal of a pitcher for the Cubs. Prior was this close to being the pitcher who clinched the Cubs’ first World Series appearance in nearly 60 years. He’s now a respected pitching coach. But for those who watched him in his early-to-mid-20s, you wondered if there had ever been a pitcher built so well.

Others of note:

Hooks Wiltse (1879)
He once threw a 10-inning complete-game no-hitter.

Sandy Alcantara (1995)
Alcantara, who took home the 2022 NL Cy Young Award, is by far the most accomplished active player born on this date, and he’s still just getting started.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Sept. 7? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.