On This Date: Ex-College Hoopsters Make Their Mark on June 18 MLB Games

June 18th, 2016 - 6:54

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.

Three former MLB players or manager who played college hoops - Marty Karow (Ohio State), Dick Siebert (Minnesota) and Bobby Winkles (Arizona State) - coached schools to College World Series championships on this date in a four-year span in the mid-1960s. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a June 18 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 18

  • Philadelphia Phillies rookie LF Harry Anderson (averaged 7.7 ppg and 8.9 rpg for West Chester PA basketball squad in 1951-52) provided the game-winning hit with a fifth-inning grand slam in a 7-6 win against the Chicago Cubs in 1957.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates RF Clyde Barnhart (played for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) contributed five RBI against the Boston Braves in a 1923 game.

  • Cincinnati Reds rookie RF Frankie Baumholtz (MVP in 1941 NIT and first player in Ohio University history to score 1,000 points in a career) collected four hits and 1B Babe Young (Fordham letterman in 1935-36) contributed a pair of three-run homers to support teammate Ewell Blackwell's no-hitter against the Boston Braves in 1947.

  • Cincinnati Reds 3B Gene Freese (West Liberty WV captain of 1952 NAIA Tournament team) collected seven hits in a 1961 doubleheader sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.

  • Chicago White Sox RHP Jim Geddes (averaged 2.7 ppg for Ohio State from 1967-68 through 1969-70 under coach Fred Taylor) held the California Angels hitless for 4 2/3 innings but walked six in his 1973 debut. In his next appearance, Geddes held the Texas Rangers scoreless in 4 1/3 innings in the opener of a July 4 doubleheader.

  • 1B Dick Gernert (Temple letterman in 1948-49) whacked the only homer for the Boston Red Sox while tallying 17 runs in the seventh inning of a 23-3 rout of the Detroit Tigers in 1953. C Sammy White (All-PCC Northern Division first-five selection for Washington in 1947-48 and 1948-49) tied a MLB single-inning record by scoring three runs during the explosive frame. White finished the fray with four hits and four runs scored.

  • Brooklyn Robins 3B Wally Gilbert (captain played for Valparaiso from 1918-19 through 1920-21) went 4-for-4 and scored three runs in an 8-7 win against the New York Giants in the opener of a 1929 doubleheader.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 1B Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) whacked two homers against the New York Giants in a 1947 contest.

  • In 1963, San Francisco Giants C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) homered in his third consecutive contest.

  • Cleveland Indians RHP Oral Hildebrand (Butler All-American in 1928-29 and 1929-30) hurled back-to-back shutouts in 1933, giving him five whitewash performances in less than a two-month span. Four years later with the St. Louis Browns, Hildebrand hurled a two-hit shutout against the Washington Senators in 1937.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) homered twice against the Chicago Cubs in a 1954 game.

  • Former Boston Red Sox INF Marty Karow (Ohio State hoop letterman in 1925) coached his alma mater to 1966 College World Series championship by defeating Oklahoma State, 8-2.

  • In 1962, Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman squad in 1953-54) outdueled St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1955-56 and 1956-57). It marked the third time Koufax won a game, 1-0, on a Tommy Davis homer.

  • Chicago Cubs LF Hank Leiber (played for Arizona in 1931) smacked two homers against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a 1941 contest.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers 2B Davey Lopes (NAIA All-District 15 selection for Iowa Wesleyan averaged 16.9 ppg as freshman in 1964-65 and 12.1 ppg as sophomore in 1965-66) stole four bases against the Montreal Expos in a 1978 game.

  • Chicago Cubs RF Bill Nicholson (Washington College MD guard for two years in mid-1930s) smashed two homers against the Cincinnati Reds in the nightcap of a 1944 twinbill.

  • Spoiling the MLB debut of Hall of Fame RHP Robin Roberts (Michigan State's second-leading scorer in 1945-46 and 1946-47), the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0, in 1948.

  • Eleven-year MLB 1B Dick Siebert (Concordia-St. Paul MN hooper in 1929 and 1930) coached Minnesota to his third of three College World Series championships with the Gophers by defeating Missouri, 5-1, in 1964.

  • Arizona Diamondbacks rookie 2B Junior Spivey (redshirted his only semester at Northwestern Oklahoma State on hoop scholarship before transferring to KS junior college) stroked five hits in a 14-5 thrashing of the Houston Astros in 2001.

  • In 1986, San Diego Padres RHP Tim Stoddard (starting forward opposite All-American David Thompson for North Carolina State's 1974 NCAA champion) slugged his first and only MLB homer. He appeared in another 128 games but never had another at-bat.

  • Cincinnati Reds 3B Billy Werber (first Duke All-American in 1929-30) went 5-for-5 against the Boston Braves in the opener of a 1939 doubleheader.

  • Former MLB manager Bobby Winkles (All-College Conference of Illinois first-team selection led Illinois Wesleyan in scoring with 12 ppg as senior in 1950-51) coached Arizona State to his second of three College World Series championships with the Sun Devils by humbling Houston, 11-2, in 1967.