On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on June 24 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 24 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 24

  • INF-OF Leo Burke (averaged 9.2 ppg for Virginia Tech basketball teams in 1952-53 and 1953-54) traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for P Barney Schultz in 1963.

  • Detroit Tigers RHP Ownie Carroll (Holy Cross letterman in 1922), hurling his second shutout, allowed a total of four earned runs in his first eight victories of the 1928 campaign en route to leading the team with 16 triumphs.

  • Boston Braves SS Dick Culler (#9 jersey retired by High Point for Little All-American in 1935 and 1936) went 6-for-7 in a 1945 doubleheader split against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

  • 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first player ever to average 20 points for a season with 21.7 ppg in 1942-43) awarded on waivers from the Chicago White Sox to the Cincinnati Reds in 1958.

  • Houston Astros C Joe Ferguson (played in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) walked five times, including three intentional bases on balls, against the San Diego Padres in 1978.

  • RHP Eddie Fisher (played for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) surrendered his only run in first 12 relief appearances with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.

  • New York Giants 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) went 5-for-5 and scored four runs against the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a 1926 doubleheader.

  • St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1955-56 and 1956-57) ended a personal five-game losing streak with his final of 56 career shutouts (four-hitter against Pittsburgh Pirates in nightcap of 1974 twinbill).

  • New York Yankees LHP Steve Hamilton (Morehead State's leading scorer and rebounder in 1956-57 and 1957-58) struck out Cleveland Indians 1B Tony Horton with a couple of "Folly Floaters" as a reliever in the nightcap of a 1970 doubleheader.

  • Philadelphia Athletics 1B Tom Hamilton (member of Texas' 1947 Final Four team was SWC's leading scorer in league competition in 1949-50) supplied a career-high two hits in a 6-3 setback against the Detroit Tigers in 1953.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) homered three times in a 1951 doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Seven years later, Hodges hammered a round-tripper in both ends of a 1958 twinbill sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

  • In 1944, Cincinnati Reds rookie RHP Jim Konstanty (member of 1937-38 and 1938-39 Syracuse teams) tossed a shutout in his second MLB start (1-0 against Chicago Cubs).

  • In 1958, New York Yankees INF Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship team) smacked his first MLB homer (at Chicago off Early Wynn of the White Sox).

  • New York Yankees RF Bud Metheny (William & Mary letterman from 1935-36 through 1937-38) amassed two homers and six RBI in a 13-5 win against the Philadelphia Athletics in the opener of a 1945 twinbill.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) powered a grand slam in back-to-back innings (fifth and sixth) against the Cleveland Indians in 1968.

  • Cincinnati Reds LHP Eppa Rixey (Virginia letterman in 1911-12 and 1913-14) went into the eighth inning with a perfect game but wound up losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3, in 1924.

  • In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in PCC both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) swiped home in the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the first of 19 times in Robinson's career he pilfered home. The next year, he went 7-for-9 in a 1948 doubleheader sweep of the Pirates.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Preacher Roe (played for Harding AR in late 1930s) twirled a shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a 1952 twinbill, giving him 30 victories in his last 33 decisions going back to the end of the 1950 campaign.

  • New York Giants C Wes Westrum (played for Bemidji State MN one season before serving in military) contributed a career game, hitting three homers plus a triple and scoring five runs in a 12-2 triumph against the Cincinnati Reds in 1950.

  • In 1991, California Angels RF-DH Dave Winfield (starting forward with Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972) went 5-for-5 against the Kansas City Royals and became the oldest player in MLB history to go for the cycle (39).