On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on June 10 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 hoopsters had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a June 10 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 10

  • A pinch-hit single by Houston Colts .45s 2B Joey Amalfitano (played basketball for Loyola Marymount in 1952-53) triggered a 12-game hitting streak for him in 1962.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Carson "Skeeter" Bigbee (Oregon letterman in 1915) provided four hits for the third time in a 19-game span in 1922.

  • Boston Braves SS Dick Culler (#9 jersey retired by High Point for Little All-American in 1935 and 1936) contributed four hits in a 10-5 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946.

  • Chicago Cubs RHP Mark Freeman (LSU center averaged 3.6 ppg as senior in 1950-51) notched his only MLB complete game with a four-hit, 6-1 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960.

  • Chicago White Sox 3B Gene Freese (West Liberty WV captain of 1952 NAIA Tournament team) went 4-for-4 against the Boston Red Sox in 1960.

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Dick Gernert (Temple letterman in 1948-49 when averaging 2.7 ppg) collected two homers and six RBI against the Kansas City Athletics in 1957.

  • LHP Joe Gibbon (two-time All-SEC forward for Ole Miss was nation's second-leading scorer as a senior in 1956-57) traded by the San Francisco Giants to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1969.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) hammered a homer for the third consecutive contest in 1939.

  • Oakland Athletics rookie 3B Wayne Gross (led Cal Poly Pomona in assists in 1974-75) swatted two homers against the Detroit Tigers in 1977.

  • San Diego Padres RF Tony Gwynn (All-WAC second-team selection with San Diego State in 1979-80 and 1980-81) supplied a double, triple and homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993.

  • Boston Braves 1B Buddy Hassett (played for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive games in 1930 and 1931) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1940.

  • Washington Senators LF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection in 1956-57 and 1957-58 hammered two homers against the Boston Red Sox in 1967.

  • Chicago White Sox 3B Vance Law (averaged 6.8 ppg for Brigham Young from 1974-75 through 1976-77) launched two homers against the Minnesota Twins in 1984.

  • Philadelphia Phillies CF Jerry Martin (1971 Southern Conference MVP after he was Furman's runner-up in scoring the previous season) went 4-for-4 in a 7-5 triumph against the Atlanta Braves in 1977.

  • Recently-acquired RF-1B Sam Mele (NYU's leading scorer in 1943 NCAA playoffs) knocked in six fourth-inning runs (three-run HR and bases-loaded triple) for the Chicago White Sox in a 1952 game at Philadelphia.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) smashed two homers against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961.

  • Boston Braves LF Joe Mowry (Iowa letterman in 1929-30 and 1930-31) went 3-for-3 against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933.

  • San Diego Padres 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) whacked two homers against the Cincinnati Reds in 1984.

  • Chicago Cubs SS Paul Popovich (teammate of Jerry West for West Virginia's 1960 NCAA playoff team) homered in back-to-back games against the San Diego Padres in 1970.

  • Oakland Athletics RHP Steve Renko (averaged 9.9 ppg and 5.8 rpg as Kansas sophomore in 1963-64) allowed only five earned runs in his first five starts of 1978 campaign covering 30 innings.

  • RHP Jeff Robinson (two-time NAIA All-District 3 honoree in early 1980s for Azusa Pacific CA) awarded off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Texas Rangers in 1992.

  • Cleveland Indians RHP Sonny Siebert (team-high 16.7 ppg for Missouri in 1957-58 as All-Big Eight Conference second-team selection) hurled a no-hitter against the Washington Senators in 1966.

  • 2B Junior Spivey (redshirted his only semester at Northwestern Oklahoma State on a hoop scholarship before transferring to a KS junior college) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Washington Nationals in 2005.

  • Chicago Cubs rookie 2B Jimmy Stewart (All-VSAC selection for Austin Peay's NCAA DII Tournament teams in 1959-60 and 1960-61) stroked four hits against the New York Mets in 1964.

  • INF Gary Sutherland (Southern California's fifth-leading scorer in 1963-64 when averaging 7.4 ppg) traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976.