On This Date: Former College Hoopers Make News on May 6 MLB Games

May 6th, 2020 - 8:04

Extra! Extra! Amid COVID-19 postponement of season, you have time to read news all about memorable major league baseball achievements, moments and transactions involving former college basketball players. Numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games and dates in MLB history.

Former college hoopers Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State) and Graig Nettles (San Diego State) each delivered three doubles as lefthanded hitters for the Cleveland Indians in a MLB game on this date. Ex-NYU hoopers Hank Greenberg and Eddie Yost provided outstanding offensive outputs in the American League on this date. Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only 4% of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 6 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 6

  • Hall of Fame C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University basketball player in early 1920s) clobbered his first MLB homer with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Al Downing (attended Muhlenberg PA on hoops scholarship but left before ever playing) tossed a two-hit shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973.

  • Boston Red Sox rookie RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State hoops letterman in 1941) hurled his second straight shutout in 1945, whitewashing the New York Yankees, 5-0.

  • New York Giants 2B Frankie Frisch (Fordham hoops captain) furnished four hits against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1924 game.

  • RF Jim Gleeson (NAIA Hall of Famer was all-league hoops pick for Rockhurst MO in early 1930s) traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1942.

  • Detroit Tigers LF Hank Greenberg (enrolled at NYU on hoop scholarship in 1929 but attended college only one semester) contributed three extra-base hits in a 6-4 victory against the New York Yankees in 1940.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Mike Hargrove (Northwestern Oklahoma State hoops letterman) collected three doubles against the Chicago White Sox in a 1983 outing.

  • Milwaukee Braves SS Johnny Logan (Binghamton hooper in 1948-49) supplied at least three hits for the third consecutive contest in 1959.

  • In 1968, San Francisco Giants RHP Lindy McDaniel (Oklahoma's 1954-55 freshman squad) established a N.L. record with his 225th consecutive errorless game.

  • New York Yankees LF Bud Metheny (William & Mary hoops letterman from 1935-36 through 1937-38) stroked four hits in a 4-3 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1944.

  • In 1967, 1B Cotton Nash (three-time All-American averaged 22.7 ppg and 12.3 rpg for Kentucky from 1961-62 through 1963-64) traded by the California Angels with cash to the Chicago White Sox for 1B Bill "Moose" Skowron (scored 18 points in eight games for Purdue in 1949-50).

  • Cleveland Indians 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) stroked three doubles against the Chicago White Sox in a 1972 game.

  • A two-out, seventh-inning single by CF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) was the Detroit Tigers' lone safety when they were blanked, 4-0, by Dave Leonard of the Baltimore Orioles in 1968.

  • Chicago White Sox rookie LHP Gary Peters (Grove City PA hooper in mid-1950s) won his first MLB start in 1963, limiting the Kansas City Athletics to four hits and one run over eight innings.

  • LF Rip Repulski (started handful of hoops games for St. Cloud State MN) traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Boston Red Sox in 1960.

  • Los Angeles Angels RHP Jack Spring (freshman hooper for Washington State in 1951-52) hurled 4 2/3 innings of hitless relief in posting victory against the Baltimore Orioles in 1962.

  • Cincinnati Reds 1B Champ Summers (led SIUE in scoring in 1969-70 after doing same with Nicholls State in 1964-65) went 4-for-4 and chipped in with five RBI against the Houston Astros in the opener of a 1979 doubleheader.

  • Boston Red Sox C Birdie Tebbetts (Providence hooper in 1932) blasted two homers against the Chicago White Sox in a 1950 game.

  • Cleveland Indians 1B Jim Thome (played junior-college hoops for Illinois Central in 1988-89) provided three extra-base hits (two doubles/one homer) and five RBI in a 1998 game against the Baltimore Orioles. Five years later with the Philadelphia Phillies, he hammered a pair of round-trippers in 2003 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

  • Philadelphia Phillies CF Cy Williams (Notre Dame forward in 1909-10) homered twice in a 5-4 win against the New York Giants in 1924.

  • Washington Senators 3B Eddie Yost (NYU freshman hooper in 1943-44 under coach Howard Cann) knocked in four runs in opener of a 1951 twinbill against the Cleveland Indians, igniting a career-long 16-game hitting streak.