Best players born on March 24

Who are the best players born on each day of the year? We have a list for each day on the calendar.

Here, a subjective ranking of the best five for March 24:

The only Hall of Famer on this list, “Gorgeous George” was a legend even in his playing days. Sisler held the record for most hits connected in a single season for nearly a century with 257 in 1920 with the St. Louis Carmelites; Ichiro Suzuki surpassed that mark in 2004 with his 262-hit campaign. Sisler won the American League batting title in 1920 and 1922, when he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award and finished with a .420 batting average, the third-highest ever recorded after 1900. An attack Sinusitis in 1923 caused Sisler’s game to decline, but the slugger continued to play in the majors until 1930. After Sisler retired as a player, he worked as a major league scout and assistant.

Long before he pitched at Fenway Park, Hurst played for the Pawtucket Red Sox in 1981 and pitched against the Rochester Red Wings in the longest game in professional baseball history. This marathon matchup lasted 33 innings, spanning April 18-19 and ending June 23 after he was originally stopped. Hurst pitched 28-32 innings for the Red Sox, before fellow future major leaguer Bob Ojeda closed it out in the 33rd inning. Five years later, these two would meet in the 1986 World Series, with Hurst pitching for the Red Sox. Red-footed and Ojeda for the Mets.

3) Garry Templeton (1956)

The switch-hitting shortstop had several high-profile years with the Cardinals and Padres during a 16-year career in the majors. He made his Major League debut with St. Louis in 1976 and immediately shone. Templeton was an All-Star in his second season, led the National League in 3-pointers from 1977-79, won a Silver Slugger in 1980 and hit .305 in a six-year stint with the Cardinals. In 1981, St. Louis sent Templeton to San Diego in a package that landed Arch City future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. Templeton won a Silver Slugger again in 1984 and helped San Diego to its first World Series that season.

If you needed an on-base machine in the early 1900s, Thomas was the one. From 1900 to 1907, all with the Phillies, Thomas led the National League in walks in seven of those eight seasons. He also led the Old Circuit in on-base percentage in 1902 and 1903, and his career OBP of .413 ranks 32nd all-time. Thomas’s .457 on-base percentage in 1899 is the 10th-best for a single season in Phillies history, while his .421 OBP as a Philly is the second-highest in franchise history. Although he had more than 1,500 hits in his career, he drove in only 299 runs in 13 seasons. He also had four 100-run seasons and ranks eighth in Phillies history with 923 runs scored.

5) Wilson Alvarez (1970)

On July 29, 1989, the Venezuelan pitcher was part of a trade that sent Dominican slugger Sammy Sosa to the White Sox in exchange for future Hall of Famer Harold Baines. That change led directly to the highlight of Alvarez’s career – in his first start for Chicago on Aug. 11, 1991 and his second Major League start, the left-hander pitched a no-hitter against the Orioles. He was the first no-hitter for a Venezuelan-born pitcher in Major League history. The left-hander wound up pitching in parts of seven seasons with the Palelegs. In 1993, Álvarez posted a 2.95 ERA in 31 starts and guided Chicago back to the postseason for the first time since 1983.

For a stretch of about five years, Valverde was one of the most dominant closers in the game. From 2007 to 2011, the Dominican averaged 38 saves per season and a 2.74 ERA record. Valverde made three trips to the postseason in his 12-year career (2007, 2011, 2012) and twice finished in the top six of Cy Young Award voting (2007, 2011), a rarity for a reliever.

Karsay’s only year in Atlanta was 2001, but it was with the Braves that he had perhaps his most famous moment. On September 21, 2001, the Flushing, New York native pitched at Shea Stadium in the first baseball game in New York since the 9/11 attacks. In the bottom of the eighth, Karsay came out of the bullpen and gave up Mike Piazza’s go-ahead, two-run homer that ended up making the difference for the Mets and became the symbol of recovery from the New York tragedy. York.

The Alou family is a true dynasty in baseball. His brothers, Felipe and Mateo, were both star players, while his cousin José Sosa was a reliever for the Astros for two seasons. Jesús is also the uncle of three notable names in MLB: Moisés Alou, Luis Rojas and Melquíades Rojas. Jesus played 15 seasons in the Major Leagues and finished with a .280 average.

Luetge was one of six Mariners pitchers who combined to pitch a no-hitter to the Dodgers on June 8, 2012. After struggling to establish himself in the Seattle bullpen in 2015, Luetge did not pitch again in the majors but until 2021, when he earned a spot on the Yankees’ relief corps in spring training and stayed there. The Texas native compiled a 2.74 ERA over 57 appearances in his return to the Majors.

Castro made a big impression in his rookie season with the Cubs in 2010, when he finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and hit .300 in 125 games. He was also an All-Star four times in his first 12 seasons and was part of the Yankees’ trade with the Marlins for Giancarlo Stanton in 2017.