On This Date: Former College Hoopers Generating MLB Headlines on July 16

July 16th, 2022 - 6:29

Extra! Extra! Bike-rider extraordinaire Plagiarist Bidumb, a lost "big guy" coin in tall grass, is in the Middle East desert "Making America Worst" wearing world-stage spotlight like a dunce cap. Instead of debating his incoherence and incompetence, you can read news 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.

Jerry Lumpe (New York Yankees) and Norm Siebern (Kansas City Athletics) - hoop teammates for Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament titlist - provided significant American League performances on this date against the Detroit Tigers. Ditto Darrell Evans and Irv Noren for separate CA community college champions at Pasadena City. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a July 16 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 16

  • Cincinnati Reds rookie LF Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) collected two homers and five RBI against the New York Giants in the nightcap of a 1950 twinbill. Eleven years later as a Milwaukee Braves 1B in a 1961 game, Adcock swatted two homers against the St. Louis Cardinals.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Clyde Barnhart (hooper for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) provided four hits, including three doubles, against the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a 1927 doubleheader.

  • Chicago Cubs 2B Glenn Beckert (three-year hoops letterman for Allegheny PA) stretched his hitting streak to 21 games with a decisive 12th-inning double in a 4-3 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968. Three years later in a 1971 contest, Beckert banged out four hits against the Phillies.

  • Philadelphia Athletics rookie C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University hooper in early 1920s) contributed at least three hits for the fifth time in a seven-game span in 1925.

  • CF Harry Craft (four-sport letterman with Mississippi College in early 1930s) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the New York Yankees in 1942 although he never played for the Yanks.

  • St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) tallied four hits against the New York Giants in the midst of four consecutive contests with at least three safeties in 1929.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first hooper to average 20 points for single season with 21.7 ppg in 1942-43) delivered two more hits, giving him an A.L. record-tying 15 safeties over a four-game span in 1952.

  • Atlanta Braves 1B Darrell Evans (member of Jerry Tarkanian-coached Pasadena City CA club winning 1967 state community college crown) homered twice in a 1989 game against the New York Mets.

  • Philadelphia Athletics RF Walt French (hoops letterman for Rutgers and Army) furnished four hits against the St. Louis Browns in the nightcap of a 1926 doubleheader.

  • After 16 scoreless innings, New York Giants 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham hoops captain) stroked a bases-loaded triple to ignite a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1920.

  • San Francisco Giants RHP Ed Halicki (NAIA All-American third-team choice in 1971-72 when leading Monmouth in scoring with 21 ppg after setting school single-game rebounding record with 40 previous season) hurled back-to-back shutouts in a six-day span in 1976.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) amassed four hits and four RBI against the Cincinnati Reds in a 1968 game.

  • Cleveland Indians rookie RHP Rich Hand (averaged 6.2 ppg for Puget Sound WA in 1967-68) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Kansas City Royals in 1970.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (hooper for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) collected two homers and five RBI against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1953 contest.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers manager Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg with Texas A&M in 1961-62) hospitalized in 2000 after experiencing dizziness as a result of an irregular heartbeat.

  • California Angels LF Joe Lahoud (New Haven CT hoops letterman in mid-1960s) launched a pair of two-run homers against the Cleveland Indians in a 1974 outing.

  • New York Giants CF Hank Leiber (Arizona hooper in 1931) logged three extra-base hits against the Cincinnati Reds in a 1935 game.

  • A three-run homer by 3B Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament hoops championship team) gave the New York Yankees a 3-2 win against the Detroit Tigers in 1958.

  • New York Yankees RF Irv Noren (hooper of year for California community college state champion Pasadena City in 1945) went 4-for-4, including game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, against the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.

  • Kansas City Athletics 1B Norm Siebern (member of Southwest Missouri State squads capturing back-to-back NAIA Tournament titles in 1952 and 1953) went 4-for-4 against the Detroit Tigers in the nightcap of a 1961 doubleheader.

  • Chicago Cubs SS Roy Smalley Jr. (one of top scorers in 1942-43 and 1943-44 for Drury MO) homered in each end of a 1950 twinbill sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.

  • Boston Braves OF Ab Wright (Oklahoma A&M hoops letterman in 1928-29) whacked a three-run, pinch-hit homer against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the nightcap of a 1944 doubleheader.