Top 10 April 2 Birthdays

Somewhat Honorable Mention: April 2, 1965: Rodney King. He was no angel, but he didn't deserve to get beaten by Los Angeles policemen, setting in motion the events that led to the 1992 South Central Riots.

10. April 2, 1945: Don Sutton. A 4-time All-Star, he reached 4 postseasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and 1 each with the Houston Astros, the Milwaukee Brewers and the California Angels, but never won a World Series. He is a member of the 300 Wins and 3,000 Strikeouts Clubs, and the Baseball Hall of Fame. He later became a renowned broadcaster, and was also a panelist on the classic 1970s version of Match Game.

9. April 2, 1869: Hughie Jennings. As a shortstop, for the old National League version of the Baltimore Orioles and the Brooklyn team that became known as the Dodgers, he batted .311 and won 5 Pennants, but also set records for getting hit by a pitch that have never been broken: 51 times in a season (1896), and 287 times in a career. Through all this, he still found time to graduate from an Ivy League law school, Cornell.

As a manager, he led the Detroit Tigers to 3 straight AL Pennants: 1907, 1908 and 1909, but lost the World Series all 3 times. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, as a player.

8. April 2, 1875: Walter Chrysler. He founded the automotive company, and built the skyscraper, that bear his name. Time magazine named him its Man of the Year in 1928.

7. April 2, 1862: Nicholas Murray Butler. He served as President of Columbia University from 1902 to 1945, which included the tenure of Lou Gehrig and the school's win in the 1934 Rose Bowl. As President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he was awarded the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize (shared with Jane Addams).

6. April 2, 1907: Luke Appling. A foreshadower of the hard-hitting shortstops of the 1980s and '90s, he batted .310 over 21 years with the Chicago White Sox, collecting 2,749 hits, winning the American League battle title in 1936 and 1943, and making 7 All-Star Games.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1924: Bobby Ávila. Perhaps the 1st great Mexican-born player in America's major leagues, the 2nd baseman was a 3-time All-Star who won the AL batting title with the Cleveland Indians in 1954, helping them win the Pennant.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1927: Billy Pierce. The lefthander was a 7-time All-Star, led the AL in strikeouts in 1953, both Leagues in earned run average in 1955, and wins in 1957. He won Pennants with the Detroit Tigers as a rookie in 1945, with the "Go-Go" Chicago White Sox in 1959, and the San Francisco Giants in 1962. His career record was 211-169.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1927: Carmen Basilio. He was Welterweight Champion of the World in 1955 and '56, held the title again in 1956 and '57, and was Middleweight Champion in 1957 and '58.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1938: Al Weis. He only batted .219 for a career spent mainly as a backup 2nd baseman, but he helped get the Chicago White Sox into Pennant races in 1964 and 1967, and helped the New York Mets win their "Miracle" World Series in 1969, including a game-tying home run in Game 5.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1945: Reggie Smith. The right fielder helped the Boston Red Sox win their "Impossible Dream" Pennant in 1967, then helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win Pennants in 1977, 1978 and 1981, finally winning the World Series in 1981. A 7-time All-Star, his 314 home runs were once 2nd all-time among switch-hitters behind Mickey Mantle.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1960: Linford Christie. Competing for Great Britain in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, he won the 100 meters, earning him the unofficial title of "World's Fastest Man."

Dishonorable Mention: April 2, 1966: Teddy Sheringham. The forward became a shameless diver while playing for North London team Tottenham Hotspur, and won no trophies. Then he went to Manchester United, where cheating is embraced, and won 3 straight Premier League titles, starting in 1999, when they also won the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, English soccer's only "European Treble."

Dishonorable Mention: April 2, 1966: Bill Romanowski. While Sheringham's dishonor is mainly due to seemingly endless minor cheating, "Romo" became perhaps the most despised American football player of his generation. The linebacker made 2 Pro Bowls, and won 2 Super Bowls each with the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos.

But he was known to use steroids, kick opponents in the head, spit on them, once purposely broke an opponent's jaw, and use racist language. In 2003, he punched an Oakland Raiders teammate, Marcus Williams, in the eye in practice. This ended both men's careers: Williams' damage made continuing inadvisable, and Romanowski was cut, and was sued, settling out of court.

5. April 2, 1805: Hans Christian Andersen. The most famous native of Denmark since Hamlet, he was one of the most popular writers for children that has ever lived. His stories included The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea and Thumbelina.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1725: Giacomo Casanova. Yes, the Venetian adventurer, gambler and womanizer was a real person. His memoir, Story of My Life, isn't just a confession of the love life that has caused every ladies' man since to be labeled a "casanova," it's as detailed a look at European life in the 18th Century as we are ever liable to get, unless someone else has a more detailed memoir as yet undiscovered.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1840: Émile Zola. One of France's greatest novelists, in 1898 he threw himself into the the controversy over unfairly disgraced Army officer Richard Dreyfus, with his open letter, J'Accuse!

4. April 2, 1914: Alec Guinness. My generation knows him mainly as the original Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise, which he hated, and pretty much did only for the money. In his native Britain, he is best known for 6 collaborations with director David Lean, including playing Fagin in the 1948 version of Oliver Twist, Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1908: Buddy Ebsen. He became a star dancer in 1930s films, and could have become a legend in The Wizard of Oz. First, he was supposed to play the Scarecrow, but got bumped for Ray Bolger. Then he was cast as the Tin Man, but the aluminum dust in the makeup nearly killed him, so the role went to Jack Haley.

So he became a character actor, before starring as the unexpected oil millionaire Jed Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies and the titular private detective on Barnaby Jones.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1945: Linda Hunt. In 1982, she appeared in The Year of Living Dangerously, playing a male character, and became the 1st person to win an Academy Award for playing a character of the opposite sex. She is now best known for playing Special Agent Hetty Lange on NCIS: Los Angeles.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1953: Debralee Scott. She got typecast as young women of easy virtue on Welcome Back, Kotter and the Fernwood franchise, but showed how smart she was as a panelist on game shows like Match Game and Password.

After appearing in 2 of the Police Academy movies, she became an actors' agent. But after her fiance, a New York police officer, was killed in the 9/11 attacks, she never recovered, and drank herself to death at age 52.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1961: Christopher Meloni. He played New York Detective Elliot Stabler in NBC's Law & Order franchise.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1962: Clark Gregg. He plays S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and was long married to actress Jennifer Grey.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1973: Roselyn Sánchez. She played Elena Delgado on Without a Trace, and now plays Elena Roarke (a relative of the original host) on the sequel series of Fantasy Island.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1977: Michael Fassbender. He has succeeded Ian McKellen as Magneto in the X-Men film franchise.

3. April 2, 1939: Marvin Gaye. He could have been Motown Records' pride and joy. But I'll be doggone if, as late as age 30, company boss Berry Gordy Jr. wasn't still having him record songs like "Too Busy Thinkin' 'bout My Baby." Ain't that peculiar? He should have been been recording songs about the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. Can I get a witness?

Finally, Gordy relented, and, in 1971, Marvin released the album What's Going On? It may still be one of the 10 greatest albums in rock and roll history. Even my father, a fan of classical, folk and country music, admitted (years after Marvin's shocking death) that this album made him a fan of Marvin's. Having gotten that out of his system, Marvin released Let's Get It On, another concept album, one about... getting it out of your system.

In 1968, before Game 4 of the World Series in Detroit, Marvin sang the National Anthem. He sang it straight, and there was no controversy. Before Game 5, Jose Feliciano sang it differently, and there was tremendous controversy. In 1983, during his all-too-brief comeback, Marvin sang it before the NBA All-Star Game. He made it sound like a gospel song, and everyone loved it. Times had changed. A little more than a year later, he was gone.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1928: Serge Gainsbourg. The Frenchman sang about everything, in just about every style, from folk to jazz to rock, and was beloved. He often sang with his wife, English actress Jane Birkin, and their daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1941: Dr. Demento. In Los Angeles starting in 1970, and syndicated nationally from 1974 to 2010 (and done weekly online since), Barrett Eugene Hansen has been the patron saint of novelty songs, re-introducing audiences to some of the silliest songs ever recorded. When parodist Weird Al Yankovic got started, he said his only goal was to get on The Dr. Demento Show. He got his wish.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1942: Leon Russell. Perhaps the top session keyboard player of the 1960s, he was considered a mentor by Elton John, and played at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1947: Emmylou Harris. Johnny Cash called her his favorite female singer, outside of family. That counts for a lot.

Honorable Mention: April 2, 1954: Gregory Abbott. A former stockbroker, in 1987 he had a Number 1 hit with "Shake You Down."

2. April 2, 1920: Jack Webb. On radio from 1949 to 1957, and television from 1952 to 1959, in both cases on NBC, Webb starred in Dragnet, as Los Angeles Detective Sergeant Joe Friday. Consulting with the real LAPD, including Chief William H. Parker, allowed the show a sense of realism not seen on TV before, and he remains the most iconic policeman in television history.

But there were no shootouts: He had a rule in his stories that no more than one firing of a policeman's gun be shown onscreen in an episode. Dragnet wasn't about the confrontation between cop and criminal, it was about the detective work.

Through his Mark VII Limited production company, he brought Dragnet back from 1967 to 1970, again on NBC, now in color, and taking on the issues of the day, including drug use. Not only that, but he created one of the earliest "shared universes" in pop culture history, with characters crossing over from one of his Los Angeles-based shows to another: Adam-12, The D.A., O'Hara: U.S. Treasury, and Emergency!, a hospital-based show whose nurses included his ex-wife, singer Julie London.

1. April 2, AD 744: Charlemagne. That's French. In Latin: Carolus Magnus. In English: Charles the Great. The consolidator of several lands into modern France, and the 1st Holy Roman Emperor. It has been suggested that 1 out of every 10 people of European descent is descended from Charlemagne.

Still alive as of this writing: Weis, Smith, Christie, Sheringham, Romanowski, Hunt, Meloni, Gregg, Sánchez, Fassbender, Dr. Demento, Harris, Abbott.