The best baseball players born on Sept. 11

September 11th, 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 Sept. 11:

1. Ellis Burks (1964)
Burks had 352 home runs in his career and played exactly 2,000 games. He also had 181 stolen bases. He was notoriously injured throughout his career, which makes his accomplishments even more impressive. Burks had two years with an above-1.000 OPS, both of them coming during his time with Colorado. He began and ended his playing career in Boston and would go on to become an analyst for NESN there.

2. Jacoby Ellsbury (1983)
The first Native American of Navajo descent to play in the bigs, Ellsbury was a star for the World Series-winning Red Sox teams of 2007 and '13; in '07 he became the third rookie to have four hits in a World Series game. He also won the 2011 Comeback Player of the Year Award, though after he signed with the Yankees in '14, injuries derailed his career.

3. Dave Roberts (1944)
Not the one who won the World Series as a player with the Red Sox and a manager with the Dodgers. This is the Astros pitcher who won 17 games in 1973. He also won a World Series with the Pirates in '79.

4. Mike Moustakas (1988)
Moose was one of those highly regarded Royals prospects who would end up winning the team a World Series in 2015. Moustakas hit 196 home runs throughout the first 11 years of his career, and he was the guy who finally broke Steve Balboni’s long-time home run record for the Royals. (Jorge Soler would later break it.)

5. Don Slaught (1958)
“Sluggo” was a catcher for some terrific Pirates teams. He was a hitting coach after he retired and in fact started a video analysis for a hitting business. He was probably still known more for his fielding in the Majors than his hitting.

Others of note:

Frank Kitson (1869)
Led the American League in saves in 1900 with four.

Eduardo Perez (1969)
A solid pinch-hitter, and an even better broadcaster.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Sept. 11? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.