Top 10 January 7 Birthdays

Honorable Mention: January 7, 1928: William Peter Blatty. Wrote the novel The Exorcist, setting the stage for one of the scariest movies of all time.

Honorable Mention: January 7, 1952: Sammo Hung. Born Hung Kam-bo, he starred in martial arts films in his native Hong Kong before coming to America and starring in the 1998-2000 CBS drama Martial Law. I was amazed at how a man his size could move like that. He explained: "I'm not out of shape. I'm just fat."

Honorable Mention: January 7, 1985: Lewis Hamilton. The British Formula One driver has already been knighted, as much for his anti-racism efforts as for his victories on the track. However, auto racing is not a sport.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 7, 1922: Alvin Dark. As shortstop for the New York Giants, he won the National League Pennant in 1951 and the World Series in 1954. After the Giants moved to San Francisco, he managed them to the Pennant in 1962. He lost his job in 1964, after it appeared that he was mistreating his Hispanic players. Across San Francisco Bay, he managed the Oakland Athletics to win the 1974 World Series.

Honorable Mention: January 7, 1938: Paul Revere. In the 1960s, he led a band named Paul Revere & The Raiders, dressed like Revolutionary War soldiers. He was the keyboard player, while Mark Lindsay was the lead singer. His real name was Paul Revere Dick. Like Tim Allen, but unlike Andy Dick, he dropped his last name.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 7, 1946: Jann Wenner. He founded Rolling Stone magazine in 1967, and is still in charge of it today. That's one of the reasons this is a Somewhat Honorable Mention: The magazine's "journalism" has often betrayed its ideals in the Obama and Trump years. He was also a co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and while this was a good thing, it's often been said that the first requirement for election is that Jann Wenner has to like you.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 7, 1964: Nicolas Cage. Sure, he was in Peggy Sue Got Married, Raising Arizona, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Rock, Con Air and Windtalkers. But he was also in the remake of The Wicker Man and 2 Ghost Rider films. And the National Treasure films would have been a lot better had they starred someone else. Instead, they're camp. Also, he's Nicolas Cage. Thank God he didn't get to play Superman.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 7, 1982: Francisco Rodriguez. "K-Rod" helped the team now known as the Los Angeles Angels win the World Series as a rookie in 2002. He was a 6-time All-Star who finished his career with 437 saves, including a single-season record of 62 with the 2008 Angels. But, around here, he's remembered for his poor performance and diva behavior with the Mets in 2009, '10 and '11.

Dishonorable Mention: January 7, 1991: Eden Hazard. At times, the Belgian midfielder for West London team Chelsea and Spanish giants Real Madrid has looked like the best soccer player in the world. But he dives.

10. January 7, 1948: Kenny Loggins. He told the truth: My mama did not dance, and my daddy did not rock and roll. And I still don't know who this Louise is that he keeps sneaking into his songs. To his credit, he has never let the fact that he looks like the classic image of Jesus go to his head. But he has never been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe Jann Wenner doesn't like him.

9. January 7, 1971: Jeremy Renner. He plays Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, a less interesting version of DC's Green Arrow.

8. January 7, 1976: Alfonso Soriano. He was 2 outs away from becoming the man whose home run won the 2001 World Series for the Yankees. Instead, in Yankee lore, he's remembered as the man who was traded even-up for Alex Rodriguez.

He was a 7-time All-Star with 412 career home runs. And he remains the only man not credibly accused of performance-enhancing drug use to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.

7. January 7, 1800: Millard Fillmore. The President with the earliest birthday in the calendar year, he's one of the least-thought-of, historically. He was never elected: He was elected Vice President in 1848, on a ticket with Zachary Taylor, then became President in 1850 when Taylor died. He did not have much in the way of accomplishments in office, and was not nominated for a full term in 1852. And his Whig Party soon fell apart, and no longer exists. He was respected in his own time, but is mostly forgotten now. Still, he was a President.

6. January 7, 1912: Charles Addams. The cartoonist from Westfield, Union County, New Jersey created The Addams Family. Da da da dum, snap, snap.

5. January 7, 1891: Zora Neale Hurston. A novelist in the 1930s, who also wrote about black Caribbean folklore, interest in her was posthumously revived with the feminist movement of the 1970s.

4. January 7, 1942: Vasily Alekseyev. Known as "The Strongest Man In the World," the Soviet weightlifter won Olympic Gold Medals in 1972 in Munich and 1976 in Montreal. Set a world record for most world records set, because, at every competition, he would increase his record lift by the smallest allowable amount.

3. January 7, 1957: Katie Couric. Although best known as the co-anchor of NBC's The Today Show, she also became the 1st female anchor of The CBS Evening News, and has also worked for ABC -- the trifecta of original American TV networks.

2. January 7, 1502: Pope Gregory XIII. Born Ugo Boncompagni, he developed the Gregorian Calendar, the one the Christian world still uses today, replacing the Julian Calendar. He did it to straighten out the scheduling of days that don't take place on the same day every year, specifically Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Easter. And he did this, and enforced this, at the age of 80.

1. January 7, 1913: Johnny Mize. Before Andres Galarraga, Mize was known as The Big Cat. He batted .312 lifetime, hit 359 home runs (despite missing 4 seasons due to serving in World War II), peaking at 51 in 1947, and was a 10-time All-Star. He led the National League in batting average once, home runs 4 times, and RBIs 3 times. After playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants, he played the last 5 seasons of his career as a pinch-hitter extraordinaire with the Yankees, winning 5 straight World Series. He lived long enough to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Still alive as of this writing: Hamilton, Wenner, Cage, Rodriguez, Hazard, Loggins, Renner, Soriano, Couric.