American baseball player (1926-2007)
Baseball player
Clem Labine
|
---|
Labine in 1949
|
Pitcher
|
Born:
(
1926-08-06
)
August 6, 1926
Lincoln, Rhode Island
, U.S.
|
Died:
March 2, 2007
(2007-03-02)
(aged 80)
Vero Beach, Florida
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
April 18, 1950, for the Brooklyn Dodgers
|
|
April 24, 1962, for the New York Mets
|
|
Win?loss record
| 77?56
|
---|
Earned run average
| 3.63
|
---|
Strikeouts
| 551
|
---|
Saves
| 96
|
---|
|
---|
|
|
|
|
Clement Walter Labine
(August 6, 1926 ? March 2, 2007) was an American right-handed
relief pitcher
in
Major League Baseball
(MLB) best known for his years with the
Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers
from 1950 to 1960.
As a key member of the Dodgers in the early 1950s, he helped the team to its first
World Series
title in
1955
with a
win
and a
save
in four games. He is one of eight players in MLB history to have won back-to back World Series championships on different teams, the other seven being
Joc Pederson
,
Ben Zobrist
,
Jake Peavy
,
Jack Morris
,
Bill Skowron
,
Don Gullett
, and
Ryan Theriot
.
He held the
National League
(NL) record for career saves from 1958 until 1962; his 96 career saves ranked fourth in MLB history when he retired. At the time of his retirement, he also held the Dodgers franchise record for both career saves (96) and career
games pitched
(425).
Early life
[
edit
]
Labine was born in
Lincoln, Rhode Island
, grew up in nearby
Woonsocket
, and served as a
paratrooper
in World War II.
Brooklyn
[
edit
]
After compiling a 5?1 record for Brooklyn as a rookie in 1951, he shut out the
New York Giants
in game 2 of the National League pennant playoff, 10?0. Labine went on to enjoy several stellar seasons for the Dodgers as a relief pitcher. In 1955, the year the Dodgers finally brought a world championship to Brooklyn, he led the NL with 60 games pitched and 10 relief victories, and earned a career-best 13 wins overall.
Although the save was not yet an official statistic, he has been retroactively credited with leading the NL twice (1956 and '57) in that category, with 19 and 17, respectively, and was an
All-Star
both years.
Move to Los Angeles and late career
[
edit
]
Labine accompanied the Dodgers to Los Angeles when they relocated after the 1957 season, and in 1958 surpassed
Al Brazle
's NL record of 60 career saves. In 1959, he broke
Brickyard Kennedy
's franchise record of 381 games pitched; the Dodgers won the
World Series again that year
, defeating the
Chicago White Sox
, although Labine pitched only one inning in game 1's blowout loss.
His career appeared to be in jeopardy in 1960, when the Dodgers traded him to the
Detroit Tigers
in June after Labine had compiled an
earned-run average
(ERA) of 5.82. The Tigers subsequently released him on August 15, 1960, after he pitched 14 games for them, going 0?3, with an ERA of 5.12. The
Pittsburgh Pirates
signed Labine the following day.
The Pirates were in the NL pennant race and needed another right-handed reliever to complement
Roy Face
. Labine proved to be a valuable addition to the Pirates' bullpen. In 15 games for the Pirates through the remainder of the season, he compiled a record of 3?0 with three saves and an ERA of 1.48, as he helped the Pirates win the NL pennant and go on to the
1960 World Series
, but Labine appeared only in three blowout losses during the series win over the
New York Yankees
.
After remaining with the Pirates in 1961, he ended his career with the
New York Mets
, pitching in three games during the Mets' debut 1962 season, including an inning in the Mets' first game. Later that year, the Pirates'
Roy Face
passed Labine's NL mark of 94 career saves.
Over all or parts of 13 seasons, Labine appeared in 513 games, winning 77 and losing 56 (.579), with a 3.63 ERA. He appeared in 13 World Series games, winning two and losing two, with a 3.16 ERA. His 96 career saves then trailed only
Johnny Murphy
(107),
Ellis Kinder
(102), and
Firpo Marberry
(101) in major league history. In 1966, Labine's Dodger career records of 425 games pitched and 83 saves were broken by
Don Drysdale
and
Ron Perranoski
, respectively.
Life after baseball
[
edit
]
Following his retirement from baseball, Labine settled again in the Woonsocket area, where he became a designer of men's athletic wear, serving as general manager for the sporting goods division of the Jacob Finklestein's & Sons manufacturing company. His son, Jay, joined the Marine Corps and lost a leg while serving in Vietnam after stepping on a mine.
[1]
Labine died at age 80 in
Vero Beach, Florida
, one week after undergoing exploratory brain surgery following a bout with
pneumonia
; he had been serving as an instructor at the Dodgers' adult fantasy camp at their Dodgertown headquarters.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Kahn, Roger (1972).
The Boys of Summer
. New York: Harper and Row.
External links
[
edit
]