The best baseball players born on April 5

April 5th, 2023

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 April 5:

1) Bill Dinneen (1876)
Maybe Dinneen is more often remembered as a longtime umpire but his playing career was still solid. In 12 seasons split between Washington, Boston and St. Louis, the right-hander pitched to a 3.01 ERA with 1,127 strikeouts in 3,074 2/3 innings pitched. After his playing career ended in 1909, he stayed in the game as an umpire and was behind the dish for the first MLB All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in 1933.

2) Ron Hansen (1938)
Hansen is the only player born on April 5 to be selected to play in at least one All-Star Game. He earned the honor in his rookie season in 1960 as a 22-year-old. In 153 games with Baltimore, he finished the ‘60 season with a .255 batting average, a .781 OPS, 22 homers, 22 doubles, five triples and 86 RBIs, as he was awarded the American League Rookie of the Year hardware. He finished his 15-year career with the Royals in 1972 after stops in Baltimore, Chicago (White Sox), Washington, Chicago again and New York (Yankees).

3) Wid Conroy (1877)
Over his 11-year tenure in the Majors, Conroy spent six years with the Yankees, three years with the Senators, one year with the Pirates and one year with the Brewers. His career .248 average and .629 OPS may not be the most attention-grabbing statistics, but Conroy was consistently among the top 10 players in the league in each offensive category and was a true utility player, seeing time at every infield and outfield position.

4) Rennie Stennett (1951)
Stennett’s first nine years of his career were with the Pirates before spending his last two Major League seasons with the Giants in 1980 and ’81. Aside from being part of the 1979 World Series champion Pirates team, the most memorable moment of Stennett’s career was his seven-hit game in a 22-0 Pirates win over the Cubs on Sept. 16, 1975. It marks the most hits by a player in a nine-inning game since at least 1901.

5) Jorge De La Rosa (1981)
Despite the difficult pitching conditions in the high altitude in Colorado, De La Rosa managed to finish a 15-year career that included a nine-year stint with the Rockies with a 4.58 ERA (100 ERA+). In 1,522 2/3 innings, he fanned 1,273 batters and posted a 4.44 FIP. He spent the majority of his career with Colorado and also made stops in Milwaukee, Kansas City, Arizona and Chicago (Cubs).

Others of note:

Jung Ho Kang (1987)
Kang went from the KBO League to the Major Leagues in 2015. Although he hasn't been part of a big league team since ’19, his abbreviated career got off to a hot start with Pittsburgh, resulting in a third-place finish in the National League Rookie of the Year vote in ’15. In 126 games that season, Kang batted .287 with an .816 OPS, 24 doubles, two triples and 15 homers.

Cris Carpenter (1965)
In eight years in the Majors, Carpenter pitched to a 3.91 ERA. His best season was in 1992 with the Cardinals, owning a 2.97 ERA in 73 appearances with 46 strikeouts and 27 walks in 88 innings.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for April 5? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.