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Here’s a subjective ranking of the top five for Dec. 27:
1. Cole Hamels (1983)
Hamels spent his first 9½ seasons with the Phillies, going 114-90 with a 3.30 ERA and 1,844 strikeouts. Hall of Famer Steve Carlton is the only lefty in franchise history with more K’s than Hamels, fanning 3,031. Hamels was named MVP of the NLCS and World Series in 2008, when the Phillies won their second title. He won all five of his starts that postseason, pitching to a 1.80 ERA and 0.91 WHIP in 35 innings against the Brewers, Dodgers and Rays.
In his final start for the Phillies, Hamels pitched the 13th no-hitter in franchise history, beating the Cubs 5-0 at Wrigley Field on July 25, 2015. It was the first time Chicago had been no-hit in nearly 50 years, since Sandy Koufax did it in September 1965. That turned out to be Hamels’ final start for Philadelphia; he was traded to Texas four days later and helped the Rangers reach the postseason in 2015 and ’16.
Beginning in 2005 in the Minor Leagues and continuing through the ’07 season, Hamels was teammates with outfielder Michael Bourn, who shares this birthday.
2. Roy White (1943)
A speedy outfielder with some pop, White joined the Yankees in September 1965 and was teammates with a fading Mickey Mantle for the next three seasons. From 1966-69, New York finished no better than fifth and compiled a record of 305-339-5 (.473). But White stuck around long enough – he played his entire 15-year MLB career in the Bronx – to win back-to-back World Series with the Yankees in 1977-78. For 11 seasons from 1968-78, he averaged a .277/.367/.415 line in 146 games, with 13 home runs, 63 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.
After becoming a free agent following the 1979 season, White went to Japan to play for the Yomiuri Giants, where he was teammates with Sadaharu Oh. White hit .283/.365/.461 in three seasons in Japan, with 54 home runs and 172 RBIs.
3. Jim Tobin (1912)
“Tobin’s fast ball could not break a pane of glass,” wrote Arthur Daley in The New York Times on Sept. 10, 1943. “He has two pitches – slow and slower.” Yet Tobin was a crafty pitcher, hurling the sixth no-hitter in Braves history on April 27, 1944 – and hitting a home run, to boot. The right-hander was a knuckleballer by then, a career-saving pivot after a shoulder injury in 1939 sapped him of his arm strength. Tobin, who also pitched for the Pirates and Tigers in his nine-year career, hit 17 career home runs – and is the only pitcher to date with three in one game.
4. Rick Porcello (1988)
Chosen 27th overall in the 2007 Draft, Porcello is one of three pitchers taken in the first round that year to win 100 games in the Major Leagues (along with No. 1 overall pick David Price and No. 10 Madison Bumgarner). Porcello won 150 games for the Tigers, Red Sox and Mets from 2009-20, falling short of 10 wins in only 2015 (when he went 9-15) and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season (1-7). His best season, by far, came in 2016 with Boston, when he won the AL Cy Young Award after going 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 142 ERA+.
5. Michael Bourn (1982)
A speedy outfielder who swiped 175 bases in the Minors and 341 in MLB, Bourn often heard Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” played at Minor League ballparks and chose Slim Thug’s “I Run” as one of his walk-up songs in the big leagues. He led the NL in steals from 2009-11 with 61, 52 and 61 in those years and stole 30 or more in six of his 11 seasons. Originally drafted and signed by the Phillies – where he was teammates with No. 1 on this list, Cole Hamels – Bourn was traded to the Astros in the deal that sent Brad Lidge to Philadelphia in November 2007.
Jim Leyritz (1963)
A catcher for most of his 11-year career with six teams, Leyritz will be forever remembered by Yankee fans for his game-tying three-run home run in Game 4 of the 1996 World Series. With Atlanta leading the game 6-3, the Braves were poised to take a commanding 3-1 Series lead. After Leyritz tied it, New York won 8-6 in 10 innings and never trailed again, winning Games 5 and 6 for their first world championship in 18 years.
Dean Palmer (1968)
A slugging third baseman in the 1990s and early 2000s, Palmer topped 30 homers four times, twice hitting a career-high 38. With the exception of 16 games in 1989, Palmer’s career lasted from 1991-2003, but injuries limited him to an average of just 103 games per season. Still, over that time, the only third basemen with more than Palmer’s 275 home runs were Matt Williams (311), Robin Ventura (284) and Chipper Jones (280).
David Aardsma (1981)
A right-handed reliever who pitched for eight teams in nine years, Aardsma’s biggest claim to fame is that he is first alphabetically on the all-time MLB roster. When he made his debut on April 6, 2004, he supplanted Hall of Famer Henry Aaron.
Jordan Montgomery (1992)
A lanky left-hander who goes by the nickname “Gumby,” Montgomery received Rookie of the Year votes in 2017, when teammate Aaron Judge won unanimously. He went 9-7 with a 3.88 ERA in 29 starts that season, but then saw his 2018 cut short by Tommy John surgery that kept him out until September 2019. In 2021, he established career bests with 157 1/3 innings, a 3.83 ERA, 162 strikeouts and 30 starts.
Want to see more baseball birthdays for Dec. 27? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.
