The best baseball players born on Aug. 7

August 7th, 2024

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 Aug. 7:

1) Mike Trout (1991)
Trout began his dazzling Major League career with a bang, winning the AL Rookie of the Year and finishing second for MVP after batting .326 with 30 homers and leading the Majors with 129 runs and 49 steals in 2012. Before turning 32, the Millville Meteor won AL MVP three times and finished second four times; he also racked up 11 All-Star selections (winning MVP of the Midsummer Classic twice) with nine Silver Sluggers. He was the fourth player in AL history to reach 200 homers before the end of his age-25 season, and he tallied his 1,000th career hit on his 26th birthday, also homering that day. In fact, through 2022, he'd homered five times on his birthday. Trout's 300th homer, hit a month after his 29th birthday, made him the Angels' all-time home run leader.

2) Edgar Renteria (1975)
Renteria gave the Marlins their first World Series title with a walk-off single in the 11th inning of Game 7 in 1997, and he was the MVP of the 2010 World Classic, batting .412 with two homers and six RBIs for the champion Giants. While with the Marlins, Cardinals and Braves, he went to five All-Star Games, and he won two Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers, all as St. Louis' shortstop.

3) Don Larsen (1929)
A solid but not spectacular pitcher over 14 seasons, Larsen became a baseball legend when he hurled a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. He pitched in four other Fall Classics, winning two titles with the Yankees.

4) Steve Kemp (1954)
The first overall selection in the 1976 January Draft, Kemp was an All-Star in 1979 with a .318 average, 26 homers and 105 RBIs. He also topped 20 homers and 100 RBIs in 1980.

5) Danny Graves (1973)
The only player in AL/NL history born in Vietnam, Graves racked up 182 saves with the Reds, earning two All-Star nods.

Others of note:
Adonis Terry
(1864)
After winning 94 games in the American Association, including throwing two no-hitters, Terry racked up 103 wins in the National League.

Art Houtteman (1927)
"Hard Luck Houtteman" lost 16 games in 1948 despite solid pitching before winning 15 the following season and 19 in his lone All-Star season in 1950. But after a brief stint in the Army (he received a medical discharge after less than a year), he lost 20 games in 1952. He managed a career 87-91 record despite adversity.

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