On This Date: Former College Hoopers Make Mark on July 6 MLB Games

July 6th, 2019 - 9:09

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.

Several small-college hoopers from North Carolina - Jim Bibby (Fayetteville State), Dick Culler (High Point) and Rick Ferrell (Guilford) - supplied 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 6 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 6

  • San Diego Padres RHP Mike Adams (Texas A&M-Kingsville hooper in 1996-97) fanned the side against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008, triggering a streak of 12 consecutive relief appearances without yielding a run.

  • Milwaukee Braves 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading scorer in 1945-46) collected five RBI against the Chicago Cubs in a 1954 game.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Jim Bibby (Fayetteville State NC backup hooper and brother of UCLA All-American Henry Bibby) improved his record to 11-1 with three scoreless innings of relief in a 20-inning, 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs in 1980.

  • Seattle Mariners DH Bruce Bochte (starting forward for Santa Clara's NCAA playoff team in 1969-70 when averaging 7.4 ppg and 4 rpg) banged out four hits in a 5-3 win against the Kansas City Royals in 1980.

  • Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) led off the 1942 All-Star Game with a homer to help the A.L. defeat the N.L., 3-1.

  • Boston Braves SS Dick Culler (#9 jersey retired by High Point for Little All-American in 1935 and 1936) went 5-for-9 and scored six runs in a 1945 doubleheader sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  • New York Giants SS Alvin Dark (hoops letterman for LSU and USL in mid-1940s) homered in the first of five contests in a six-game span in 1954.

  • CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) contributed five hits and two walks at Philadelphia to help the St. Louis Cardinals snap an 11-game losing streak with a 28-6 triumph over the Phillies in the nightcap of a 1929 doubleheader.

  • Washington Senators C Rick Ferrell (Guilford NC hoops forward before graduating in 1928) went 4-for-4, including three doubles, against the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a 1947 twinbill.

  • A six-hit shutout against the Detroit Tigers was one of six straight complete-game wins in 1977 by Baltimore Orioles LHP Mike Flanagan (averaged 13.9 ppg for UMass' freshman squad in 1971-72). Flanagan also closed out the campaign with six triumphs in a row.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham hoops captain) supplied a homer in 1933 All-Star Game. Eight years earlier in the midst of a 19-game hitting streak with the New York Giants, Frisch furnished four safeties against the Philadelphia Phillies in the nightcap of a 1925 doubleheader.

  • Brooklyn Robins 3B Wally Gilbert (hoops captain for Valparaiso from 1918-19 through 1920-21) went 4-for-4 in a 10-4 win against the Boston Braves in 1930.

  • California Angels 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 a two-hit shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers in 1980 (infield single in first inning and bloop double in ninth).

  • San Francisco Giants LHP Atlee Hammaker (averaged 5.3 ppg as freshman in 1976-77 and 4.9 as sophomore in 1977-78 under ETSU coach Sonny Smith) yielded seven earned runs to A.L. in 2/3 of an inning in the third frame of 1983 All-Star Game.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Lee Handley (Bradley hoops letterman from 1932-33 through 1934-35) lashed out four hits against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a 1940 doubleheader.

  • Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State hoops letterman) replaced John McNamara as Cleveland Indians manager in 1991.

  • St. Louis Cardinals rookie RHP Jim Hearn (Georgia Tech hoops letterman in 1941-42) tossed his first MLB shutout (three-hitter against Cincinnati Reds in opener of 1947 twinbill).

  • Washington Senators 1B Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection in 1956-57 and 1957-58) homered in both ends of a 1971 doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, giving him round-trippers in four straight outings.

  • Toronto Blue Jays 3B Garth Iorg (juco hooper with College of the Redwoods CA in mid-1970s) supplied three extra-base hits in a 1984 game against the Seattle Mariners.

  • Toronto Blue Jays DH Tony Johnson (All-VSAC hoops selection in 1976-77 and 1979-80 for LeMoyne-Owen TN) supplied his second 2-for-3 performance in three days in 1982.

  • In his first MLB start, Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman hoops squad in 1953-54) toiled 4 1/3 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955, striking out four batters while yielding three hits and eight walks.

  • Oakland Athletics 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 before transferring with his coach to Washburn KS) launched two homers against the Cleveland Indians in a 1982 contest.

  • Kansas City Athletics 2B Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship hoops team) supplied a double and triple in the second of back-to-back games against the Chicago White Sox in 1961.

  • Chicago Cubs RHP Claude Passeau (Millsaps MS hooper in late 1920s and early 1930s) fired two innings of scoreless relief for the National League in 1942 All-Star Game.

  • Only hit in his four games as a member of New York Yankees for RF Curtis Pride (led William & Mary in steals three times and assists twice while averaging 5.6 ppg and 3.1 apg from 1986-87 through 1989-90) was a homer against the Boston Red Sox in 2003.

  • Oakland Athletics RHP Jeff Shaver (averaged 2.4 ppg for SUNY-Fredonia in 1983-84 and 1984-85) hurled a hitless inning of relief against the Cleveland Indians in his only MLB appearance in 1988.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Jim Thome (played junior-college hoops for Illinois Central in 1988-89) collected three homers and six RBI in a 2001 game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Five years later as Chicago White Sox DH, Thome contributed two round-trippers and six RBI in 2006 contest against the Baltimore Orioles.

  • Boston Red Sox 3B Billy Werber (first Duke hoops All-American in 1929-30) banged out four hits and scored five runs against the Philadelphia Athletics in a 1934 outing.

  • New York Yankees RF Dave Winfield (starting forward with Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972) went 3-for-3 as the A.L. smothered the N.L., 13-3, in the 1983 All-Star Game.

  • Boston Braves 3B Chuck Workman (two-time All-MIAA first-five hoops selection was leading scorer when Central Missouri won inaugural NAIA Tournament in 1937) manufactured four hits against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the nightcap of a 1945 twinbill.