On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on June 10 MLB Games

June 10th, 2015 - 6:42

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 10 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 10

  • A pinch-hit single by Houston Colts .45s 2B Joey Amalfitano (played basketball for Loyola Marymount in 1952-53) triggered a 12-game hitting streak for him in 1962.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Carson "Skeeter" Bigbee (Oregon letterman in 1915) provided four hits for the third time in a 19-game span in 1922.

  • Boston Braves SS Dick Culler (#9 jersey retired by High Point for Little All-American in 1935 and 1936) contributed four hits in a 10-5 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946.

  • Chicago Cubs RHP Mark Freeman (LSU center averaged 3.6 ppg as senior in 1950-51) notched his only MLB complete game with a four-hit, 6-1 win against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960.

  • Chicago White Sox 3B Gene Freese (West Liberty WV captain of 1952 NAIA Tournament team) went 4-for-4 against the Boston Red Sox in 1960.

  • Boston Red Sox 1B Dick Gernert (Temple letterman in 1948-49 when averaging 2.7 ppg) collected two homers and six RBI against the Kansas City Athletics in 1957.

  • LHP Joe Gibbon (two-time All-SEC forward for Ole Miss was nation's second-leading scorer as a senior in 1956-57) traded by the San Francisco Giants to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1969.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) hammered a homer for the third consecutive contest in 1939.

  • Oakland Athletics rookie 3B Wayne Gross (led Cal Poly Pomona in assists in 1974-75) swatted two homers against the Detroit Tigers in 1977.

  • San Diego Padres RF Tony Gwynn (All-WAC second-team selection with San Diego State in 1979-80 and 1980-81) supplied a double, triple and homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993.

  • Boston Braves 1B Buddy Hassett (played for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive games in 1930 and 1931) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1940.

  • Washington Senators LF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection in 1956-57 and 1957-58 hammered two homers against the Boston Red Sox in 1967.

  • Chicago White Sox 3B Vance Law (averaged 6.8 ppg for Brigham Young from 1974-75 through 1976-77) launched two homers against the Minnesota Twins in 1984.

  • Philadelphia Phillies CF Jerry Martin (1971 Southern Conference MVP after he was Furman's runner-up in scoring the previous season) went 4-for-4 in a 7-5 triumph against the Atlanta Braves in 1977.

  • Recently-acquired RF-1B Sam Mele (NYU's leading scorer in 1943 NCAA playoffs) knocked in six fourth-inning runs (three-run HR and bases-loaded triple) for the Chicago White Sox in a 1952 game at Philadelphia.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) smashed two homers against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1961.

  • Boston Braves LF Joe Mowry (Iowa letterman in 1929-30 and 1930-31) went 3-for-3 against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933.

  • San Diego Padres 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) whacked two homers against the Cincinnati Reds in 1984.

  • Chicago Cubs SS Paul Popovich (teammate of Jerry West for West Virginia's 1960 NCAA playoff team) homered in back-to-back games against the San Diego Padres in 1970.

  • Oakland Athletics RHP Steve Renko (averaged 9.9 ppg and 5.8 rpg as Kansas sophomore in 1963-64) allowed only five earned runs in his first five starts of 1978 campaign covering 30 innings.

  • RHP Jeff Robinson (two-time NAIA All-District 3 honoree in early 1980s for Azusa Pacific CA) awarded off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Texas Rangers in 1992.

  • Cleveland Indians RHP Sonny Siebert (team-high 16.7 ppg for Missouri in 1957-58 as All-Big Eight Conference second-team selection) hurled a no-hitter against the Washington Senators in 1966.

  • 2B Junior Spivey (redshirted his only semester at Northwestern Oklahoma State on a hoop scholarship before transferring to a KS junior college) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Washington Nationals in 2005.

  • Chicago Cubs rookie 2B Jimmy Stewart (All-VSAC selection for Austin Peay's NCAA DII Tournament teams in 1959-60 and 1960-61) stroked four hits against the New York Mets in 1964.

  • INF Gary Sutherland (Southern California's fifth-leading scorer in 1963-64 when averaging 7.4 ppg) traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976.