On This Date: Former College Hoopers Make News on May 16 MLB Games

May 16th, 2020 - 8:45

Extra! Extra! Amid spitting on COVID-19 season postponement, you have time to 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.

Springfield, MO-based small college Drury had two former hoopers - Roy Smalley Jr. and Bill Virdon - impact MLB on this date. Ditto in-state hoopers Jim Gleeson (Rockhurst), Sonny Siebert (Missouri) and Preston Ward (Southwest Missouri State). Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 16 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 16

  • Chicago Cubs RF Frankie Baumholtz (MVP in 1941 NIT and first player in Ohio University history to score 1,000 career points) banged out three extra-base hits in a 14-4 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951.

  • Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) went 4-for-4 against the Chicago White Sox in the nightcap of a 1948 twinbill.

  • St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) amassed five hits and four RBI in a 9-8 win against the Chicago Cubs in 1930.

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Walt Dropo (first player in Connecticut history to average 20 ppg in single season with 21.7 in 1942-43) homered twice in a 1951 game against the Chicago White Sox.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers RF-C Joe Ferguson (hooper in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) furnished four hits, including a game-winning homer, in an 8-6 triumph against the Cincinnati Reds in 1973.

  • St. Louis Cardinals SS Charlie Gelbert (scored at least 125 points each of last three seasons in late 1920s for Lebanon Valley PA) went 5-for-5 and scored four runs in 9-8 victory against the Chicago Cubs in 1930.

  • Cleveland Indians rookie RF Jim Gleeson (hoops captain and all-league honoree graduated in 1933 from Rockhurst MO) registered four hits in a 10-3 victory against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the opener of a 1940 doubleheader.

  • Atlanta Braves RHP Kevin Gryboski (backup hooper for Wilkes PA in 1991-92 and 1992-93) collected his second relief victory within a week in 2003.

  • Utilityman Chuck Harmon (freshman starter was Toledo's second-leading scorer for 1943 NIT runner-up) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals for INF Alex Grammas and OF Joe Frazier in 1956.

  • Washington Senators LF 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) notched his third two-homer contest in a four-game span in 1968.

  • Atlanta Braves 1B Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg for Texas A&M in 1961-62) smacked two homers against the San Diego Padres in a 1974 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox rookie LHP Vic Johnson (Wisconsin-Eau Claire hoops letterman in 1942-43) hurled 11 2/3 innings in a loss against the St. Louis Browns in a 1944 start.

  • Atlanta Braves RF David Justice (Thomas More KY assists leader in 1984-85 while averaging 9.3 ppg) stroked three extra-base hits against the Colorado Rockies in a 1995 outing.

  • Boston Braves RHP Andy Karl (Manhattan letterman from 1933 through 1935) sustained his first defeat of the 1947 season after failing to allow a run in first six relief appearances.

  • Chicago Cubs SS Don Kessinger (three-time All-SEC selection for Mississippi from 1961-62 through 1963-64 while finishing among nation's top 45 scorers each year) went 4-for-4 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1972 game.

  • A bases-loaded pinch triple by Rick Leach (averaged 15.5 ppg for Michigan's JV hoops squad in 1975-76) put the Toronto Blue Jays ahead to stay in an 8-7 triumph against the Minnesota Twins in 1984.

  • New York Giants RHP Christy Mathewson (Bucknell hooper at turn of 20th Century) had his string of 47 straight innings without issuing a walk end against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1913.

  • St. Louis Cardinals RHP Lindy McDaniel (hooper for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) fired a four-hit shutout against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1957.

  • New York Yankees 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) whacked two homers against the Detroit Tigers in a 1979 contest.

  • Philadelphia Phillies LHP Eppa Rixey (Virginia hoops letterman in 1912 and 1914) hurled a 15-inning complete game at Cincinnati and won, 3-2, via his sacrifice fly in 1920.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Leon Roberts (grabbed one rebound in four basketball games for Michigan in 1970-71 under coach Johnny Orr) provided three safeties against the Texas Rangers to extend his career-high hitting streak to 17 games since the opening of 1975 campaign. Nine years later as LF with the Kansas City Royals, Roberts drilled a decisive run-scoring triple in 7-6 win against the Chicago White Sox in 1984.

  • Detroit Tigers RHP Jeff Robinson (two-time NAIA All-District 3 hoops honoree in early 1980s left Azusa Pacific CA as school's No. 9 all-time scorer) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Texas Rangers in 1990.

  • Cincinnati Reds RHP Jeff Shaw (freshman guard for Rio Grande OH squad compiling 31-5 record and reaching second round of 1985 NAIA Tournament) allowed his only earned run in 13 relief appearances during the month in 1997.

  • RHP Sonny Siebert (team-high 16.7 ppg for Missouri in 1957-58 as All-Big Eight Conference second-team selection) traded by the San Diego Padres to the Oakland Athletics in 1975.

  • Washington Senators RHP Dave Sisler (All-Ivy League second-team selection for Princeton's first NCAA Tournament team in 1952) didn't allow an earned run in his first 12 relief appearances of the 1961 campaign.

  • In his debut with the Milwaukee Braves, SS Roy Smalley Jr. (one of top scorers for Drury MO in 1942-43 and 1943-44) smacked a pinch homer against the New York Giants in the nightcap of a 1954 doubleheader.

  • Washington Senators rookie RHP Dave Stenhouse (three-time All-Yankee Conference hoops selection for Rhode Island from 1952-53 through 1954-55), lowering his ERA to 0.88 through initial seven outings, won first three MLB starts in 1962.

  • Cincinnati Reds utilityman Jimmy Stewart (All-VSAC hoops selection for Austin Peay's NCAA DII Tournament teams in 1959-60 and 1960-61) contributed a pinch-hit, three-run homer against the New York Mets in a 1969 game.

  • Boston Red Sox rookie 3B Jim Tabor (Alabama hoops letterman in 1936-37) knocked in five runs against the Chicago White Sox in a 1939 contest.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates CF Bill Virdon (Drury MO hooper in 1949) stroked two triples against the Milwaukee Braves in a 1962 outing.

  • 1B-OF Preston Ward (second-leading scorer for Southwest Missouri State in 1946-47 and 1948-49) traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Cleveland Indians in 1956.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Tom Zachary (Guilford NC hoops letterman in 1916) hurled a 13-inning shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1935 after allowing one earned run in each of his previous two complete-game starts.