On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on July 16 MLB Games

July 16th, 2015 - 7:54

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 16 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 16

  • Cincinnati Reds rookie LF Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading basketball scorer in 1945-46) collected two homers and five RBI against the New York Giants in the nightcap of a 1950 twinbill. Eleven years later as a Milwaukee Braves 1B in 1961, Adcock swatted two homers against the St. Louis Cardinals.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Clyde Barnhart (played for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) provided four hits, including three doubles, against the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a 1927 doubleheader.

  • Chicago Cubs 2B Glenn Beckert (three-year basketball letterman for Allegheny PA) stretched his hitting streak to 21 games with a decisive 12th-inning double in a 4-3 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968. Three years later in 1971, Beckert banged out four hits against the Phillies.

  • Philadelphia Athletics rookie C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University player in early 1920s) contributed at least three hits for the fifth time in a seven-game span in 1925.

  • CF Harry Craft (four-sport letterman with Mississippi College in early 1930s) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the New York Yankees in 1942 although he never played for the Yanks.

  • St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California letterman from 1922 through 1924) tallied four hits against the New York Giants in the midst of four consecutive contests with at least three safeties in 1929.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Walt Dropo (Connecticut's first player ever to average 20 points for a season with 21.7 ppg in 1942-43) delivered two more hits, giving him an A.L. record-tying 15 safeties over a four-game span in 1952.

  • Philadelphia Athletics RF Walt French (letterman for Rutgers and Army) furnished four hits against the St. Louis Browns in the nightcap of a 1926 doubleheader.

  • After 16 scoreless innings, New York Giants 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) stroked a bases-loaded triple to ignite a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1920.

  • San Francisco Giants RHP Ed Halicki (NAIA All-American third-team choice in 1971-72 when leading Monmouth in scoring with 21 ppg after setting school single-game rebounding record with 40 previous season) hurled back-to-back shutouts in a six-day span in 1976.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) amassed four hits and four RBI against the Cincinnati Reds in 1968.

  • Cleveland Indians rookie RHP Rich Hand (averaged 6.2 ppg for Puget Sound WA in 1967-68) hurled a four-hit shutout against the Kansas City Royals in 1970.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges (played for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948) collected two homers and five RBI against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers manager Davey Johnson (averaged 1.7 ppg with Texas A&M in 1961-62) hospitalized in 2000 after experiencing dizziness as a result of an irregular heartbeat.

  • California Angels LF Joe Lahoud (New Haven CT letterman in mid-1960s) launched a pair of two-run homers against the Cleveland Indians in 1974.

  • New York Giants CF Hank Leiber (played for Arizona in 1931) logged three extra-base hits against the Cincinnati Reds in 1935.

  • A three-run homer by 3B Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship team) gave the New York Yankees a 3-2 win against the Detroit Tigers in 1958.

  • New York Yankees RF Irv Noren (player of year for California community college state champion Pasadena City in 1945) went 4-for-4, including game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, against the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.

  • Chicago Cubs SS Roy Smalley Jr. (one of top scorers in 1942-43 and 1943-44 for Drury MO) homered in each end of a 1950 twinbill sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies.

  • Boston Braves OF Ab Wright (Oklahoma A&M letterman in 1928-29) whacked a three-run, pinch-hit homer against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the nightcap of a 1944 doubleheader.