On This Date: Ex-College Hoopers Make News in October 2 MLB Games

October 2nd, 2020 - 8:54

Extra! Extra! Unless you're a cardboard cut-out, you can read news 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.

Ex-hoopers from five current and former Big East Conference members - Danny Coombs (Seton Hall), Walt Dropo (Connecticut), Bob Gibson (Creighton), Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati) and Birdie Tebbetts (Providence) - made MLB news on this date. Ex-Pasadena City Community College CA hoopers Darrell Evans and Jackie Robinson supplied notable offensive outputs on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is an October 2 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

OCTOBER 2

  • Chicago Cubs RHP Dale Alderson (All-Iowa Conference basketball selection for Upper Iowa in 1938-39 and 1939-40) lost his lone MLB decision (2-0 against Boston Braves in 1943).

  • Philadelphia Athletics LHP Stan Baumgartner (hooper for University of Chicago's Big Ten Conference champion in 1913-14) hurled a six-hit shutout against the New York Yankees in 1925, holding both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hitless.

  • RHP Ralph Branca (sixth-leading scorer for NYU in 1943-44) yielded the first pinch-hit homer in World Series history (by Yogi Berra of New York Yankees in 1947) but the Brooklyn Dodgers still prevailed in Game 3, 9-8. Two days earlier, Branca lost Game 1 when he was knocked out in the fifth inning.

  • New York Yankees OF Bob Cerv (ranked fourth on Nebraska's career scoring list in 1949-50 when finishing his career) pounded a pinch homer off the Brooklyn Dodgers' winning rookie RHP Roger Craig (forward with North Carolina State's 1949-50 freshman hoops team) in Game 5 of 1955 World Series.

  • Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University hooper in early 1920s) contributed both of his homers in 31 World Series contests in the first two outings against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1930.

  • CF Earle Combs (three-year hoops captain for Eastern Kentucky) clubbed a homer and scored four runs as the New York Yankees swept 1932 World Series by crushing the Chicago Cubs, 13-6. It was the Bronx Bombers' 12th straight WS game win.

  • In 1964, Houston Colt .45s LHP Danny Coombs (Seton Hall's third-leading scorer and rebounder as sophomore in 1961-62) notched his first MLB victory, holding the Los Angeles Dodgers scoreless over five innings as a starter.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers RHP Jack Coombs (hoops captain and starting center for Colby ME) hurled a shutout, beating the New York Giants for sixth time in as many decisions in 1916.

  • SS Alvin Dark (hoops letterman for LSU and USL in mid-1940s) extended his World Series competition hitting streak to 12 in a row with three safeties in Game 4 as the New York Giants finished their sweep of the Cleveland Indians in 1954.

  • CF Larry Doby (reserve guard for Virginia Union's 1943 CIAA hoops titlist) contributed four hits as the Cleveland Indians assure themselves of a tie for 1948 A.L. title with an 8-0 triumph against the Detroit Tigers.

  • In 1950, Boston Red Sox 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first player ever to average 20 points for season with 21.7 in 1942-43) became the first player to surpass 100 with more RBI (144) than games played (136).

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Darrell Evans (member of Jerry Tarkanian-coached Pasadena City CA club winning 1967 state community college crown) hammered his MLB-leading 40th homer in 1985, becoming the first player to reach such a plateau in each league (41 round-trippers for Atlanta Braves in 1973).

  • In the opener of the 1968 World Series, St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer in 1955-56 and 1956-57) outdueled 30-game winner Denny McLain, 4-0, and established a WS record by fanning 17 Detroit Tigers.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State hoops letterman) went 4-for-4 against the Seattle Mariners in a 1985 contest.

  • 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) fired as New York Mets manager in 1983.

  • In 1966, Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman hoops squad in 1953-54) concluded his final season with career bests of 27 victories and 1.73 ERA. The previous year, Koufax finished with a single-season MLB-mark 382 strikeouts after fanning 13 Milwaukee Braves batters. In 1963 World Series opener, the first five batters he faced whiffed en route to 15 strikeouts in a 5-2 win against the New York Yankees.

  • CF Kenny Lofton (Arizona's leader in steals for 1988 Final Four team compiling a 35-3 record) supplied a homer to help the Cleveland Indians edge the New York Yankees, 4-3, in Game 3 of their 1998 A.L. playoff series.

  • Rookie RF Bud Metheny (hoops letterman for William & Mary from 1935-36 through 1937-38) belted a first-game homer against the St. Louis Browns to help power the New York Yankees to their 14th sweep of doubleheader in 1943.

  • New York Yankees rookie RHP Zach Monroe (played hoops briefly for Bradley in 1950-51) hurled one inning of relief against the Milwaukee Braves in Game 2 of 1958 World Series.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers LF Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) registered a postseason career-high three hits in 3-2 win against the New York Yankees in Game 3 of 1953 World Series.

  • Chicago Cubs LF Riggs Stephenson (Alabama hoops letterman in 1920) stroked four hits against the Cincinnati Reds in a 1929 contest.

  • Detroit Tigers C Birdie Tebbetts (Providence hooper in 1932) closed out the 1938 campaign with four multiple-hit games in a row.

  • C Wes Westrum (Bemidji State MN hooper one season before serving in military during WWII) supplied two sacrifice flies for the New York Giants to help them defeat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4, in Game 4 and sweep 1954 World Series.