On This Date: Former College Hoopers Made News in May 26 MLB Contests

May 26th, 2021 - 8:21

Extra! Extra! If spittin' mad regarding Oval Office failing to conduct American-led probe of Chinese origin of COVID-19, you can invest time and energy reading news in your office 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 hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games, transactions and dates in MLB history.

In a five-year span, Duke's first basketball All-American Billy Werber supplied significant MLB performances in each league on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a May 26 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

MAY 26

  • RHP Mike Adams (played basketball for Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1996-97) traded by the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Mets in 2006.

  • Lefthander Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates spun a perfect game for 12 innings in 1959 before Milwaukee Braves 1B Joe Adcock (Louisiana State's leading scorer in 1945-46) swatted a game-winning homer in the 13th (credited with double because of base-running snafu).

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Clyde Barnhart (hooper for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) had his 25-game hitting streak snapped by the Chicago Cubs in 1925.

  • St. Louis Browns RF Beau Bell (two-year hoops letterman for Texas A&M in early 1930s) collected two homers and five RBI against the Boston Red Sox in a 1937 game.

  • Pittsburgh Pirates LF Carson "Skeeter" Bigbee (Oregon hoops letterman in 1915) went 4-for-4 including three doubles against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1923 contest.

  • Baltimore Orioles CF Al Bumbry (Virginia State's runner-up in scoring with 16.7 ppg as freshman in 1964-65) contributed five hits in a 16-inning marathon against the Detroit Tigers in 1979.

  • Philadelphia Athletics C Mickey Cochrane (Boston University hooper in early 1920s) went 5-for-5 against the Washington Senators in a 1929 outing.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers RHP Roger Craig (forward with North Carolina State's 1949-50 freshman hoops team) tossed a three-hit shutout against the New York Giants in 1956.

  • Second MLB hit for INF Pat Crawford (Davidson hoops captain in early 1920s) was a pinch grand slam for the New York Giants in a 1929 game against the Boston Braves.

  • St. Louis Cardinals CF Taylor Douthit (California hoops letterman from 1922 through 1924) went 7-for-10 in a 1929 twinbill against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  • In the midst of a career-high 14-game hitting streak, Los Angeles Dodgers C Joe Ferguson (hooper in 1967 NCAA playoffs with Pacific) furnished four hits against the San Francisco Giants in a 1974 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox RHP Boo Ferriss (Mississippi State hoops letterman in 1941) hurled a one-hitter against the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a 1946 doubleheader.

  • New York Giants rookie C Paul Florence (Georgetown's leading scorer with 11.3 ppg in 1921-22) contributed an inside-the-park homer in 5-3 triumph against the Brooklyn Robins in 1926. He went 5-for-11 in his first four MLB outings.

  • In a 1970 outing, Los Angeles Dodgers C Tom Haller (backup forward for Illinois in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Harry Combes) banged out four hits against his original team (San Francisco Giants).

  • Boston Braves 1B Buddy Hassett (hooper for Manhattan teams winning school-record 17 consecutive games in 1930 and 1931) banged out four hits in a 10-8 loss against the New York Giants in 1940.

  • Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati's freshman hoops squad in 1953-54) fanned 16 Philadelphia Phillies batters in a 1962 game.

  • Detroit Tigers SS Harvey Kuenn (played hoops briefly for Wisconsin in 1951-52 after competing on JV squad previous season) collected four hits against the Kansas City Athletics in a 1956 contest.

  • Texas Rangers DH Rick Leach (averaged 15.5 ppg for Michigan's JV squad in 1975-76) went 3-for-3 in a 5-3 victory against the Minnesota Twins in 1989.

  • INF Jerry Lumpe (member of Southwest Missouri State's 1952 NAIA Tournament championship hoops team) traded by the New York Yankees to the Kansas City Athletics in 1959 in a swap involving Ralph Terry (juco hooper for Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in mid-1950s), who pitched in five straight World Series for the Yanks.

  • San Diego Padres 3B Graig Nettles (shot 87.8% from free-throw line for San Diego State in 1963-64) homered in his fourth consecutive contest in 1986.

  • Starting LHP Gary Peters (Grove City PA hooper in mid-1950s) batted sixth in the starting lineup for the Chicago White Sox in a 5-1 loss against the New York Yankees in the opener of a 1968 doubleheader.

  • Detroit Tigers 3B Tony Phillips (New Mexico Military juco hooper in 1977-78 as teammate of eventual Drake All-American Lewis Lloyd) banged out four hits in a 9-4 win against the Boston Red Sox in 1991.

  • St. Louis Browns RHP Nels Potter (leading scorer during two years attending Mount Morris IL in early 1930s) retired the first 23 Boston Red Sox batters he faced in 1944 game.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers 2B Jackie Robinson (highest scoring average in Pacific Coast Conference both of his seasons with UCLA in 1939-40 and 1940-41) went 4-for-4 in 1950 game against the Boston Braves.

  • Boston Red Sox C Birdie Tebbetts (Providence hooper in 1932) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in a 1949 outing.

  • Boston Red Sox 3B Billy Werber (first Duke hoops All-American in 1929-30) went 4-for-4 against the St. Louis Browns in a 1935 game. Four years later with the Cincinnati Reds, Werber scored four of his N.L.-leading 115 runs in a 7-5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1939.

  • St. Louis Cardinals 1B Bill White (two-year hooper for Hiram OH in early 1950s) went 4-for-4 against the New York Mets in the opener of a 1963 twinbill.