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

July 6th, 2015 - 7:49

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 July 10 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 10

  • Chicago White Sox 2B Jerry Adair (one of Oklahoma State's top three basketball scorers in 1956-57 and 1957-58 while ranking among nation's top 12 free-throw shooters each season) stroked four hits against the Boston Red Sox in the nightcap of a 1966 doubleheader.

  • Philadelphia Phillies LF Harry Anderson (averaged 7.7 ppg and 8.9 rpg for West Chester PA in 1951-52) knocked in five runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1958 game.

  • RHP Ralph Branca (sixth-leading scorer for NYU in 1943-44), hampered by an off-season pelvic injury, awarded on waivers from the Brooklyn Dodgers to the Detroit Tigers in 1953.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) scored three runs, one on a homer off Lefty Gomez, in the 1934 All-Star Game.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 2B Lee Handley (Bradley letterman from 1932-33 through 1934-35) had a 17-game hitting streak snapped by the Chicago Cubs in 1937.

  • RHP Jim Hearn (Georgia Tech letterman in 1941-42) awarded on waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals to the New York Giants in 1950. Hearn goes on to lead the N.L. in shutouts (five) and ERA (2.49).

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) hammered a two-run homer in 1951 All-Star Game.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers rookie RF Frank Howard (two-time All-Big Ten Conference first-team selection when leading Ohio State in scoring and rebounding in 1956-57 and 1957-58) furnished five RBI against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Harvey Kuenn (played briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) had his career-high 22-game hitting streak snapped by the Kansas City Athletics in 1959.

  • Cleveland Indians CF Kenny Lofton (Arizona's leader in steals for 1988 Final Four team compiling a 35-3 record) logged four hits and four RBI against the Minnesota Twins in 1994.

  • OF Jim Lyttle (led Florida State in free-throw shooting in 1965-66 when he averaged 12.4 ppg) purchased from the Kansas City Royals by the Montreal Expos in 1973.

  • New York Giants RHP Christy Mathewson (played for Bucknell at turn of 20th Century) extended his streak of consecutive innings without a free pass to 52 but had his nine-game winning streak end with a 3-2 setback against the Chicago Cubs in 1913.

  • In 1970, Cincinnati Reds SS Woodie Woodward went yard off Atlanta Braves RHP Ron Reed (Notre Dame's leading rebounder in 1963-64 and 1964-65) for Woodward's only homer in a nine-year N.L. career (684 of 880 games/1,672 of 2,187 at-bats).

  • New York Giants RHP Hal Schumacher (played for St. Lawrence NY in early 1930s), supported by three hits from OF Hank Leiber (played for Arizona in 1931), notched his 11th straight complete-game victory with a 10-3 verdict over the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1935. Three years later, Leiber launched two homers against the Boston Braves in 1938.

  • Cincinnati Reds 2B Johnny Temple (played briefly for Catawba NC in 1945 before joining U.S. Navy) drove in the contest's first run as the N.L. took the lead for good in a 7-3 decision over the A.L. in the 1956 All-Star Game.

  • New York Yankees LHP Matt Thornton (averaged 5.8 ppg and 2.4 rpg from 1995-96 through 1997-98 with Grand Valley State MI) had his streak of 19 straight relief appearances without yielding an earned run come to a halt against the Cleveland Indians in 2014.

  • San Diego Padres RHP Chris Young (All-Ivy League first-team selection for Princeton in 1999-00) incurred the loss for the N.L. in the 2007 All-Star Game. Young yielded the first inside-the-park homer in All-Star Game history (Ichiro Suzuki in fifth inning).