Baseball Way Back: DeBusschere's two-sport track anticipated Jordan's
A basketball Hall of Famer, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history on the league's 50th anniversary.
He and Phil Jackson were associated with a team that not only won an NBA championship, but was considered one of the greatest of all time.
He was also a two-sport athlete, playing baseball with the White Sox organization.
His name, by the way, was not Michael Jordan.
You won't see any “last dance” documentaries about Dave DeBusschere. But his athletic feats remain remarkable in their own right. Not the least being his ability to juggle two different major league careers in his first two seasons with the White Sox and the Detroit Pistons.
With the Pistons, he made the all-rookie team during the 1962-1963 season and in his third year was named the NBA's youngest coach.
Unlike Jordan, who, save for a memorable exhibition game against the Cubs, never actually played with the Sox, DeBusschere, a right-handed pitcher, played in parts of two seasons for the South Siders, who thought highly enough of him to part with a future Cy Young Award winner.
DeBusschere is mainly remembered as a key component of two New York Knicks championship teams, the storied 60-22 1969-1970 team with such greats as Walt Frazier, Willis Reed and Bill Bradley and the 1972-73 champs, which had a forward named Phil Jackson.
He was selected to eight all-star teams and made the all-defensive first team six times. Over his 12-year career, he averaged double figures in rebounds and points. His number 22 is retired by the Knicks.
A native of Detroit, the University of Detroit star was drafted as a first-round territorial pick by his hometown Pistons. He might have played both sports in the Motor City — the Tigers pursued him and had even put his name on a locker in the clubhouse.
But DeBusschere accepted the Sox's $65,000 signing bonus.
The previous September, DeBusschere had worked out with the Sox, impressing Manager Al Lopez, who said, “This boy can really fire the ball.”
On the basketball court, his height, at 6 feet 6 inches, did not stand out. On the mound, however, he was frequently called a “giant.”
Sox pitcher Early Wynn was quoted in 1962, saying, “I have to throw the ball two feet farther than that kid.”
DeBusschere, who spent the weekends with the Sox until he finished his senior college year, made his major league debut April 22 in a 7-1 loss to the Kansas City Athletics, pitching one scoreless inning in relief, while yielding a walk and unleashing a wild pitch.
He would make 11 more appearances in 1962, logging 18 innings, with a 2.00 ERA.
He spent the middle of the year in Savannah, where he posted a 10-1 record.
His strongest outing came on Sept. 18, when he threw three scoreless innings against Boston.
When the Sox broke camp in Sarasota in 1963, DeBusschere was still on the court for the Pistons, scoring 31 points against the Syracuse Nats on March 3 while his Sox teammates were getting in shape.
His late arrival did not cause much of a stir, but it would become an issue in upcoming seasons.
At the time, though, his dual loyalty also made him something of a celebrity, earning him an appearance on the game show “To Tell the Truth,” for a segment in which panelists had to guess which of three contestants, including a nonathlete wearing a White Sox uniform, was the pitcher.
The Sox rated DeBusschere highly enough that they chose him and Bruce Howard over Denny McLain in 1963, when faced with a roster choice.
The Detroit Tigers claimed McLain on waivers, and he eventually won two Cy Young Awards and helped them win the World Series.
DeBusschere spent the 1963 baseball season with the major league club. It would turn out to be his last season in the bigs.
He wound up compiling a 3-4 record and 3.09 ERA.
Highlights included a streak of 10⅔ scoreless innings in five games in relief, earning him opportunities as a starter.
On July 17, he earned his first win against the Washington Senators, striking out seven in seven innings in an 8-2 victory.
His crowning achievement was a complete-game shutout against the Cleveland Indians, Aug. 13, when he handed the Cleveland Indians a 3-0 defeat at Comiskey Park. He was helped by Nellie Fox, who went 3-for-4, scored one run and drove in another, and Pete Ward, who batted in two runs.
He would only make three more appearances, missing time after suffering a strained tendon in his elbow.
By the end of the 1963 season, though, it became clear that baseball and basketball wouldn't mix, especially when the Pistons elevated him to player-coach.
In 1964 DeBusschere went 15-8 for Indianapolis, but didn't receive a September call-up.
When he arrived late as usual in Sarasota in 1965, reporters wrote that the Sox were tired of the annual “waiting game.”
In 1965, DeBusschere refused a September call-up and officially said goodbye to baseball.
Before his death in 2003, he would go on to become commissioner of the American Basketball Association and general manager of the Knicks, drafting a future superstar, Patrick Ewing.
• Reach Steve at szalusky@dailyherald.com