The best baseball players born on June 15

June 15th, 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 June 15.

1) Wade Boggs (1958)
One of the most accomplished hitters in history, Boggs was a 12-time All-Star, won five batting titles, eight Silver Sluggers and collected 3,010 hits over his 18 years in the Majors. He hit .326 for his career, including four straight seasons above .350, one of only two players -- along with Tony Gwynn -- to do so since 1931.

Off the field, Boggs was a colorful character. Nicknamed "Chicken Man" for his ritual of eating large amounts of chicken before each game, it was later revealed he did so to promote a cookbook. He was a prodigious drinker, with the television program "Always Sunny in Philadelphia" doing a show dedicated to his rumored beer-drinking prowess on a cross-country flight. He appeared in a "The Simpsons" episode as one of Mr. Burns' ringers in the famous "Homer at the Bat" episode, but he never took the field as he was knocked out in a bar fight with Barney Gumble. Boggs also played himself in an episode of "Cheers," though the regulars dismissed him as a fake.

Boggs was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, one of two players born on June 15 enshrined in Cooperstown.

2) Billy Williams (1938)
The other Hall of Famer born on June 15, Williams was a sweet-swinging outfielder who won the NL Rookie of the Year for the Cubs in 1961, a precursor to his six All-Star nods and a batting title in '73.

It was an illustrious career that almost never happened. As a Minor Leaguer with the Double-A San Antonio Missions in 1959, Williams left the team and went home to Whistler, Ala., after experiencing overt racial discrimination for the first time. Another future Hall of Famer, Buck O'Neil, who was a Cubs scout at the time and had discovered Williams, was sent to convince Williams to return to the team.

O'Neil was successful, and Williams went on to join Chicago for its run of compelling if ultimately ill-fated runs at the postseason in the 1960s and '70s alongside fellow Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Ron Santo. He was enshrined in Cooperstown in '87 and had his number retired by the Cubs that same year. In 2010, a statue of Williams was erected outside of Wrigley Field.

3) Tim Lincecum (1984)
A star that shone bright, if not long enough, Lincecum was, for a couple years, the most dominant pitcher in baseball. In just his second big league season in 2008, he won his first of back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards for the Giants while leading the league in strikeouts for the first of three straight seasons. While Lincecum never quite recaptured his early-career mastery on the mound, he did throw two no-hitters -- including the first at Petco Park -- before retiring after just 10 big league seasons.

Lincecum's meteoric rise, along with his funky windup and nasty stuff -- despite his slight stature (5-foot-11, 170 pounds) -- made his nickname "The Freak," which he was dubbed by teammates at the University of Washington, well earned.

With flowing long hair that cascaded from under his cap during his prime, Lincecum was beloved by San Francisco fans as part of three World Series championship clubs. He was twice on the cover of Sports Illustrated and made an iconic commercial for "SportsCenter" in which he dubs himself "Big Time Timmy Jim."

4) Dusty Baker (1949)
Is Baker's biggest claim to fame as a player, a toothpick-chomping manager or as part of the first high five in sports history? Considering his stellar 19-year playing career, it speaks to the impact of his other accomplishments.

A two-time All-Star with two Silver Sluggers, Baker also won a Gold Glove and twice finished in the top 10 of NL MVP voting. He began his career with the Braves, and he was on deck when Hank Aaron hit his 715th homer to pass Babe Ruth. But it was with the Dodgers where Baker found his most success as a player, claiming the first NLCS MVP (in 1977) and winning a World Series championship ('81).

After his playing days, Baker got into coaching, eventually becoming one of the most successful managers of all time. The only skipper to lead five teams to the playoffs -- and only the ninth to win a pennant in both leagues -- Baker is among the top 10 all-time in managerial wins and claimed his first World Series title as a skipper with the Astros in 2022.

But perhaps Baker's most enduring legacy will be his part in the history made on Oct. 2, 1977. After hitting his 30th homer on the last day of the regular season, Baker, making his way back to the dugout after rounding the bases, found teammate Glenn Burke with his hand in the air in celebration. Unsure what to do, Baker smacked it -- and the high five was ushered into the public consciousness.

5) Andy Pettitte (1972)
Few pitchers have had more success in the postseason than Andy Pettitte. The all-time leader in playoff wins with 19, Pettitte claimed five World Series championships with the Yankees as part of the "Core Four," which included Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada. He also is the all-time leader in postseason starts and innings pitched as part of seven AL pennant-winning teams, earning the ALCS MVP in 2001.

A three-time All-Star, Pettitte had two 20-win seasons over his 18 years in the Majors and led the AL in victories with 21 in 1996. He finished among the top 10 in Cy Young voting five times and is among the top 50 in career victories with 254.

Others of note

Brett Butler (1957)
One of the best leadoff men of his era, Butler played for five teams over 17 seasons in the big leagues, batting .290 with a .377 on-base percentage over 2,213 games. He collected 2,375 hits and swiped 558 bases -- good for 25th all-time. A winner of the Lou Gehrig and Branch Rickey awards in 1996, Butler led the league in runs scored twice, including with the Dodgers in 1991, when he made his lone All-Star Game and finished seventh in NL MVP voting. And for the trivia buffs, here's a tidbit for you: Butler was the first batter to face Roger Clemens in the Majors.

Lance Parrish (1956)
An eight-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glover, Parrish is one of the more underrated backstops of all-time -- his 324 homers are tied for fifth all-time (with Gary Carter) among players who primarily played catcher.

Offered a football scholarship by UCLA, Parrish eschewed the gridiron after being drafted in the first round by the Tigers in 1974. He played a decade in Detroit, where he was part of the 1984 World Series championship club, before bouncing around with six other teams to finish out a 19-year big league career.

Tony Clark (1972)
Before his exploits on the diamond, Clark was a prep and college basketball standout, breaking Bill Walton's San Diego high school single-season scoring record with 1,337 points as a senior and twice averaging double digits for the San Diego State Aztecs. He played 15 seasons in the Majors as a switch-hitting slugger, reaching the 30-homer mark four times and garnering an All-Star nod in 2001.

After his playing days, Clark, who was a union rep as a player, got even more involved, and eventually became executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association in 2013, the first former player to hold the position.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for June 15? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.