The best baseball players born on Aug. 18

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 Aug. 18.

1) Roberto Clemente (1934)
One of the most important, respected and beloved figures in baseball, Clemente still serves as a role model for the sport on and off the field nearly a half-century after his death.

Clemente was a true five-tool talent over 18 years played exclusively for the Pirates, logging 3,000 hits and 240 homers with a career .317/.359/.475 slash line. Despite an aggressive approach, he averaged only 82 strikeouts over 162 games. An exceptional right fielder with a cannon right arm, Clemente led the NL in outfield assists five times and since 1904 ranks second in career assists as a right fielder, with 255.

"Clemente could field the ball in New York and throw out a guy in Pennsylvania," said Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.

? Clemente's greatest moments

His resume ended up with four batting titles, an MVP (1966), 12 Gold Gloves, 15 All-Star selections and a pair of World Series championships.

An advocate and pioneer for Latino players in the Majors and a hero to the Puerto Rican community and beyond, Clemente's life was cut short at 38 in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1972 while he was attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Clemente was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1973.

In his honor, MLB annually presents the Roberto Clemente Award to recognize the player who best represents the game through sportsmanship, community involvement and positive contributions, both on and off the field. Nominees for the award are announced on Roberto Clemente Day each year.

2) Burleigh Grimes (1893)
Grimes was his name, and grime was his game. The Wisconsin-born right-hander and one-time lumberjack was among a group of 17 hurlers grandfathered into using a legal spitball -- he used fiber from the slippery elm tree -- and retired as the last. Over the course of 19 seasons, Grimes won 270 games, reaching the 20-win plateau five times.

While the fiercely competitive hurler spent nearly half his career in Brooklyn, where he'd later manage after his playing career, he won his only World Series ring as a member of the 1931 Cardinals in dramatic fashion. Starting the decisive Game 7 in great pain with an inflamed appendix, "Ol' Stubblebeard" spun a 8 2/3 innings of two-run ball for the win. Grimes was selected by the Veterans Committee for election to the Hall of Fame in 1964.

3) Max Lanier (1915)
Among the best left-handers in Cardinals history, Lanier was a two-time World Series champ with the wartime Cardinals (1942, 1944) and the 1943 NL ERA leader (1.90). But Lanier, who won 108 games over parts of 14 big league seasons, shocked the game in 1946, when he was among a group of players to break his contract to play for the Mexican League. After being banned from MLB for five years, Lanier challenged the reserve clause in court -- a lawsuit that was dropped when the suspensions were lifted in 1949.

4) Buck Weaver (1890)
Suspended for life for his role in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Weaver was Chicago's team captain and the No. 3 hitter for the team in that infamous World Series. While Weaver -- played by John Cusack in the film "Eight Men Out" -- was said not to have thrown any games, his knowledge of the fix led to his ban. A terrific third baseman and member of the 1917 champs, Weaver's career ended at age 30 after a 1920 season that saw him set career highs in every triple-slash category (.331/.365/.420).

5) Bobby Higginson (1970)
A career Tiger, Higginson averaged 28 homers and 97 RBIs in his prime, from 1996-2000, and finished with 187 long balls over parts of 11 seasons. Over a two-game stretch in 1997, Higginson tied an MLB mark with homers in four consecutive at-bats. The strong-armed Higginson led the AL in outfield assists four times. He never enjoyed a winning season before retiring after the 2005 campaign.

Others of note:

Sam Wise (1857)
The Akron-born infielder holds the ignominious mark for becoming the first big league hitter to strike out more than 100 times (104 in 1884 while a member of the NL's Boston Beaneaters) -- a record that took 20 years to be eclipsed.

Jack Howell (1961)
After showing pop as the Angels' starting third baseman in the mid-to-late 1980s -- including a remarkable broken-bat homer in 1987 -- Howell had his greatest success in Japan, including an MVP season in 1992 when he slashed .331/.402/.685 with 38 homers and 87 RBIs for the Yakult Swallows.

Mike LaValliere (1960)
A Gold Glove catcher in 1987, LaValliere was dealt from the Cardinals in the same trade that sent Andy Van Slyke to Pittsburgh. The career .268/.351/.338 hitter was the platoon backstop on the Pirates club that won three straight NL East titles from 1990-92. Sid Bream's slide in Game 7 of the '92 NLCS went just under LaValliere's tag.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Aug. 18? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.