On This Date: Ex-College Hoopers Make Their Mark on July 8 MLB Games

July 3rd, 2017 - 7:29

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.

A couple of small-college hoopers from New York - Jack Phillips (Clarkson) and Hal Schumacher (St. Lawrence) - had significant MLB performances on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a July 8 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 8

  • Milwaukee Braves 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) whacked two homers against the Chicago Cubs in 1956, igniting a streak of five straight outings with a round-tripper.

  • St. Louis Cardinals C Ferrell Anderson (Kansas hoops letterman in 1936-37 and 1937-38) amassed three hits in a 7-3 win against the Cincinnati Reds in 1953.

  • Chicago Cubs CF Frankie Baumholtz (MVP in 1941 NIT and first player in Ohio University history to score 1,000 career points) banged out four hits against the Milwaukee Braves in a 1953 game.

  • Seattle Mariners RHP Jim Beattie (Dartmouth's top rebounder in 1974-75 when selected team MVP and honorable mention All-Ivy League) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Baltimore Orioles in 1983.

  • Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) smacked two homers against the Boston Red Sox in a 1944 contest.

  • Kansas City Athletics LF Bob Cerv (ranked fourth on Nebraska all-time scoring list in 1949-50 when finishing college career) singled off Hall of Famer Warren Spahn in the opening inning for the A.L. in a 4-3 win against the N.L. in the 1958 All-Star Game. Four years later with the Houston Colt .45s, Cerv smacked the final two homers of his 12-year MLB career (against Cincinnati Reds in 1962).

  • Jack Coombs (captain and starting hoops center for Colby ME) resigned as manager of the last-place Philadelphia Phillies in 1919.

  • Boston Braves SS Alvin Dark (hoops letterman for LSU and USL during World War II) carried off the field on a stretcher after being knocked unconscious by a thrown ball in 1949.

  • Detroit Tigers DH Darrell Evans (member of Jerry Tarkanian-coached Pasadena City CA club winning 1967 state community college hoops crown) homered twice in a 1987 game against the Oakland Athletics.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham hoops captain) furnished three hits in both ends of a 1934 twinbill split against the Cincinnati Reds.

  • California Angels RHP Dave Frost (averaged 10.5 ppg and 4 rpg for Stanford from 1971-72 through 1973-74) fired a five-hit shutout against the Seattle Mariners in 1978.

  • OF Monte Irvin (Lincoln PA hooper 1 1/2 years in late 1930s) stroked a three-run double in the first inning and grand slam in the 11th to carry the New York Giants to a 10-7 triumph over the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1953. Starting RHP Jim Hearn (Georgia Tech hoops letterman in 1941-42) failed in a bid to win his 13th straight against the Bucs.

  • Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played hoops briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) contributed four hits against the Chicago White Sox in the nightcap of a 1956 doubleheader.

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Tony Lupien (Harvard hoops captain in 1938-39) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in a 1943 contest.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) went 4-for-4 against the Cincinnati Reds in a 1961 game.

  • 1B Cotton Nash (three-time All-American averaged 22.7 ppg and 12.3 rpg in Kentucky career from 1961-62 through 1963-64) returned by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Chicago White Sox after trade three months earlier was voided.

  • Chicago Cubs RHP Claude Passeau (Millsaps MS hooper in late 1920s and early 1930s) yielded a three-run homer to Hall of Fame Boston Red Sox OF Ted Williams as the A.L. notched a dramatic 7-5 victory in the 1941 All-Star Game.

  • 1B Jack Phillips (leading hoops scorer for Clarkson NY in 1942-43) pounded a pinch-hit grand-slam homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-6 triumph against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1950.

  • Cincinnati Reds LHP Eppa Rixey (Virginia hoops letterman in 1912 and 1914) won the 16-inning nightcap of a 1924 twinbill, 2-1, at Cincinnati. It triggered a streak of 31 straight scoreless innings for Rixey.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 2B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in PCC both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) ripped a homer for the N.L. in the 1952 All-Star Game.

  • Seattle Pilots LHP Garry Roggenburk (Dayton's leading scorer three straight seasons from 1959-60 through 1961-62 grabbed school-record 32 rebounds in third varsity contest) hurled his lone MLB complete game (3-1 win against California Angels in 1969).

  • New York Giants RHP Hal Schumacher (St. Lawrence NY hooper in early 1930s) fanned five A.L. batters, including all-time standouts Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin and Al Simmons, in four innings of relief for the N.L. in the 1935 All-Star Game.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates CF Bill Virdon (Drury MO hooper in 1949) provided five extra-base hits in a 1960 twinbill against the Philadelphia Phillies.

  • New York Giants C Wes Westrum (hooper for Bemidji State MN one season before serving in military during WWII) and teammate Daryl Spencer twice smacked back-to-back homers in an 11-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 1956 game.

  • Boston Braves 3B Chuck Workman (first-five hoops selection for Central Missouri State on All-MIAA team as sophomore and junior in mid-1930s) cracked a homer in both ends of a 1945 doubleheader split against the Pittsburgh Pirates.