On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on August 21 MLB Games

August 21st, 2015 - 7:13

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 an August 21 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

AUGUST 21

  • Boston Red Sox INF Jack Barry (basketball letterman for Holy Cross in 1908) tied a MLB record with four sacrifices at Cleveland in 1916.

  • Philadelphia Athletics RHP Bill Beckmann (played in late 1920s for Washington MO) tossed a shutout against the Chicago White Sox in 1940 for his fifth victory in as many decisions in a 3 1/2-week span.

  • Cleveland Indians SS Lou Boudreau (leading scorer for Illinois' 1937 Big Ten Conference co-champion) banged out four hits against the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a 1949 twinbill.

  • Philadelphia Phillies rookie RHP Ron Diorio (New Haven CT runner-up in scoring and rebounding in 1968-69) yielded the only run in his first 17 relief appearances in the 1973 campaign (0.60 ERA in that span).

  • Pittsburgh Pirates RHP Dave Giusti (made 6 of 10 field-goal attempts in two games for Syracuse in 1959-60) twirled a shutout and knocked in six runs with a pair of bases-loaded doubles in an 11-0 rout of the Cincinnati Reds in 1966.

  • Monte Irvin (played for Lincoln PA 1 1/2 years in late 1930s) named special assistant to Commissioner William Eckert in 1968.

  • Chicago White Sox RHP Ted Lyons (two-time All-SWC first-team selection for Baylor in early 1920s) hurled a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in 1926. Lyons required only 67 minutes and 81 pitches.

  • Philadelphia Athletics RHP Bill McCahan (three-year Duke letterman named to All-Southern Conference Tournament team in 1942) earned his fourth consecutive complete-game victory in 1947.

  • 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) accounted for both of the New York Yankees' runs via a homer and double in a 2-1 triumph against the Texas Rangers in 1977.

  • RHP Floyd Newkirk (Hall of Fame selection at Illinois College) made his lone MLB appearance with the New York Yankees in 1934.

  • Pitchers Paul Reuschel (Western Illinois' leading rebounder in 1966-67 with 15.2 per game) and Rick Reuschel collaborated on a 7-0 victory for the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1975 - the first time brothers combined on a shutout. Paul relieved in the seventh inning after Rick was forced to leave because of a blister on his finger.

  • Cincinnati Reds LHP Eppa Rixey (Virginia letterman in 1912 and 1914) was 41 in 1932 when he tossed the second of back-to-back shutouts against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  • Kansas City Athletics 1B Norm Siebern (member of Southwest Missouri squads capturing back-to-back NAIA Tournament titles in 1952 and 1953) homered twice against the Boston Red Sox in a 1962 game.

  • San Diego Padres RF Clint Venable (two-time All-Ivy League selection averaged 9.3 ppg under Princeton coach John Thompson III from 2001-02 through 2004-05) amassed four hits in a 7-5 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012.