The best baseball players born on June 20

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 June 20:

1. Carlos Lee (1976)
“El Caballo” slugged from the start. He homered in his first at-bat of his Major League career, a line-drive smash off knuckleballer Tom Candiotti at Comiskey Park in 1999. That jump-started a 14-year career in which the three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger bashed 358 home runs and posted an .821 OPS. Lee began his career with the White Sox and hit 152 home runs across six seasons in Chicago, improving his homer total every year, before being traded to Milwaukee in 2005. He hit what was then a career-high 32 home runs in his first year and was on pace to top that when the Brewers dealt him and Nelson Cruz to Texas at the Trade Deadline in ’06. Talk about a powerful duo: Lee and Cruz have combined for 807 big league home runs.

Lee’s best season ended up being 2006 for two teams. He hit .300 with 37 homers and 116 RBIs and even stole a career-high 19 bases. That year, he walked 58 times and struck out 65, an outstanding ratio for a modern day slugger.

Lee's timing was perfect, becoming a free agent at the end of ’06. He signed a six-year, $100 million deal with the Astros, the team he’s probably most known for despite Houston only having one winning season while Lee was there. Lee was still a slugger, but he declined as big power hitters in their 30s almost always do. In total, Lee hit 30-plus homers five times and had six 100-RBI seasons, accumulating 28.3 WAR, according to Baseball Reference.

2. Win Mercer (1874)
As a teenager in East Liverpool, Ohio, George Barclay Mercer pitched so well for the town's pottery factory teams that he acquired the nickname “Winner,” which eventually shortened to “Winnie,” and then just “Win.” According to reports, the nickname became so much a part of him that by the time he reached the Majors, many sportswriters assumed “Win” was a diminutive of Winifred.

Mercer was a winner in professional ball, too. Across nine years in the Majors, mostly with the Washington Senators, he posted a 3.98 ERA in 2,484 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, Washington was a terrible ballclub at that time and didn’t win many games. But Mercer, a little right-hander whose clean-shaven face made him look even younger, quickly became Washington’s best pitcher. His best years as a pitcher came in 1896 and ’97, when he put together back-to-back 20-win seasons.

When his effectiveness as a pitcher wore off after 1897, Mercer played shortstop and in the outfield, with his .321 average leading Washington in 1898. In 1899, he became the club’s regular third baseman.

A fan favorite because of his looks and well-liked personality, Mercer eventually became Detroit’s manager in 1903. Sadly, the 28-year-old Mercer died by suicide that year while barnstorming the west with his club.

3. Billy Werber (1908)
After graduating from Duke University in 1930, where he became the school's first basketball All-American and starred on the baseball team, Werber made his debut with the Yankees that summer. His first at-bat was against George Blaeholder, and Werber froze, taking the first two pitches for strikes. Blaeholder then inexplicably threw four consecutive balls -- Werber was still frozen with his bat on his shoulder -- and Werber was awarded first base, scoring soon after on Babe Ruth’s home run. Werber finished the day with two hits and two walks.

“Werber, in his first time at bat in the big league competition, with two strikes on him watched the next four balls go by with the coolness of a veteran,” the legendary Ford Frick, a sportswriter at the time, wrote.

Werber was sold to Boston in 1933 and then traded to Philadelphia in 1937. After a dispute with Connie Mack, Werber was sold to the Reds in 1939, and he helped them win the pennant by hitting .289 and scoring a National League-leading 115 runs. After losing the World Series to the Yankees that year, the Reds bounced back strongly with a 100-win season. Werber hit a Series-leading .370 to help the Reds to a World Series title, and he finished 10th in the 1940 NL MVP voting.

Werber played 11 years in the Majors, finishing his career with a .271/.364/.392 line and a World Series ring. He retired after 1942 with the New York Giants to run his family’s insurance business.

4. Dickie Thon (1958)
On April 8, 1984, Thon’s life changed forever when he came to the plate against Mets pitcher Mike Torrez at Houston’s Astrodome. Because Thon, who by then was an All-Star and had played eight seasons in the Majors, crowded the plate with his stance, Torrez decided to pitch him in. But the ball was sailing that day, and when Torrez released it, it moved upward until it hit Thon’s ear flap, then struck him above the left eye.

The crowd went silent as Astros manager Bob Lillis and physician William Bryan rushed to the field. X-rays revealed a fracture of the orbital rim, and Thon had surgery three days later. But his blurred vision continued, and Thon could neither read nor drive. With eye exercises and time, Thon’s vision slowly improved, but his depth perception was still off as he continued his recovery.

He did make it back, though, and was the Astros’ starting shortstop on Opening Day in 1985. In ’86, he was on the field when Mike Scott threw a no-hitter against San Francisco, clinching the National League West, and he hit a home run in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Mets.

After his career with the Astros ended unsatisfactorily in 1987 -- his vision problems caused stress and tension with the team -- Thon went on to play six more years with the Padres, Phillies, Rangers and Brewers. His best season after his injury came in 1989 with the Phillies, when he hit .271 with 15 home runs. He essentially played for 10 years with one good eye and still accumulated 23.9 WAR.

5. Jim Delahanty (1879)
Though he was not as well known as his Hall of Fame older brother Ed, Jim was a fine player, too, putting together a 13-year career and establishing himself as one of the most well-traveled hitters of the Deadball Era. His career began in 1901, and the versatile fielder played for eight teams. He was 12 years younger than his brother Ed, who was already famous by the time Jim was old enough for professional ball -- and the name association helped him land tryouts.

Delahanty played for the Chicago Orphans, the Giants, the Boston Beaneaters, the Reds, the Browns, the Senators, the Tigers and the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League. He finished his career with a .283/.357/.373 line and 489 RBIs.

Others of note:

Kendrys Morales (1983)
The slugger who helped Kansas City win its first World Series title in 30 years in 2015, Morales finished fifth in AL MVP voting in 2009 with the Angels and won a Silver Slugger with the Royals in ’15. He accumulated 13.3 WAR over 13 years in the Majors before retiring in 2019.

Andy Etchebarren (1943)
A two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion with the Orioles, Etchebarren remained in baseball after his 15-year playing career as a longtime Minor League coach until he retired in 2012. Etchebarren was the catcher for the final out of the Orioles' victory over the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, and he also was part of Baltimore's 1970 championship team.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for June 20? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.