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 6:

1) Willie Mays (1931)
An obvious choice as the best player born on May 6, Mays is synonymous with an entire generation of Americans. The famous catch in the farthest reaches of the cavernous Polo Grounds in the 1954 World Series. His hitting, his 24 All-Star Game appearances, his baserunning, his power, his basket catches, his dashes around the bases. When he retired following the 1973 season, he was third in career home runs with 660, behind only Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Mays led the AL/NL in homers four times, in slugging four times. Songs were written about him. He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1979.

2) Jose Altuve (1990)
The 5-foot-6 second baseman from Venezuela, signed by the Astros in 2007, was a three-time league batting champion from 2014-17 and the AL MVP in '17, when hit .346/.410/.547 and led the league in hits for a fourth consecutive season. On top of that, he was a .273/.340/.510 postseason hitter entering '24 and was the ALCS MVP in 2019 for hitting .348/.444/.652 with two homers in a six-game pennant-winning victory over the Yankees. He was a force in the '17 postseason, delivering 16 hits and scoring 10 runs in 11 games through the first two rounds.

3) Bill Hands (1940)
Originally signed by the Giants in 1959 and traded to the Cubs, along with future Chicago batterymate Randy Hundley in '65, the lanky right-handed Hands eventually became a top starter for the Cubs, winning 77 games for them from 1968-72, including 20 in Chicago's storied and well-documented '69 season-long duel with the Mets. A workhorse during an era of workhorse starting pitchers, Hands threw 300 innings in '69 and surpassed or approached 250 innings each year from 1968-71. His last season was '75, having also pitched for the Twins and Rangers; he finished with a career record of 111-110.

4) Larry Andersen (1953)
The right-handed Andersen, used mostly as a setup reliever, pitched for six teams in a 17-year career from 1975-94, pitching 995 1/3 innings in 699 games. He pitched for the Phillies in two World Series, in 1983 and '93. Andersen recorded only 49 saves in his career but piled up 90 or more innings three times, including 101 2/3 for the '87 Astros. Despite all of the games and all of the innings, he's probably best remembered for being a late-season acquisition by the pennant-aspiring Red Sox from the Astros in 1990 ... for Jeff Bagwell.

5) Gerardo Parra (1987)
The left-handed outfielder's best two seasons were early in his career, when he won Gold Gloves in 2011 and '13.while with the D-backs. He won a World Series as a reserve with the Nationals in 2019.

Others of note
Ivy Andrews (born 1907), won 13 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1935. ... Dick Wakefield (1921), left-handed-hitting outfielder who led the AL in games, plate appearances, hits and doubles as a rookie for the Tigers in 1943. Was named to the All-Star team but was not Rookie of the Year, as the award didn't yet exist. Did not fare as well after missing the '45 season serving in the military..

Want to see more baseball birthdays for May 6 ? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.