On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on May 30 MLB Games

May 30th, 2015 - 7:47

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 May 30 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 30

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Dale Alexander (starting basketball center for Milligan TN in mid-1920s) suffered a career-ending injury in 1933 (therapy for twisted knee sliding into home plate led to third-degree burns, gangrene and near loss of his leg). Four years earlier as a Detroit Tigers rookie, he launched a homer in both ends of a 1929 doubleheader split against the St. Louis Browns.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Clyde Barnhart (played for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) collected four hits, four runs scored and five RBI against the St. Louis Cardinals in the nightcap of a 1925 doubleheader.

  • Detroit Tigers 2B Frank Bolling (averaged 7.3 ppg for Spring Hill AL in 1950-51) blasted two homers in a 3-2 win against the Kansas City Athletics in the nightcap of a 1957 twinbill.

  • RHP Ownie Carroll (Holy Cross letterman in 1922) traded with Harry Rice by the Detroit Tigers in 1930 to the New York Yankees for two members of the legendary 1927 squad featuring Murderers' Row (P Waite Hoyt and SS Mark Koenig).

  • In 1955, Milwaukee Braves 1B George Crowe (four-year letterman from 1939-40 through 1942-43 for Indiana Central after becoming first high school player named state's Mr. Basketball) closed out the month with five multiple-hit games, homering in three of the contests.

  • 3B Gene Freese (captain of 1952 NAIA Tournament team for West Liberty WV) whacked two homers, powering the Cincinnati Reds to a 1961 doubleheader sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

  • Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers 3B Wally Gilbert (Valparaiso captain in early 1920s) supplied six straight safeties in a doubleheader sweep of the New York Giants in 1931.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) went 5-for-5, including four runs, two homers and five RBI, against the St. Louis Browns in 1937.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates SS Dick Groat (two-time All-American with Duke in 1950-51 and 1951-52 when finishing among nation's top five scorers each season) went 4-for-4 and scored four runs in the nightcap of a 1958 twinbill against the Milwaukee Braves.

  • C Frank Grube (starting guard for Lafayette as a senior in 1926-27), two teammates and Chicago White Sox manager Lew Fonseca involved in a fight with an umpire under the stands after a doubleheader loss at Cleveland in 1932.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) knocked in eight runs against the Boston Braves in a 1952 doubleheader sweep. The next year, Hodges homered twice against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a 1953 twinbill. In 1958 after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, Hodges homered in both ends of a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. Four years later, Hodges homered three times in a 1962 twinbill against the New York Mets.

  • Washington Senators LF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when leading Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) hammered two homers and chipped in with six RBI against the Kansas City Athletics in the opener of a 1967 twinbill.

  • New York Yankees LF Charlie Keller (three-year letterman with Maryland from 1934-35 through 1936-37) went 4-for-4 against the Philadelphia Athletics in the nightcap of a 1946 doubleheader.

  • RHP Cal Koonce (Campbell standout in 1960 and 1961 when North Carolina-based school was junior college), after helping the New York Mets sweep a twinbill against the Pittsburgh Pirates, didn't allow a run in his first 13 relief appearances in 1968.

  • St. Louis Cardinals SS Doc Lavan (played for Hope MI from 1908 through 1910) had six hits in a 1921 twinbill sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

  • Baltimore Orioles rookie RHP Dave Leonhard (averaged 4.8 ppg with Johns Hopkins MD in 1961-62) tossed his second shutout of the month.

  • RF Sam Mele (NYU's leading scorer in 1943 NCAA playoffs) traded by the Washington Senators to the Chicago White Sox in 1952.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Ed Morgan (Tulane letterman from 1923-24 through 1925-26) contributed five RBI in a 12-6 win against the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a 1932 doubleheader.

  • Washington Senators 3B Buddy Myer (Mississippi State letterman in 1923-24) hit safely in all 22 games of the month and 24 in a row overall in 1929.

  • Chicago Cubs rookie C Cal Neeman (Illinois Wesleyan's leading scorer in 1947-48 and 1948-49) hit safely in last 11 games of the month in 1957.

  • The Chicago Cubs went 32 games in 1943 before hitting a homer prior to RF Bill Nicholson (guard for Washington College MD two years in mid-1930s) knocking a couple of balls beyond the outfield barrier in a 5-1 victory over the Braves. His first of a pair of two-run blasts came in the team's 1,120th at-bat of the season.

  • 1B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) ripped a 13th-inning homer to give the Brooklyn Dodgers a 2-1 win over the New York Giants in the opener of a 1949 doubleheader.