On This Date: Former College Hoopers Providing MLB Headlines on May 26

May 26th, 2023 - 8:46

Extra! Extra! If spittin' mad regarding Oval Office failing to conduct American-led probe of Chinese origin of COVID-19 while petty debt-ceiling dolt Plagiarist Biledumb deserves honorary drug cartel membership for Southern border policy eliminating Trump's Title 42 migrant surge containment, you can invest time and energy reading news in your office 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.

In a five-year span, Duke's first basketball All-American Billy Werber supplied significant MLB performances in each league on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 26 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 26

  • RHP Mike Adams (played basketball for Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1996-97) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Mets in 2006.

  • Lefthander Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates spun a perfect game for 12 innings in 1959 before Milwaukee Braves 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading scorer in 1945-46) swatted a game-winning homer in the 13th (credited with double because of base-running snafu).

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Clyde Barnhart (hooper for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) had his 25-game hitting streak snapped by the Chicago Cubs in 1925.

  • St. Louis Browns RF Beau Bell (two-year hoops letterman for Texas A&M in early 1930s) collected two homers and five RBI against the Boston Red Sox in a 1937 game.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Carson "Skeeter" Bigbee (Oregon hoops letterman in 1915) went 4-for-4 including three doubles against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1923 contest.

  • Baltimore Orioles CF Al Bumbry (Virginia State's runner-up in scoring with 16.7 ppg as freshman in 1964-65) contributed five hits in a 16-inning marathon against the Detroit Tigers in 1979.

  • Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University hooper in early 1920s) went 5-for-5 against the Washington Senators in a 1929 outing.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers RHP Roger Craig (forward with North Carolina State's 1949-50 freshman hoops team) tossed a three-hit shutout against the New York Giants in 1956.

  • Second MLB hit for INF Pat Crawford (Davidson hoops captain in early 1920s) was a pinch grand slam for the New York Giants in a 1929 game against the Boston Braves.

  • St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) went 7-for-10 in a 1929 twinbill against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  • In the midst of a career-high 14-game hitting streak, Los Angeles Dodgers C Joe Ferguson (hooper in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) furnished four hits against the San Francisco Giants in a 1974 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State hoops letterman in 1941) hurled a one-hitter against the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a 1946 doubleheader.

  • New York Giants rookie C Paul Florence (Georgetown's leading scorer with 11.3 ppg in 1921-22) contributed an inside-the-park homer in 5-3 triumph against the Brooklyn Robins in 1926. He went 5-for-11 in his first four MLB outings.

  • In a 1970 outing, Los Angeles Dodgers C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) banged out four hits against his original team (San Francisco Giants).

  • Boston Braves 1B Buddy Hassett (hooper for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive games in 1930 and 1931) banged out four hits in a 10-8 loss against the New York Giants in 1940.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman hoops squad in 1953-54) fanned 16 Philadelphia Phillies batters in a 1962 game.

  • Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played hoops briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) collected four hits against the Kansas City Athletics in a 1956 contest.

  • Texas Rangers DH Rick Leach (averaged 15.5 ppg for Michigan's JV squad in 1975-76) went 3-for-3 in a 5-3 victory against the Minnesota Twins in 1989.

  • INF Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship hoops team) traded by the New York Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics in 1959 in a swap involving Ralph Terry (juco hooper for Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in mid-1950s), who pitched in five straight World Series for the Yanks.

  • San Diego Padres 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) homered in his fourth consecutive contest in 1986.

  • Starting LHP Gary Peters (Grove City PA hooper in mid-1950s) batted sixth in the starting lineup for the Chicago White Sox in a 5-1 loss against the New York Yankees in the opener of a 1968 doubleheader.

  • Detroit Tigers 3B Tony Phillips (New Mexico Military juco hooper in 1977-78 as teammate of eventual Drake All-American Lewis Lloyd) banged out four hits in a 9-4 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1991.

  • St. Louis Browns RHP Nels Potter (leading scorer during two years attending Mount Morris IL in early 1930s) retired the first 23 Boston Red Sox batters he faced in 1944 game.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 2B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) went 4-for-4 in 1950 game against the Boston Braves.

  • Cleveland Indians C Billy Sullivan Jr. (Portland hoops letterman in 1927-28) contributed a pinch-hit, three-run homer against the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox C Birdie Tebbetts (Providence hooper in 1932) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in a 1949 outing.

  • Boston Red Sox 3B Billy Werber (first Duke hoops All-American in 1929-30) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in a 1935 game. Four years later with the Cincinnati Reds, Werber scored four of his N.L.-leading 115 runs in a 7-5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1939.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 1B Bill White (two-year hooper for Hiram OH in early 1950s) went 4-for-4 against the New York Mets in the opener of a 1963 twinbill.