On This Date: Former College Hoopers Supplying MLB Headlines on June 21

June 21st, 2024 - 9:50

Extra! Extra! Instead of debating equal justice under the law and ghoulish comments by #Demonrats regarding deaths of American citizens stemming from illegal aliens, you can read news 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 Alabama hoopers Riggs Stephenson (Chicago Cubs) and Jim Tabor (Boston Red Sox) turned the tide by delivering significant MLB outings on this date. Ex-Penn hoopers Walt Huntzinger and Fritz Knothe plus ex-juco hoopers Rusty Kuntz (Cuesta CA), Irv Noren (Pasadena City CA), Ken Retzer (Jefferson City MO) and Jim Thome (Illinois Central) also made MLB news on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a June 21 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 21

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Clyde Barnhart (played basketball for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) and LF Carson Bigbee (hoops letterman with his brother on Oregon's squad in 1915) combined for nine hits against the Brooklyn Robins in a 1922 contest.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Tony Clark (San Diego State's leading scorer in WAC games in 1991-92) collected five RBI against the Boston Red Sox in a 1997 outing. Two years later, Clark cracked three extra-base hits against the Oakland Athletics in a 1999 outing.

  • Chicago Cubs 3B Alvin Dark (hoops letterman for Louisiana State and Louisiana-Lafayette in mid-1940s) posted his third four-hit outing in a five-game span in 1958.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Walt Dropo (first player in Connecticut history to average 20 ppg in single season with 21.7 in 1942-43) homered in both ends of a 1953 twinbill against the New York Yankees.

  • After registering five saves in less than a month, Cincinnati Reds LHP Joe Gibbon (two-time All-SEC forward for Ole Miss was nation's second-leading scorer as senior in 1956-57) notched his 11th straight scoreless relief appearance.

  • St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (first Creighton hooper to average more than 20 ppg in career with 20.2 from 1954-55 through 1956-57) ripped a three-run homer en route to passing Jesse Haines (210 victories) and becoming the franchise's all-time winningest hurler.

  • Cincinnati Reds RHP Ken Hunt (freshman hooper for Brigham Young in 1957-58) tossed his third complete-game triumph in less than a month in 1961.

  • RHP Walt Huntzinger (All-EIBL second-five selection in 1921-22 with Penn) awarded on waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs in 1926.

  • Philadelphia Phillies 3B Fritz Knothe (member of Penn's freshman hoops squad in 1923-24) went 4-for-4 with three RBI in a 10-8 win against the Cincinnati Reds in 1933.

  • OF Rusty Kuntz (J.C. hooper for Cuesta CA) traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Minnesota Twins in 1983.

  • Washington Senators CF Don Lock (led Wichita State in field-goal percentage in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Ralph Miller) smashed two homers against the Kansas City Athletics in the opener of a 1964 doubleheader.

  • Chicago White Sox RHP Ted Lyons (two-time All-SWC first-team selection for Baylor in early 1920s) notched his 250th career win in 1942. Lyons finished the season hurling complete games in all 20 starts, led the A.L. with a 2.10 ERA, and then entered the U.S. Marine Corps at age 42.

  • Washington Senators rookie CF Irv Noren (hoops player of year for California community college state champion Pasadena City in 1945) knocked in five runs against the Detroit Tigers in a 1950 contest.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) amassed two homers and five RBI against the Cleveland Indians in the nightcap of a 1970 twinbill.

  • Washington Senators rookie C Ken Retzer (fourth-leading juco scorer with 184 points for Jefferson City MO in 1953-54) capped off his career-high nine-game hitting streak with three safeties in a 1962 outing against the Detroit Tigers.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Preacher Roe (Harding AR hooper in late 1930s) won his first 10 decisions in 1951.

  • New York Yankees 3B Red Rolfe (played hoops briefly with Dartmouth in 1927-28 and 1929-30) provided five hits against the Detroit Tigers in a 1940 outing.

  • As a pinch-hitter, New York Mets C John Stephenson (scored 1,361 points for William Carey MS in early 1960s) was the final out of P Jim Bunning's perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964.

  • Chicago Cubs LF Riggs Stephenson (Alabama hoops letterman in 1920) supplied four hits against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1932 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox 3B Jim Tabor (Alabama hoops letterman in 1936-37) knocked in five runs in a 1941 outing against the St. Louis Browns.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Jim Thome (played junior-college hoops for Illinois Central in 1988-89) whacked two homers in a 2000 game against the Chicago White Sox. Three years later with the Philadelphia Phillies, he smacked a pair of round-trippers against the Boston Red Sox.

  • In 1973, San Diego Padres rookie LF Dave Winfield (starting forward with Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972) whacked his first of 465 MLB homers (off Ken Forsch of Houston Astros).

  • St. Louis Browns LHP Tom Zachary (hoops letterman for Guilford NC in 1916) amassed multiple safeties in his third straight start in 1926.