On This Date: Ex-College Hoopsters Make Their Mark on May 26 MLB Games

May 26th, 2016 - 6:38

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.

Duke's first basketball All-American Billy Werber had big games in each baseball league on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 26 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 26

  • RHP Mike Adams (played basketball for Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1996-97) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Mets in 2006.

  • Lefthander Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates spun a perfect game for 12 innings in 1959 before Milwaukee Braves 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading scorer in 1945-46) swatted a game-winning homer in the 13th (credited with double because of base-running snafu).

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Clyde Barnhart (played for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) had his 25-game hitting streak snapped by the Chicago Cubs in 1925.

  • St. Louis Browns RF Beau Bell (two-year letterman for Texas A&M in early 1930s) collected two homers and five RBI against the Boston Red Sox in 1937.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Carson "Skeeter" Bigbee (Oregon letterman in 1915) went 4-for-4 including three doubles against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1923.

  • Baltimore Orioles CF Al Bumbry (Virginia State's runner-up in scoring with 16.7 ppg as freshman in 1964-65) contributed five hits in a 16-inning marathon against the Detroit Tigers in 1979.

  • Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University player in early 1920s) went 5-for-5 against the Washington Senators in 1929.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers RHP Roger Craig (forward with North Carolina State's 1949-50 freshman team) tossed a three-hit shutout against the New York Giants in 1956.

  • Second MLB hit for INF Pat Crawford (Davidson captain in early 1920s) was a pinch grand slam for the New York Giants in a 1929 game against the Boston Braves.

  • St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California letterman from 1922 through 1924) went 7-for-10 in a 1929 twinbill against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  • In the midst of a career-high 14-game hitting streak, Los Angeles Dodgers C Joe Ferguson (played in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) furnished four hits against the San Francisco Giants in 1974.

  • Boston Red Sox RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State letterman in 1941) hurled a one-hitter against the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a 1946 doubleheader.

  • In 1970, Los Angeles Dodgers C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) banged out four hits against his original team (San Francisco Giants).

  • Boston Braves 1B Buddy Hassett (played for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive games in 1930 and 1931) banged out four hits in a 10-8 loss against the New York Giants in 1940.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman squad in 1953-54) fanned 16 Philadelphia Phillies batters in a 1962 game.

  • Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) collected four hits against the Kansas City Athletics in 1956.

  • Texas Rangers DH Rick Leach (averaged 15.5 ppg for Michigan's JV squad in 1975-76) went 3-for-3 in a 5-3 victory against the Minnesota Twins in 1989.

  • INF Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship team) traded by the New York Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics in 1959 in a swap involving Ralph Terry, who pitched in five straight World Series for the Yanks.

  • San Diego Padres 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) homered in his fourth consecutive contest in 1986.

  • Starting LHP Gary Peters (played for Grove City PA in mid-1950s) batted sixth in the starting lineup for the Chicago White Sox in a 5-1 loss against the New York Yankees in the opener of a 1968 doubleheader.

  • St. Louis Browns RHP Nels Potter (leading scorer during two years he attended Mount Morris IL in early 1930s) retired the first 23 Boston Red Sox batters he faced in 1944 game.

  • Boston Red Sox C Birdie Tebbetts (played for Providence in 1932) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in 1949.

  • Boston Red Sox 3B Billy Werber (first Duke All-American in 1929-30) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in 1935. Four years later with the Cincinnati Reds, Werber scored four of his N.L.-leading 115 runs in a 7-5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1939.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 1B Bill White (played two years for Hiram OH in early 1950s) went 4-for-4 against the New York Mets in the opener of a 1963 twinbill.