On This Date: Ex-College Hoopsters Make Their Mark on June 21 MLB Games

June 21st, 2016 - 6:37

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.

Former Alabama hoopers Riggs Stephenson (Chicago Cubs) and Jim Tabor (Boston Red Sox) had significant MLB outings on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is a June 21 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

JUNE 21

  • Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Clyde Barnhart (played basketball for Shippensburg PA predecessor Cumberland Valley State Normal School prior to World War I) and LF Carson Bigbee (letterman with his brother on Oregon's squad in 1915) combined for nine hits against the Brooklyn Robins in a 1922 contest.

  • Detroit Tigers 1B Tony Clark (San Diego State's leading scorer in WAC games in 1991-92) collected five RBI against the Boston Red Sox in a 1997 outing. Two years later, Clark cracked three extra-base hits against the Oakland Athletics in a 1999 game.

  • Chicago Cubs 3B Alvin Dark (letterman for Louisiana State and Louisiana-Lafayette in mid-1940s) posted his third four-hit outing in a five-game span in 1958.

  • After registering five saves in less than a month, Cincinnati Reds LHP Joe Gibbon (two-time All-SEC forward for Ole Miss was nation's second-leading scorer as senior in 1956-57) notched his 11th straight scoreless relief appearance.

  • RHP Walt Huntzinger (All-EIBL second-five selection in 1921-22 with Penn) awarded on waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs in 1926.

  • OF Rusty Kuntz (played J.C. hoops for Cuesta CA) traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Minnesota Twins in 1983.

  • Washington Senators CF Don Lock (led Wichita State in field-goal percentage in 1956-57 and 1957-58 under coach Ralph Miller) smashed two homers against the Kansas City Athletics in the opener of a 1964 doubleheader.

  • Chicago White Sox RHP Ted Lyons (two-time All-SWC first-team selection for Baylor in early 1920s) notched his 250th career win in 1942. Lyons finished the season hurling complete games in all 20 starts, led the A.L. with a 2.10 ERA, and then entered the U.S. Marine Corps at age 42.

  • Washington Senators rookie CF Irv Noren (player of year for California community college state champion Pasadena City in 1945) knocked in five runs against the Detroit Tigers in 1950.

  • Detroit Tigers RF Jim Northrup (second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder for Alma MI in 1958-59) amassed two homers and five RBI against the Cleveland Indians in the nightcap of a 1970 twinbill.

  • Brooklyn Dodgers LHP Preacher Roe (played for Harding AR in late 1930s) won his first 10 decisions in 1951.

  • New York Yankees 3B Red Rolfe (played briefly with Dartmouth in 1927-28 and 1929-30) provided five hits against the Detroit Tigers in a 1940 game.

  • As a pinch-hitter, New York Mets C John Stephenson (scored 1,361 points for William Carey MS in early 1960s) was the final out of P Jim Bunning's perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964.

  • Chicago Cubs LF Riggs Stephenson (Alabama letterman in 1920) supplied four hits against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1932 contest.

  • Boston Red Sox 3B Jim Tabor (Alabama letterman in 1936-37) knocked in five runs in a 1941 game against the St. Louis Browns.

  • In 1973, San Diego Padres rookie LF Dave Winfield (starting forward with Minnesota's first NCAA playoff team in 1972) whacked his first of 465 MLB homers (off Ken Forsch of Houston Astros).