Right here’s a subjective rating of the highest 5 for New 12 months’s Eve:
1. King Kelly (1857)
The one Corridor of Famer born on this present day, Michael Joseph Kelly performed from 1878-93 and was, in response to his SABR biography, “baseball’s first matinee idol.” A drawing card for the Chicago White Stockings (as we speak’s Cubs) for seven seasons, Kelly was offered to the Boston Beaneaters (now the Braves) for $10,000 in what is taken into account baseball’s first “big-money” deal. An aggressive baserunner who stole no less than 50 bases in 5 consecutive seasons, he was generally known as the “King of Baseball,” resulting in his royal moniker. His exploits on the bases made him the topic of successful music, “Slide, Kelly, Slide,” and he was the primary ballplayer to creator an autobiography.
2. Rick Aguilera (1961)
Aguilera thought he had misplaced the 1986 World Sequence after giving up two runs within the tenth inning of Recreation 6. However after all, the Mets rallied and Aguilera gained the primary of his two World Sequence rings after they took Recreation 7. New York used him largely as a starter till 1989, when he pitched completely out of the bullpen earlier than being shipped to the Twins on the Commerce Deadline as a part of the bundle that despatched 1988 AL Cy Younger Award winner Frank Viola to New York. In 1990 he turned the Twins’ nearer, and over the following 5 seasons (which included one other ring in ’91), he saved 172 video games and made three All-Star groups, probably the most of anybody born on this date. Aguilera’s 254 saves for Minnesota had been almost 150 greater than anybody else in franchise historical past when he retired and are nonetheless second to Joe Nathan’s 260.
3. Syl Johnson (1900)
Regardless of being generally known as “probably the most unfortunate pitcher in baseball historical past,” as he mentioned in an interview late in life, Sylvester Johnson nonetheless managed to pitch for 19 seasons, beginning virtually 40 p.c of the 542 video games by which he appeared. Alongside the best way, his proper wrist, left eye and a toe had been damaged by line drives again to the mound; he broke an elbow pitching batting apply; tore ligaments in his left arm; and had a hand damaged by a teammate’s BP line drive. Johnson gained two World Sequence rings with the Cardinals, first in 1926 (although he didn’t pitch within the Sequence as a result of, properly, he was injured) and once more in ’31, when he pitched 9 innings over three video games.
And relying on one’s view of when a brand new century begins – in 1900 or 1901? – both Johnson or Negro Leaguer Willie Spearman, born in 1899, is the one Main Leaguer born on the final day of the nineteenth century.
4. Esteban Loaiza (1971)
The one 20-game winner born on New 12 months’s Eve, Loaiza went 21-9 for the White Sox in 2003, the primary of his two successive All-Star seasons. In 34 begins that 12 months, he posted a 2.90 ERA, 3.05 FIP and 159 ERA+ and struck out an AL-leading 207 batters and walked 56. He completed second in AL Cy Younger Award voting to Roy Halladay.
5. Bobby Byrne (1884)
The third baseman for the 1909 world champion Pirates, Byrne was not solely born on New 12 months’s Eve, however died on his birthday 80 years later. A brief participant (listed at 5-foot-7) who performed completely within the Lifeless Ball Period, Byrne hit solely 10 profession house runs. He led the Nationwide League with 178 hits and 43 doubles in 1910 and likewise scored 101 runs in what was his finest season. In a single recreation in 1911, he stole second, third and residential in the identical inning.
Tommy Byrne (1919)
No relation to Bobby, Tommy Byrne pitched for 13 years regardless of strolling 1,037 batters and placing out 766. 3 times he led the Main Leagues in walks (179 in 1949, 160 in 1950 and 150 in 1951) and 5 occasions in hit batters.
Alex Colomé (1988)
With 159 saves via the 2022 season, Colomé is midway to Rick Aguilera’s profession complete of 318. However Colomé has completed one thing Aguilera by no means did in his 16 years: lead MLB in saves, which he did with 47 for the Rays in 2017.