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 May 12.

1) Yogi Berra (1925)

Berra has a tighter case for No. 1 on this list than one might think, but his election to the Hall of Fame and lengthy career as a manager put him a notch above our No. 2 for this birthday. The Yankees’ legendary catcher was one of his generation’s best hitters, posting an above average OPS in all but one of his 18 seasons with the Bronx Bombers. After his 2,120 MLB games as a player, he managed the Yankees and Mets for a combined 930 games, winning an AL pennant in 1964 and NL pennant in ‘73. And who can forget his many hilarious sayings? Although he claims, “I never said most of the things I said.”

2) Lou Whitaker (1957)

Whitaker is not a Hall of Famer, which is fairly hard to believe. “Sweet Lou,” who spent an uncanny 19 years on the same club, began to build his legacy in Detroit instantly by winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1978. The fans rewarded his reliable hitting from the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the order by voting him to five All-Star teams from ‘83-87, and he rewarded them by scoring a run in all five games of the Tigers’ 1985 World Series championship. Whitaker finished his career with 2,390 games played with a 67.7 bWAR on offense (fourth in franchise history) and 16.3 bWAR on defense (second, behind Alan Trammell).

3) Felipe Alou (1935)

Ozzie Virgil was the first Dominican-born player in AL/NL history, but Alou, the second, became the first true star from the country. A high-average hitter who could drive the ball gap to gap for extra bases, Alou debuted in 1958 for the Giants, two years after Virgil first appeared for the same team. Alou, who is related directly to six other professional players and managers, led the Majors in hits in 1966 and ‘68 while with the Braves and earned All-Star honors three times. After 17 years across six teams as a player, Alou went on to manage 2,054 games with the Expos and Giants, putting him in the top 8% all-time for games managed in MLB history.

4) Lance Lynn (1987)

This is a pretty strong list, huh? A first-round Draft pick by the Cardinals in 2008, Lynn began his MLB career with a 3.37 ERA in five seasons for St. Louis, but Tommy John surgery sidelined him for all of ‘16 and part of ‘17. He had a down year after signing with the Twins in free agency the following year, but he earned Cy Young Award votes from 2019-21, including a finalist spot in ‘21, when he posted a career-best .605 OPS against.

5) Lave Cross (1866)

Twenty-one years: That’s how long Cross spent playing professional baseball, from 1887-1907. Though he wasn’t an everyday player in every season, standing at 5-foot-8 and weighing 155 lbs, he used strong pure hitting (.292 career average) and flashes of speed (303 stolen bases) to stretch a Major League tenure across nine teams. Cross was one of the best defensive third basemen of his day, and he captained two of Hall of Fame manager Connie Mack’s pennant-winning A’s teams in 1902 and ‘05.

Others of note:

Jimmy "Chicken" Wolf (1862)

Wolf was no chicken at the plate: His .363 average in 1890 earned him the batting title.

Hank Borowy (1916)

Borowy pitched an eight-inning gem in a pivotal Game 3 for the Yankees’ World Series championship-winning squad in 1943, and he earned the ERA title in ‘45.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for May 12? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.