Joseph Michael Lahoud (born April 14, 1947) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern profession ...

player. He played all or part of eleven seasons in

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 ...

, primarily as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by t ...

, for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's ei ...

(1968–71),

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association ...

(1972–73),

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the tea ...

(1974–76), Texas Rangers (1976) and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expan ...

(1977–78).

Early life

Lahoud is from

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

. His parents emigrated to the United States from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

before he was born.

Career

Lahoud attended Henry Abbott Technical High School, then the University of New Haven, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

New Haven Chargers The New Haven Chargers are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Haven, located in West Haven, Connecticut, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Chargers' 18 varsity athletics teams, seven men's and 11 women's, compe ...

. Lahoud played for the

Winston-Salem Red Sox Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

of the Class A

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 un ...

in 1966 and 1967. Though optioned to the minor leagues during spring training in 1968, the Red Sox recalled Lahoud from the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as t ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PC ...

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

at the start of the 1968 season as

Tony Conigliaro Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 – February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig", was a Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964–1967, 1969–1970, 1975) and California ...

struggled with his recovery from an eye injury. He was soon sent to Louisville to continue his development. The Red Sox optioned Lahoud to Louisville at the end of spring training in 1970. Lahoud was part of a ten-player blockbuster that sent him, George Scott, Jim Lonborg,

Ken Brett Kenneth Alven Brett (September 18, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and the second of four Brett brothers who played professional baseball, the most notable being the youngest, George Brett. Ken played f ...

, Billy Conigliaro and

Don Pavletich Donald Stephen Pavletich (July 13, 1938 – March 5, 2020) was an American professional baseball player. He was a catcher and first baseman for the Cincinnati Redlegs / Reds (1957, 1959 and 1962–68), Chicago White Sox (1969) and Boston Red ...

from the Red Sox to the Brewers for Tommy Harper, Marty Pattin, Lew Krausse Jr. and minor-league outfielder Pat Skrable on October 10, 1971. He was involved in a nine-player transaction two years later when he was sent along with Ellie Rodríguez, Ollie Brown, Skip Lockwood and Gary Ryerson from the Brewers to the Angels for

Steve Barber Stephen David Barber (February 22, 1938 – February 4, 2007) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed pitcher. He pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and six other teams between 1960–74. Barber compiled 121 wins, 1,309 stri ...

, Clyde Wright,

Ken Berry Kenneth Ronald Berry (November 3, 1933 – December 1, 2018) was an American actor, dancer, and singer. Berry starred on the television series ''F Troop'', ''The Andy Griffith Show'', '' Mayberry R.F.D.'' and ''Mama's Family''. He also appe ...

Art Kusnyer Arthur William Kusnyer (born December 19, 1945) is an American former catcher in Major League Baseball who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 37th round of the 1966 amateur draft. He played for the White Sox (1970), California Angels ...

and cash on October 23, 1973. On June 14, 1976, the Texas Rangers acquired Lahoud from the Angels for "slightly more than the

waiver A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United S ...

price". In his career, Lahoud played in 791 games and had a .223

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

with 65

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 218

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batting (baseball), batter for making a play that allows a run (baseball), run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error (baseball), ...

, 429 hits, 239

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted ball ...

, and a .372

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. On June 11, 1969, he hit three home runs in one game for the Red Sox.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahoud, Joe Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball designated hitters Boston Red Sox players Milwaukee Brewers players California Angels players Texas Rangers players Kansas City Royals players Winston-Salem Red Sox players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Omaha Royals players Baseball players from Connecticut Sportspeople from Danbury, Connecticut American people of Lebanese descent American people of Syrian descent 1947 births Living people New Haven Chargers baseball players New Haven Chargers men's basketball players Sportspeople of Lebanese descent