On This Date: Former College Hoopers Make Mark on September 2 MLB Games

September 2nd, 2015 - 6:55

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.

Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a September 2 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

SEPTEMBER 2

  • Bonus baby 2B Jerry Adair (one of Oklahoma State's top three basketball scorers in 1956-57 and 1957-58 while ranking among nation's top 12 free-throw shooters each season) made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 1958.

  • 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) pounded a pinch-hit, two-run homer off RHP Bobby Humphreys (four-year letterman graduated from Hampden-Sydney VA in 1958) to give the California Angels a 6-5 win against the Washington Senators in 1966.

  • In 1981, RHP Jim Beattie (Dartmouth's top rebounder in 1974-75 when selected team MVP and honorable mention All-Ivy League) toiled 10 innings against the Baltimore Orioles en route to setting a Seattle Mariners record for a starter by pitching 19 straight scoreless innings.

  • Philadelphia Athletics rookie RHP Bill Beckmann (played in late 1920s for Washington MO) hurled his second straight shutout in 1939.

  • INF Bosey Berger (NCAA consensus All-American first-team selection in 1932 for Maryland) combined with Chicago White Sox teammate Mike Kreevich to hit homers as the first two batters in a game for the second time in the 1937 campaign.

  • New York Mets 1B Donn Clendenon (four-sport letterman with Morehouse GA) clobbered two homers against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969.

  • After sitting out almost a month because of a broken rib, New York Giants SS Alvin Dark (letterman for LSU and USL during World War II) fell and broke his shoulder in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1955.

  • Boston Red Sox RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State letterman in 1941) won his 12th straight contest for victory No. 24 in the opener of a 1946 twinbill against the New York Yankees.

  • In 1983, Baltimore Orioles LHP Mike Flanagan (averaged 13.9 ppg for Massachusetts' 15-1 freshman squad in 1971-72) posted his 13th consecutive triumph over the Minnesota Twins when teammate Ken Singleton (played for Hofstra's freshman team in mid-1960s) broke up a scoreless duel with a ninth-inning homer.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Gene Freese (West Liberty WV captain of 1952 NAIA Tournament team) accumulated a total of nine hits in back-to-back 1957 twinbills the first two days of the month.

  • St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1955-56 and 1956-57) hurled his 12th shutout in span of 18 starts covering less than three months in 1968.

  • 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) fanned 12 opposing batters for the third game in a three-week span in 1975.

  • Brooklyn Robins 1B Buddy Hassett (played for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive contests in 1930 and 1931) banged out four hits against the Chicago Cubs in 1937. Five years later, Hassett duplicated the feat for the New York Yankees against the St. Louis Browns in the nightcap of a 1942 twinbill.

  • Philadelphia Phillies LHP Lefty Hoerst (four-year letterman for La Salle in late 1930s) yielded only two hits but managed to lose by walking four batters in the eighth inning in 1942.

  • Washington Senators slugging 1B-OF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when leading Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) received intentional passes his first three plate appearances, twice leading off an inning, against the Cleveland Indians in 1970.

  • Atlanta Braves 1B Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg for Texas A&M in 1961-62) homered in both ends of a 1974 doubleheader sweep of the San Diego Padres.

  • St. Louis Browns SS Doc Lavan (played for Hope MI from 1908 through 1910) went 4-for-4 against the Cleveland Indians in 1916.

  • Chicago Cubs INF Vance Law (averaged 6.8 ppg for Brigham Young from 1974-75 through 1976-77) accounted for the game's only run with a ninth-inning homer off the Los Angeles Dodgers' Bob Welch in 1986.

  • Philadelphia Phillies rookie OF Danny Litwhiler (member of JV squad with Bloomsburg PA in mid-1930s), en route to a 21-game hitting streak, collected six safeties and eight RBI in a 1940 doubleheader sweep of the New York Giants.

  • 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) stroked a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning off Chicago Cubs closer Bruce Sutter in 1979.

  • New York Yankees rookie RHP Zach Monroe (played briefly for Bradley in 1950-51) hurled his lone MLB complete game, defeating the Boston Red Sox, 6-1, in 1958.

  • In his first start for the St. Louis Cardinals, RF Irv Noren (player of year for California community college state champion Pasadena City in 1945) stroked three extra-base hits against the Cincinnati Reds in 1957.

  • Atlanta Braves RHP Ron Reed (Notre Dame's leading rebounder in 1963-64 and 1964-65) spun his second three-hit shutout in less than a month in 1974.

  • OF Larry Sheets (All-ODAC selection for Eastern Mennonite VA in 1981-82 and 1982-83) shipped by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Seattle Mariners as part of a conditional deal in 1993.

  • Boston Red Sox RHP Sonny Siebert (team-high 16.7 ppg for Missouri in 1957-58 as All-Big Eight Conference second-team selection) hurled a one-hitter and socked two homers in a 3-0 triumph against the Baltimore Orioles in 1971.

  • Boston Red Sox RHP Dave Sisler (All-Ivy League second-team selection for Princeton's first NCAA Tournament team in 1952) surrendered back-to-back homers to Hall of Famers Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in 1958. It was one of 12 times the New York Yankees' duo whack back-to-back round-trippers. They homered in the same game 50 times.

  • SS Roy Smalley Jr. (one of top scorers for Drury MO in 1942-43 and 1943-44) drilled a pinch two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-3 win against the New York Giants in 1955.

  • In the midst of winning his final seven decisions in 1977, Kansas City Royals LHP Paul Splittorff (runner-up in scoring and rebounding for Morningside IA in 1967-68) tossed a one-hit shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers in the nightcap of a twinbill.

  • LHP Bob Veale (scored 1,160 points with Benedictine KS from 1955-56 through 1957-58) purchased from the Pittsburgh Pirates by the Boston Red Sox in 1972.

  • St. Louis Browns OF Hal Warnock (Arizona letterman from 1931-32 through 1933-34) contributed a pinch-hit double in his first MLB plate appearance in the nightcap of a 1935 doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians.

  • Boston Braves 3B Chuck Workman (two-time All-MIAA first-five selection was leading scorer when Central Missouri won inaugural NAIA Tournament in 1937) whacked two homers in the opener of a 1945 twinbill against the Philadelphia Phillies.