Coco Laboy

Coco Laboy
Third baseman
Born: July 3, 1939 (1939-07-03) (age 72) Ponce, Puerto Rico
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 8, 1969 for the Montreal Expos
Last MLB appearance
May 16, 1973 for the Montreal Expos
Career statistics
Batting average	.233
Home runs	28
Runs batted in	166
Teams
Montreal Expos (1969-73)

José Alberto "Coco" Laboy (born July 3, 1939) was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player. He was signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent in 1959 but remained mired in the minor leagues until the 1969 expansion of major league baseball, which added two teams to both leagues. The expansion Montreal Expos drafted Laboy from the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

Laboy was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. 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 for the 1969 National League Rookie of the Year Award, which was won by Ted Sizemore.

In 1970, Laboy's average dropped from .258 to .199 as pitchers adjusted to him and stopped feeding him fast balls. 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, which he served for 27 years, eventually becoming director of the commonwealth's athletic programs.

References

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Laboy, Coco
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 3, 1939
Place of birth	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Date of death
Place of death