Only 13 men have ever played for both the NBA and Major League Baseball. Notable among them was Danny Ainge, Dave DeBusschere, and Dick Groat. (Michael Jordan never played in a regular season game for the White Sox, only with the Birmingham Barons.)
Also on the list was Chuck Connors. He’s best remembered as the actor who portrayed Lucas McCain, the lead character from the TV series The Rifleman.
Born in 1921 and a child of the Great Depression, his true name was Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors. He didn’t acquire the nickname Chuck until her served in World War II, and it stuck.
Although he later became synonymous with his cowboy image, Connors was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. His parents were Irish immigrants by way of Newfoundland. Young Kevin was a Catholic altar boy and a gifted athlete who played football, basketball, and baseball. He dreamed of joining his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers.
His early life had nothing in common with cowboys.
The Dodgers signed him to a contract in 1940 and he was sent to the minor leagues where he became a first baseman. But he languished there and instead went to college at Seton Hall where he honed his baseball skills.
In 1941, he also joined Seton Hall’s basketball team where he was the second-string center (at only 6’ 6”).
Connors also discovered his natural ability for public speaking at college. That came in handy in the years to come.
The next summer, the Yankees signed him to a minor league deal, and he played for their farm club.
Then Connors enlisted in the U.S. Military. He served at West Point throughout World War II as a tank instructor. He never went overseas.
1946: At age 25, he returned to professional sports, first with a basketball team out of Rochester, NY (that later became the Sacramento Kings). Then the Dodgers signed him to another minor league contract, and he was assigned to Newport News. That fall, he played a full season with a brand new pro basketball team - the Boston Celtics.
Connors’ stats with the Celtics were mediocre at best; he missed more free throws than he made. He admitted being better at baseball than basketball. He spent two seasons in Boston.
1947: The Dodgers had a glut of first basemen, and Gil Hodges won the job over Connors. The team assigned him to AAA Montreal where he hit over .300 with 17 homers.
1949: Connors finally joined the Major League club, but he spent most of his time on the bench in favor of Gil Hodges.
His one and only at-bat as a Dodger was as a pinch-hitter. He saw two pitches. The result: a double play to end the game. After that, he got shipped back to Montreal.
With Connors at first base, Montreal won their league’s championship. Later that same season, Gil Hodges led the Dodgers to win the pennant.
1950: Connors was traded to the Cubs. They shipped him off to their minor league team - the Los Angeles Angels. The lowly Cubs added him to their roster in July and he played in the Majors for the rest of the season.
But while he was mashing the baseball for the Angels, a Hollywood casting agent who happened to be a fan saw him play and asked Connors to audition for a small movie role. The film was Pat and Mike starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
Chuck Connors had a new career. He petitioned the Cubs to let him stay with the Los Angeles ballclub so he could appear in more movies. They agreed.
He spent his remaining season with the team as more of a class clown than as a player. His on-field antics and clubhouse poetry readings earned Connors more notoriety than his diminishing athleticism.
He appeared in numerous movies throughout the 1950s, including the heartbreaking Old Yeller.
Then the little-known professional baseball and basketball player landed the TV role that made him a household name.
The Rifleman was a hit series for five seasons from 1958-1963. It was a classic TV western about a widower raising his young son in the Wild West.
During that time, as if to emulate Connors’ success, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved west to Los Angeles.
1984: The LA team hosted an event for Connors on the day he received his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame - 35 years after his only at-bat as a Dodger.
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