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 Jan. 11.

1) Max Carey (1890)
Real name ¡°Maximillian George Carnarius,¡± he used the fake name ¡°Max Carey¡± to preserve his amateur eligibility as a track-and-field star. (He didn¡¯t even know what baseball was until he was in high school.) He immediately took to his new game, using those track skills to steal 738 career bases, still ninth all-time. He managed the Dodgers from 1932-33, and 11 years later he managed the Milwaukee Chicks in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League before becoming the league¡¯s president.

2) Elmer Flick (1876)
One of two Hall of Famers born on this day (Carey is the other), Flick was 5-foot-9, 168 pounds but still hit 48 homers (a big total at the turn of the century) for the Phillies and Cleveland Naps while making a quick, homer-less stop with the Athletics in 1902. He hit a career-high .367 in 1900, but won a batting title in 1905 hitting just .308, which stood as the lowest average for a batting title in a season until Carl Yastrzemski¡¯s .301 in 1968. Flick also had 110 RBIs in 1900.

3) Schoolboy Rowe (1910)
He got his nickname for playing for a men¡¯s team at age 15 in Arkansas, though he looked nothing like a schoolboy as a player. Rowe was a terrific pitcher for the Tigers in the 1934 and ¡®35 World Series, but he was mostly known for his eccentric superstitions, including talking to the baseball. He was also famous for his catchphrase, ¡°How¡¯m I doing, Edna?¡± which was a way to refer to his beloved high school sweetheart (and later his wife) back in Arkansas.

4) Don Mossi (1929)
A journeyman control artist who pitched for four teams over a 12-year career, Mossi is known more now for his notoriously odd-looking picture on his baseball card, which accentuated his unusual looks. Bill James wrote that Mossi was the ¡°complete ugly player. He could run ugly, hit ugly, throw ugly, field ugly, and ugly for power. He was ugly to all fields.¡±

5) General Crowder (1899)
He served three years in the army during World War I, where he learned the game of baseball. Crowder was not, in fact, a general. He also pitched in the first All-Star Game in 1933 and was a teammate of fellow Jan. 11 birthday boy Schoolboy Rowe.

Others of note:

Silver King (1868)
He won 203 games for seven different teams before the turn of the century.

J.P. Crawford (1995)
The best active player on this list, with 18.5 WAR (per Baseball Reference) in eight Major League seasons. Following a strong 2023 season for the Mariners in which he received downballot AL MVP consideration, Crawford took a step back in '24, hitting .202 with nine home runs in 105 games. Thanks to his usual stellar defense at shortstop, however, he was still worth 2.7 WAR.

Elly De La Cruz (2002)
The Reds dynamo may someday top this list. De La Cruz finished eighth in NL MVP voting in his 2024 sophomore season, hitting .259 with 25 home runs and an MLB-leading 67 stolen bases. De La Cruz made his first All-Star Game, and his 5.2 WAR was ninth in the Majors per Baseball Reference.

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