Birthdays This Week! October 20-28, 2025

Jimmie Foxx — Oct 22, 1907

A three-time MVP and 1933 Triple Crown winner, Foxx was the second player to 500 homers and one of the most terrifying right-handed bats ever. Debuting as a teen with the A’s, he logged 12 seasons of 30+ HR and helped power back-to-back Philadelphia titles (1929–30). Foxx’s combo of elite power, patience, and positional versatility (1B/3B/C) made him era-proof; his OPS+ (163) puts him in the inner-circle of all-time sluggers. He’s the clear headliner for Oct 22 birthdays. MLB.com+1

Ichiro Suzuki — Oct 22, 1973

Ichiro exploded onto MLB at 27 and somehow still amassed 3,089 MLB hits, 10 straight 200-hit seasons, the 2001 Rookie of the Year/MVP double, and the single-season hits record (262). Add 10 Gold Gloves and a famed rocket arm and you get a global icon who stretched the sport’s popularity across the Pacific. His contact wizardry and baserunning efficiency rewrote what a modern leadoff could be. MLB.com

Robinson Canó — Oct 22, 1982

At his peak, Canó blended one of the game’s smoothest lefty swings with second-base power and sure hands: 8 All-Star nods, 5 Silver Sluggers, 2 Gold Gloves, and major October moments. His résumé is complicated by PED suspensions, but in pure talent and production (top-three by WAR among 10/22 births), he’s firmly among the week’s elites. MLB.com

Wilbur Wood — Oct 22, 1941

A knuckleball workhorse who threw mind-bending volume for the White Sox, Wood logged 376⅔ IP in 1972, led the AL in wins twice, and even won two games in one night (June 8, 1973: first a resumed game, then a shutout). He’s a reminder of how the knuckler can turn careers—and seasons—upside down. MLB.com

Corbin Burnes — Oct 22, 1994

The 2021 NL Cy Young winner rocketed to ace status with strikeout-happy dominance and record runs (58 K before his first 2021 walk; later 10 straight K in a game). After a trade to Baltimore in 2024 he posted a career-best 15 wins, then signed a long deal with Arizona before TJ surgery in 2025. Peak-for-peak, he’s already one of Oct 22’s best. MLB.com

Jim Bunning — Oct 23, 1931

A Hall of Fame right-hander with 9 All-Star selections, Bunning threw a 1958 no-hitter and a 1964 perfect game (on Father’s Day). He won 224 games across 17 seasons, then carved a rare second legacy in public service as a U.S. Congressman and Senator. Few pitchers balanced longevity, peak feats, and post-career impact like Bunning. MLB.com

Al Leiter — Oct 23, 1965

Leiter’s career is a tapestry of big-stage moments: two World Series rings (1993 Blue Jays, 1997 Marlins), the first no-hitter in Marlins history (1996), and a late-career Mets peak that included a 17-win season and a 2.47 ERA. He later became a respected analyst. He’s emblematic of the durable, big-game lefty of the 1990s–2000s. MLB.com

Pedro Martínez — Oct 25, 1971

One of the greatest peaks in pitching history: 3 Cy Youngs (’97, ’99, ’00), 2004 champ, 3,154 K, and a cartoonish 2000 season (1.74 ERA, record WHIP). Pedro dominated the height of the steroid era with command, late life, and audacity—pound-for-pound the model of modern pitching excellence and the no-brainer No. 1 for Oct 25. MLB.com+1

Juan Soto — Oct 25, 1998

Already a generational hitter by age 26, Soto owns a World Series ring (2019), a batting title (2020), four Silver Sluggers, and an OBP profile that invites Ted Williams comps. His plate discipline and all-fields thunder traveled from D.C. to San Diego to New York, where his 2024 arrival helped spark a Yankees pennant. The floor is All-Star; the ceiling is historic. MLB.com

Ralph Kiner — Oct 27, 1922

Few hitters ever led a league like Kiner, who topped the NL in homers his first seven seasons (1946–52). The Pirates retired his No. 4; the Hall of Fame called in 1975. His short-burst dominance—and the way his pull power literally shaped Forbes Field’s “Kiner’s Korner”—cements him as Oct 27’s headliner. MLB.com+1

Hurley McNair (Negro Leagues) — Oct 28, 1888

An early Kansas City Monarchs standout, McNair was a fast, power-capable outfielder on one of Black baseball’s signature dynasties. He helped set a winning culture that the franchise carried through the 1920s, and he’s frequently cited in modern roundups of Oct 28 birthdays as a Negro Leagues “must-know.” Including him reflects the now-official MLB recognition of Negro Leagues history and the need to surface pre-integration greats on birthday lists.