José Alberto "Coco" Laboy (born 3 July 1940) is a former Puerto Rican

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player. He was signed by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

as an amateur free agent in 1959 but remained mired in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

, playing for a while in North Carolina with the

Raleigh Cardinals Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southea ...

, until the 1969 expansion of major league baseball, which added two teams to both leagues. The expansion

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

drafted Laboy from the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

organization.

Early years

Laboy was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

, on 3 July 1940.

Career

Laboy batted seventh in the inaugural game of the

versus the New York Mets on April 8, 1969, going 1-for-5 with 3 RBIs in the 11-10 win. As a 29-year-old rookie, he excelled at the plate. His 145 hits gave him an average of .258, and he slugged 18 home runs and drove in 83 runs. He tied for second place with

Al Oliver Albert Oliver Jr. (born October 14, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and first baseman from through , most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won ...

for the 1969 National League Rookie of the Year Award, which was won by

Ted Sizemore Ted Crawford Sizemore (born April 15, 1945) is a former Major League Baseball second baseman. He was named the National League's Rookie of the Year in . Early life Sizemore was born in Gadsden, Alabama, but moved to Detroit, at the age of two y ...

. In 1970, Laboy's average dropped from .258 to .199 as pitchers adjusted to him and stopped feeding him fastballs. However, he led the Expos with 26 doubles. Anxious to prove that his rookie year was not a fluke, Laboy worked out in the off-season but injured his knee in his first game of the Puerto Rican winter league season. The injury reduced him to 151 at-bats in the 1971 season and he spent most of 1972 on the disabled list after undergoing knee surgery in March. At 33 years old and with essentially only two full seasons behind him it was hard to come back, particularly with the primitive state of orthopedic surgery at the time. He was released after the 1973 season and was not picked up by any other team. He ended his career with an average of .233/28/166 in 420 games. Exactly half of his RBIs were racked up in his rookie campaign. Laboy returned to his native Puerto Rico and got a job with the government, where he served for 27 years, eventually becoming director of the Commonwealth's athletic programs.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laboy, Coco 1940 births Living people Artesia Giants players El Paso Sun Kings players Fresno Giants players Jacksonville Suns players Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Major League Baseball third basemen Montreal Expos players Peninsula Whips players Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Canada Québec Carnavals players Raleigh Cardinals players Seattle Mariners scouts Sportspeople from Ponce, Puerto Rico Springfield Giants players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Winnipeg Goldeyes players