Russell Kurt Laribee (born July 30, 1956) is a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. A native of Southington, Connecticut, Laribee attended

Southington High School Southington High School (previously Lewis Academy and Lewis High School) is a public high school located at 720 Pleasant Street in Southington, Connecticut. It is the only high school in Southington. History Southington residents Sally Lewis a ...

and the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

. In 1976, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Harwich Mariners of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

, and led the league in triples with five. Drafted in the 21st round of the 1977 Draft, Laribee was a

minor league 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 ...

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 cat ...

. He played from 1977 through 1981 in 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 eight ...

system, ascending as high as the team's Triple-A affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox. His most productive season came in with Double-A

Bristol Red Sox The Bristol Red Sox baseball club was an American minor league baseball franchise. Based in Bristol, Connecticut, it was the Double-A Eastern League farm system affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for ten seasons (1973–82) and played at Muzzy Fi ...

, when he hit .302 with a .390

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and a .508 slugging in 109 games. Laribee is better known as having the professional single-game

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

record by fanning seven times in Pawtucket's 33-inning game against the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

in .Peter Gobis, in the ''Sun Chronicle''
/ref> Though Laribee is most known for that ignominious distinction, it is rarely remembered that, in the same game, it was his

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

in the bottom of the 9th inning that tied the game at 1–1, ultimately sending the game into extra innings. Pawtucket won, 3–2, while Laribee went 0-for-11. In a five-season minor-league career, Laribee posted a combined .264 batting average with 57

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 in 458 games.

References

External links

Baseball Reference - Minor League statisticsThe Longest GameHall of Fame: The Bristol Bomber: Russ Laribee battled his way through the minors
Bristol Red Sox players Elmira Pioneers players Pawtucket Red Sox players Winter Haven Red Sox players UConn Huskies baseball players Harwich Mariners players 1956 births Living people People from Southington, Connecticut Sportspeople from Hartford County, Connecticut {{US-baseball-outfielder-1950s-stub