On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on June 24 MLB Games

June 24th, 2015 - 6:59

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 24 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 24

  • INF-OF Leo Burke (averaged 9.2 ppg for Virginia Tech basketball teams in 1952-53 and 1953-54) traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for P Barney Schultz in 1963.

  • Detroit Tigers RHP Ownie Carroll (Holy Cross letterman in 1922), hurling his second shutout, allowed a total of four earned runs in his first eight victories of the 1928 campaign en route to leading the team with 16 triumphs.

  • Boston Braves SS Dick Culler (#9 jersey retired by High Point for Little All-American in 1935 and 1936) went 6-for-7 in a 1945 doubleheader split against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

  • 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first player ever to average 20 points for a season with 21.7 ppg in 1942-43) awarded on waivers from the Chicago White Sox to the Cincinnati Reds in 1958.

  • Houston Astros C Joe Ferguson (played in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) walked five times, including three intentional bases on balls, against the San Diego Padres in 1978.

  • RHP Eddie Fisher (played for Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) surrendered his only run in first 12 relief appearances with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.

  • New York Giants 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) went 5-for-5 and scored four runs against the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a 1926 doubleheader.

  • St. Louis Cardinals RHP Bob Gibson (Creighton's leading scorer and rebounder in 1955-56 and 1956-57) ended a personal five-game losing streak with his final of 56 career shutouts (four-hitter against Pittsburgh Pirates in nightcap of 1974 twinbill).

  • New York Yankees LHP Steve Hamilton (Morehead State's leading scorer and rebounder in 1956-57 and 1957-58) struck out Cleveland Indians 1B Tony Horton with a couple of "Folly Floaters" as a reliever in the nightcap of a 1970 doubleheader.

  • Philadelphia Athletics 1B Tom Hamilton (member of Texas' 1947 Final Four team was SWC's leading scorer in league competition in 1949-50) supplied a career-high two hits in a 6-3 setback against the Detroit Tigers in 1953.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) homered three times in a 1951 doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Seven years later, Hodges hammered a round-tripper in both ends of a 1958 twinbill sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

  • In 1944, Cincinnati Reds rookie RHP Jim Konstanty (member of 1937-38 and 1938-39 Syracuse teams) tossed a shutout in his second MLB start (1-0 against Chicago Cubs).

  • In 1958, New York Yankees INF Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship team) smacked his first MLB homer (at Chicago off Early Wynn of the White Sox).

  • New York Yankees RF Bud Metheny (William & Mary letterman from 1935-36 through 1937-38) amassed two homers and six RBI in a 13-5 win against the Philadelphia Athletics in the opener of a 1945 twinbill.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) powered a grand slam in back-to-back innings (fifth and sixth) against the Cleveland Indians in 1968.

  • Cincinnati Reds LHP Eppa Rixey (Virginia letterman in 1911-12 and 1913-14) went into the eighth inning with a perfect game but wound up losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3, in 1924.

  • In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in PCC both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) swiped home in the fifth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was the first of 19 times in Robinson's career he pilfered home. The next year, he went 7-for-9 in a 1948 doubleheader sweep of the Pirates.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Preacher Roe (played for Harding AR in late 1930s) twirled a shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a 1952 twinbill, giving him 30 victories in his last 33 decisions going back to the end of the 1950 campaign.

  • New York Giants C Wes Westrum (played for Bemidji State MN one season before serving in military) contributed a career game, hitting three homers plus a triple and scoring five runs in a 12-2 triumph against the Cincinnati Reds in 1950.

  • In 1991, California Angels RF-DH Dave Winfield (starting forward with Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972) went 5-for-5 against the Kansas City Royals and became the oldest player in MLB history to go for the cycle (39).