On This Date: Former College Hoopsters Make Mark on July 27 MLB Games

July 27th, 2015 - 6:39

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 27 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JULY 27

  • Chicago Cubs RHP Ray Burris (basketball standout in Southwestern Oklahoma State Hall of Fame) capped off a streak of six straight winning starts in 1976 with his second shutout in that span.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers RHP Roger Craig (forward with North Carolina State's 1949-50 freshman team) hurled one of his four shutouts in 1959.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham captain) contributed four hits against the Cincinnati Reds in 1933.

  • In an 8-0 victory against the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres RF Tony Gwynn (All-WAC second-team selection with San Diego State in 1979-80 and 1980-81) secured five hits in a game for the third time in the 1993 campaign.

  • Los Angeles LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman squad in 1953-54) fanned 16 Philadelphia Phillies in 11 innings before the Dodgers prevailed in 16 frames, 2-1, in 1966.

  • Boston Red Sox rookie OF Joe Lahoud (letterman for New Haven CT) hammered a two-run homer in the top of the 20th inning in a 5-3 win at Seattle in 1969.

  • Toronto Blue Jays DH Rick Leach (averaged 15.5 ppg for Michigan's junior varsity team in 1975-76) singled in the go-ahead run in a 10-8 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1987.

  • Washington Senators CF Don Lock (led Wichita State in field-goal percentage in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Ralph Miller) launched back-to-back homers and had five RBI in an 8-4 win against the Detroit Tigers in 1963.

  • CF Kenny Lofton (Arizona's leader in steals for 1988 Final Four team compiling a 35-3 record) traded by the Texas Rangers to the Cleveland Indians in 2007.

  • Cleveland Indians RF Bake McBride (averaged 12.7 ppg and 8.1 rpg in 21 games with Westminster MO in 1968-69 and 1969-70) went 4-for-4 against the Kansas City Royals in 1983.

  • In the ninth inning against the California Angels, New York Yankees SS Gene Michael (Kent State's leading scorer with 14 ppg in 1957-58) pulled the hidden-ball trick for the second time in six weeks in 1970.

  • St. Louis Cardinals rookie CF Wally Moon (averaged 4.3 ppg with Texas A&M in 1948-49 and 1949-50) manufactured four hits for the third time in a 17-game span in 1954.

  • LF Greasy Neale (hoopster graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1915) supplied three of the Cincinnati Reds' eight stolen bases in a 14-5 triumph against the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a 1918 doubleheader.

  • Chicago Cubs LF Riggs Stephenson (Alabama letterman in 1920) incurred a season-ending broken ankle stepping on first base against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1931.

  • Chicago White Sox 2B Frank Whitman (one of leading scorers with Eureka IL as freshman in 1942-43) stroked a single for his lone MLB hit (against the New York Yankees in 1946).