On This Date: Ex-College Hoopers Make Their Mark on July 25 MLB Games

Extra! Extra! Read all about memorable major league baseball achievements and moments involving former college basketball players! Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Nonetheless, numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Former Alabama hoopers Riggs Stephenson and Jim Tabor each had four hits in a MLB game on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a July 25 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 25

• Joey Amalfitano (Loyola Marymount hooper in 1952-53) became manager of the Chicago Cubs in 1980.

• In his second MLB start, California Angels 1B Bruce Bochte (starting forward for Santa Clara's NCAA playoff team in 1969-70 when averaging 7.4 ppg and 4 rpg) banged out four hits against the Kansas City Royals in a 1974 game.

• Detroit Tigers 1B Tony Clark (San Diego State's leading scorer in WAC games in 1991-92) homered from each side of the plate for the second time in 1999 season in a 9-1 triumph against the Boston Red Sox.

• Los Angeles Dodgers RF Joe Ferguson (hooper in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) knocked in five runs against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1979 contest.

• Philadelphia Athletics RF Walt French (hoops letterman for Rutgers and Army) supplied four hits against the Detroit Tigers in a 1927 outing.

• St. Louis Cardinals rookie SS Charlie Gelbert (scored at least 125 points each of last three seasons in late 1920s for Lebanon Valley PA) went 4-for-4 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1929 game.

• RF David Justice (Thomas More KY assists leader in 1984-85) jacked a home run to account for the Atlanta Braves' lone hit and game's only run in a 1-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992.

• Boston Red Sox 1B Tony Lupien (Harvard hoops captain in 1938-39) went 5-for-6, including three extra-base hits, in a 9-8 win against the Louis Browns in 1942.

• Cleveland Indians rookie 1B Ed Morgan (Tulane hoops letterman from 1923-24 through 1925-26) manufactured five RBI in a 15-5 win against the Boston Red Sox in the nightcap of a 1928 doubleheader.

• Detroit Tigers RF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) launched two homers against the Washington Senators in a 1968 contest.

• New York Yankees rookie LHP Dennis Rasmussen (sixth-man for Creighton averaged 5.1 ppg from 1977-78 through 1979-80) blanked the Milwaukee Brewers over seven innings en route to one of his six straight winning decisions in 1984.

• Philadelphia Phillies RHP Robin Roberts (Michigan State's second-leading scorer in 1945-46 and 1946-47) fired the second of back-to-back shutouts in 1951.

• Cleveland Indians 2B Freddy Spurgeon (Kalamazoo MI hooper in 1921-22) stroked four hits against the St. Louis Browns in 1926. The next year, Spurgeon extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games in a row.

• Chicago Cubs INF-OF Riggs Stephenson (Alabama hoops letterman in 1920) contributed four hits in a 9-5 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1930.

• Cincinnati Reds rookie LF Evar Swanson (played all five positions for Knox IL) went 5-for-6 against the Boston Braves in a 1929 outing.

• Boston Red Sox 3B Jim Tabor (Alabama hoops letterman in 1936-37) blasted two homers against the Chicago White in a 1940 game and the Cleveland Indians in a 1941 contest. In a 1944 outing, Tabor went 4-for-4 against the Detroit Tigers.