Luciean Louis Clinton (October 13, 1937 – December 6, 1997), nicknamed Lu or Lou, was a

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), ...

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 ...

who batted and threw right-handed. His major league career spanned eight seasons (1960–1967), during which he played for five

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

teams; 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 eigh ...

, Los Angeles/California Angels,

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

Early years

Clinton was born in

Ponca City, Oklahoma Ponca City ( iow, Chína Uhánⁿdhe) is a city in Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 25,387 at the time of the 2010 census- and a population of 24,424 in the 2020 ...

. He was signed by the Red Sox as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

before the 1955 season.

Career

Clinton made his major league debut in 1960, and spent five seasons with the Red Sox, batting .252 with 49 home runs and 198 RBIs. Clinton was involved in an odd play on August 9, 1960. In the bottom of the fifth inning with a Cleveland runner on base, Vic Power of the Indians hit a line drive that bounced off of the right field fence in Cleveland; the ball hit Clinton's foot and flew over the fence.

Umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

Al Smith ruled that the ball never touched the ground and was a home run. The odd play was also scored as a home run with no error being assigned to Clinton. Clinton was playing right field for Boston on the final day of the 1961 season, when Roger Maris hit his 61st home run; Clinton ran back to the right field wall, but the ball went over him into the stands at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

. Clinton

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League B ...

on July 13, 1962, in a 15-inning Red Sox win in Kansas City; he batted 5-for-7 and had the game winning RBI. On June 4, 1964, Clinton was traded to the Angels for Lee Thomas. After a season and a half with the Angels, Clinton was selected off waivers by the Athletics on September 7, 1965. After appearing in a single game for the Athletics, the waiver claim was voided; Clinton was then claimed by the Indians. He finished the season with Cleveland, and on January 14, 1966, he was traded to the Yankees for

Doc Edwards Howard Rodney "Doc" Edwards (December 10, 1938 – August 20, 2018), was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, ...

. Clinton played for the Yankees until May 1967, his last major league appearances. In his eight major league seasons, he batted .247 in 691 games played, with 65 home runs and 269 RBIs. On May 11, 1967, Clinton's contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies and he was assigned to their Triple-A Pacific Coast League team, the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

. He played 110 games for the Padres through the remainder of the season, batting .250, and then retired.

Later years

After his retirement, Clinton entered the oil business in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, with his uncle. Clinton died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease at age 60 in Wichita, and is buried at Lakeview Cemetery there.

References

External links

, o
Baseball Almanac
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Lou 1937 births 1997 deaths Albany Senators players Baseball players from Oklahoma Bluefield Blue-Grays players Boston Red Sox players California Angels players Cleveland Indians players Greensboro Patriots players Kansas City Athletics players Los Angeles Angels players Major League Baseball right fielders Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players New York Yankees players People from Ponca City, Oklahoma San Diego Padres (minor league) players Seattle Rainiers players

Early years

Career

Later years

See also

References

Further reading

External links