Ernie Banks, Jackie Robinson and Nolan Ryan were all born January 31. Great baseball birthday, or greatest baseball birthday?

By any objective measure, January 31 is an outstanding day for baseball player births. Three well-known Hall of Famers celebrate today: Ernie Banks (turning 82), Jackie Robinson (would have been 94) and Nolan Ryan (66).

We know it's a great collective baseball birthday, but does it have any competition for the title of greatest? Here are some possible contenders:

January 16: Dizzy Dean, Albert Pujols

February 5: Hank Aaron, Roberto Alomar

April 2: Luke Appling, Hughie Jennings, Don Sutton

April 6: Bert Blyleven, Mickey Cochrane, Ernie Lombardi, Smokey Joe Williams

May 14: The day on which the most Hall of Famers were born, with five. However, only three (Earl Combs, Tony Perez and Ed Walsh) were players. The other two (Alex Pompez and J.L. Wilkinson) were Negro Leagues executives

May 27: Jeff Bagwell, Frank Thomas (both in the same year, 1968)

October 1: Matt Cain, Rod Carew, Mark McGwire

November 17: Ryan Braun, Tom Seaver

November 21: Ken Griffey Jr., Stan Musial (both in Donora, Pa.)

December 25: Nellie Fox, Rickey Henderson

So what do you think? What's the best baseball birthday there is?

-- Dan Wohl / MLB.com