Thursday, May 18, 2006

Clem Labine

Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals was one of the game’s greatest hitters. During his brilliant career, he collected 3,630 hits, belted 475 home runs and batted .331. He was a seven-time batting champion and a three-time Most Valuable Player.

Yet, time after time, there was one pitcher who made "The Man" look like a helpless, overmatched little league hitter.

His name? Clement Walter Labine.

Simply put, Labine owned Musial.

A right-handed pitcher, Labine thoroughly dominated the left-handed hitting Musial.

Incredibly, at one point in his career, Labine retired Musial 49 straight times.

49 times!!!

However, Labine's success wasn't limited to just Musial. He did a pretty good job of getting other big league hitters out, too.

A native of Lincoln, Rhode Island, Labine pitched in the big leagues for 13 seasons with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the expansion New York Mets. He finished his career with a 77-56 won-lost record, 3.63 earned run average, and 96 saves in 513 games. He was on world championship clubs with the Dodgers in 1955 and 1959, and the Pirates in 1960.

Although primarily a relief pitcher during his career, Labine is best remembered by Dodger fans for his 10-inning shutout in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series against the New York Yankees.

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2 Comments:

At 6:42 PM, Blogger I. Baly said...

What TV star does Clem Labine look like?

 
At 8:15 PM, Blogger I. Baly said...

ANSWER: The guy who played Chandler Bing on the TV show FRIENDS.

 

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