On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on June 1 MLB Games

June 1st, 2015 - 6:58

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 a June 1 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 1

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 1B Donn Clendenon (four-sport letterman including basketball with Morehouse GA) contributed four hits against the New York Mets in 1963.

  • Chicago White Sox CF Guy Curtright (two-time All-MIAA selection led Northeast Missouri State in scoring each of four seasons in early 1930s) scored four runs in an 11-9 win against the Washington Senators in 1945.

  • Brooklyn Robins 3B Wally Gilbert (Valparaiso captain from 1918-19 through 1920-21) stroked four hits in a 10-2 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1930.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State letterman) went 4-for-4 against the Seattle Mariners in 1983.

  • Cincinnati Reds 1B Harvey Hendrick (Vanderbilt letterman in 1918) went 5-for-5, including three doubles, against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1931. The previous day against the Cards, Hendrick secured four hits in the opener of a doubleheader.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Lynn Jones (averaged 10.4 ppg for Thiel PA from 1970-71 through 1973-74) supplied his second four-hit game against the Milwaukee Brewers in a span of eight days in 1981.

  • LF Danny Litwhiler (member of JV squad with Bloomsburg PA three years in mid-1930s) traded by Philadelphia Phillies to St. Louis Cardinals in 1943.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers 2B Davey Lopes (NAIA All-District 15 selection for Iowa Wesleyan averaged 16.9 ppg as freshman in 1964-65 and 12.1 ppg as sophomore in 1965-66) whacked two homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979.

  • Philadelphia Phillies 1B Len Matuszek (starter for Toledo's 18-7 team in 1975-76) failed to notch a putout in a 12-3 defeat against the Chicago Cubs in 1984.

  • St. Louis Cardinals LF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) had his 24-game hitting streak end against the Milwaukee Braves in 1957.

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Ed Morgan (Tulane letterman from 1923-24 through 1925-26) collected four hits and four RBI in a 13-1 win against the Washington Senators in 1934.

  • OF Lyle Mouton (starter in LSU's backcourt with All-American Chris Jackson for 1989 NCAA playoff team) traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999.

  • In 1962, Washington Senators RHP Ray Rippelmeyer (led SIU in scoring and rebounding in 1952-53 before transferring and pacing SEMO in scoring in 1953-54 and 1954-55 as All-MIAA first-team choice each year) registered his lone MLB victory (as reliever against Minnesota Twins).

  • New York Giants RF Wally Roettger (Illinois letterman in 1921-22 and 1922-23) went 4-for-4 against the Boston Braves in the opener of a 1930 twinbill.

  • Kansas City Athletics RHP Dave Thies (two-time all-conference selection finished St. Mary's MN career in 1959 as school's all-time leading scorer) lost his lone MLB decision (against the Washington Senators in 1963).

  • LHP Bob Veale (scored 1,160 points with Benedictine KS from 1955-56 through 1957-58) amassed 16 strikeouts in shutting out the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-0, for the Pittsburgh Pirates' 12th consecutive victory in 1965.