On This Date: Former College Hoopers Make News on August 15 MLB Games

August 15th, 2020 - 7:32

Extra! Extra! Unless you're a cardboard cut-out, you can read news 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.

Former Santa Clara hoopers Bruce Bochte and Randy Winn each registered three extra-base hits at the MLB level on this date. Ex-juco hoopers Darrell Evans (Pasadena City CA) and Jim Thome (Illinois Central) both hit two MLB homers on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is an August 15 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

AUGUST 15

  • California Angels 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) socked two homers against the Minnesota Twins in a 1966 game.

  • Philadelphia Phillies CF Ethan Allen (Cincinnati hoops letterman in 1924-25 and 1925-26) provided four hits against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 1935 contest.

  • California Angels 1B Bruce Bochte (starting forward for Santa Clara's NCAA playoff team in 1970 averaged 7.4 ppg and 4 rpg) contributed three extra-base hits in an 8-0 win against the Detroit Tigers in 1975.

  • 2B Frank Bolling (averaged 7.3 ppg in 1950-51 for Spring Hill AL) knocked in all of the Detroit Tigers' runs in a 12-5 setback against the Kansas City Athletics in 1958.

  • Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) secured seven safeties in a 1948 doubleheader sweep of the Chicago White Sox.

  • Milwaukee Braves RHP Gene Conley (All-PCC first-team selection led North Division in scoring in 1949-50 as a Washington State sophomore) won his ninth consecutive contest in 1954 (2-1 against Chicago Cubs). Seven years later, Conley was with the Boston Red Sox in 1961 when he tossed a shutout and cracked a homer in an 8-0 shelling of the Cleveland Indians.

  • 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first hooper to average 20 points for season with 21.7 ppg in 1942-43) was hospitalized after beaning in 1950 but the Boston Red Sox began a streak of winning 27 of their next 30 games.

  • San Francisco Giants 1B Darrell Evans (member of Jerry Tarkanian-coached Pasadena City CA club winning 1967 state community college crown) homered twice in a 1976 game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

  • In the midst of 11 consecutive scoreless appearances, New York Yankees LHP Steve Hamilton (All-OVC selection was Morehead State's leading scorer and rebounder in 1956-57 and 1957-58) notched a win against the Kansas City Athletics with four innings of one-hit relief in the nightcap of a 1965 doubleheader.

  • Cleveland Indians CF Kenny Lofton (Arizona's leader in steals for 1988 Final Four team compiling 35-3 record) logged four hits and four RBI against the Minnesota Twins in a 2001 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Tony Lupien (Harvard hoops captain in 1938-39 accumulated four hits against the St. Louis Browns for the third time in 1943.

  • New York Giants RHP Christy Mathewson (Bucknell hooper at turn of 20th Century) blanked opponents going into extra innings but wound up losing each contest - against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1910 and Boston Braves in 1914.

  • RF Greasy Neale (West Virginia Wesleyan College hooper graduated in 1915) pilfered second, third and home in the ninth inning to help the Cincinnati Reds upend the New York Giants, 4-0, in the nightcap of a 1919 twinbill.

  • Chicago Cubs C Cal Neeman (Illinois Wesleyan's leading scorer in 1947-48 and 1948-49) clubbed go-ahead homer in top of 10th inning off Stu Miller in a 3-1 decision over the San Francisco Giants in 1958.

  • Homering in his third and fourth consecutive contests, RF Bill Nicholson (hoops guard for Washington College MD two years in mid-1930s) socked three homers, two doubles and a single but the Chicago Cubs dropped both ends of a 1942 doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  • Boston Red Sox RF Carl Reynolds (Southwestern TX hoops MVP and captain in mid-1920s) went 4-for-4 with four RBI in a 1934 game against the St. Louis Browns.

  • Houston Astros 2B Rob Sperring (averaged 8.7 ppg and 2.9 rpg for Pacific from 1968-69 through 1970-71) supplied a career-high four hits in a 15-3 rout of the Atlanta Braves in 1977.

  • Minnesota Twins DH Jim Thome (played junior-college hoops for Illinois Central in 1988-89) collected two homers and five RBI in 2011 game against the Detroit Tigers. The round-trippers were the 599th and 600th of his MLB career.

  • New York Giants C Wes Westrum (hooper for Bemidji State MN one season before serving in military during WWII) provided the difference with an eighth-inning, two-run homer in a 3-1 decision over the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951.

  • Philadelphia Phillies 1B Bill White (two-year hooper with Hiram OH in early 1950s) knocked in five runs against the Chicago Cubs in a 1966 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox C Sammy White (All-PCC Northern Division first-five selection for Washington in 1947-48 and 1948-49) banged out four hits in second consecutive contest against the New York Yankees in 1959.

  • San Francisco Giants CF Randy Winn (Santa Clara backcourtmate of eventual two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash in 1993-94) hit for the cycle against the Cincinnati Reds in a 2005 game. Three years later as RF, Winn went 4-for-4 with three extra-base hits against the Atlanta Braves in a 2008 outing.