The best baseball players born on Sept. 8

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. 8:

1) Gerrit Cole (1990)
We’ll begin with the youngest member of our Top 5, and the only active player. The six-time All-Star made his debut with the Pirates in 2013, immediately establishing himself as a K king, striking out the first batter he faced on three pitches. Six years later, with the Astros, he led the Majors in K’s (326) and made history by becoming just the second pitcher (after Pedro Martínez in 1999) to fan 14 or more batters in three straight games. Now a Yankee, he ended the 2021 campaign with 16 wins, the most in the AL. After leading the league in strikeouts for the second time in his career, Cole won the AL Cy Young Award in 2023, when he had the AL's lowest ERA for the second time in his career.

2) Buck Leonard (1907)
Of all the players enshrined in Cooperstown, only one was born on this date. Leonard, called “the Black Lou Gehrig” by Negro Leagues fans, spent his entire 14-year career as a first baseman with the Homestead Grays on his road to the Hall, winning three Negro World Series championships along the way. He was half of the Grays’ “Thunder Twins,” playing alongside Josh Gibson, who was considered “the Black Babe Ruth.” Leonard won a pair of batting titles, was named to 13 All-Star teams and made multiple appearances at the very top of the leaderboards in numerous offensive and defensive categories.

3) Ken Forsch (1946)
Forsch worked as a starter and reliever throughout his time in the Major Leagues, excelling in both roles. He began his career in 1970 as a member of the Astros’ rotation before moving to the bullpen and anchoring Houston’s relief corps throughout the middle of the decade. In a five-year span (1974-78), his ERA went over 3.00 just once, with a low of 2.15 in 1976, his All-Star season. Given another shot at starting in 1979, Forsch wasted no time making the most of the opportunity, shutting down the Braves on April 7 for the earliest no-hitter in MLB history. But that isn’t the only historic aspect of his achievement. Bob Forsch had delivered a no-no for the Cardinals a year earlier, making the Forsches the only brothers in MLB history to throw no-hitters. (Bob would add another in 1983.)

4) Gil Meche (1978)
A Louisiana high school standout, Meche struggled through injury and inconsistency after being selected by Seattle in the first round of the 1996 MLB Draft. He found his greatest successes with the Royals after signing with them as a free agent in 2006. He was Kansas City’s sole All-Star in 2007, when he posted career bests in ERA and innings pitched, and led the American League in starts, with 34 (a stat he repeated in 2008). Injuries would once again take their toll, however, and Meche retired after the 2010 season. Fun fact: Band of Horses’ song “Wicked Gil” was written and dedicated to Meche.

5) Don Aase (1954)
Aase played in only one postseason over his 13-year career, but he managed to create a little piece of history. Aase earned the win in relief in Game 3 of the 1979 ALCS against Baltimore, giving the California Angels their first postseason victory. After shuttling back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen, Aase became a full-time reliever, and in 1986, while pitching for Baltimore, he recorded 34 saves (second in the league). That year turned out to be especially memorable for Aase, as he made the All-Star team (and earned the save), and he was named the Most Valuable Oriole.

Also of note:

**Lars Nootbaar (1997)
**2024 marked Nootbaar's fourth season in the Majors with the Cardinals. The outfielder was a member of Japan's 2023 World Baseball Classic championship winning team

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Sept. 8? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.