1963-1965

Jack Lamabe was born on October 3, 1936, in Farmingdale, New York. He attended the Farmingdale schools and graduated from Farmingdale High School in 1954, where he captained both the basketball and football teams, and played baseball as well. He earned four letters in baseball, and three each in football and basketball. He was twice named All-Scholastic in baseball and also played for the Massapequa Senior Kiwanis team. He then attended the University of Vermont for two years, where he played baseball and basketball.

He was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in June, 1956 and was assigned to the Class-B Carolina League, where he played for the Wilson Tobs. He was called up to the Phillies in early September but saw no duty.

His tenure with the Phillies didn’t last long. In October 1956, Commissioner Ford Frick circulated a letter to all major- and minor-league clubs informing one and all that he had voided the contract between the Phillies and Lamabe on the grounds that he was ineligible to sign such contract and, consequently must be considered a Free Agent. The commissioner’s ruling was based on the “college rule” at that time, which had been intended to protect colleges from professional baseball clubs raiding them to entice players away.

Some 13 major-league clubs reportedly bid on Jack's services and he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite the competition, he signed a “non-bonus” contract, which allowed the team to farm him out for seasoning. He knew he needed time to develop in the minor leagues, and he got off to a very good start pitching in 1957 for the Lincoln (Nebraska) Chiefs in the Class-A Western League. That winter he also pitched in Mexico, for the Poza Rica Oilers of the Veracruz League.

His 1958 season didn’t go as well. He was promoted to Triple-A and pitched for the Salt Lake City Bees (Pacific Coast League) but suffered an elbow injury in late April and was reported with a sore arm in late May.

Jack signed up with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve while in college and served a six-month active duty stint in 1958.

Though briefly with Denver at the start of the 1959 season, he spent most of the year in the Single-A South Atlantic League pitching for Columbus/Gastonia. His 1960 season saw him appear in two games for Columbus, Ohio, without a record, but he spent most of the season in Single A again, pitching for the Savannah Pirates. He struck out 143 batters in 191 1/3 innings, a dramatic increase in the number of K's. Savannah won the league championship that year.

It was back to Triple A for the full 1961 season, pitching in the International League for the Columbus Jets. Columbus finished first in the standings, but lost out in the playoffs.

During the offseason, Jack pursued college course work at the University of Pittsburgh and worked at Springfield College in Massachusetts as assistant freshman football coach.

He was invited to spring training and made the Pirates staff in 1962, with his debut coming in April in the team’s sixth game of the season at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. After his first 17 appearances, he had neither a win nor a loss but had an excellent 2.06 earned run average. 

The Boston Red Sox in November  traded Jim Pagliaroni and Don Schwall to the Pirates for slugger Dick Stuart and Jack. He pitched very well for the Red Sox, appearing in 65 games in 1963, with a 7-4 record and an ERA of 3.15 in 151 1/3 innings.

His first four decisions in 1963 were all wins, and all games in which he worked multiple innings in relief, but he would never get the recognition he deserved on this club, because of Dick Radatz. But Jack acted like a player who got his satisfaction from seeing his ball club win. He had six saves on the season and at the Boston Baseball Writers Dinner in January 1964, he was honored as the “Unsung Hero” of the ’63 Sox.

There was understandably off-season interest from a number of teams in trading for Jack. When the 1964 season was done, the Red Sox finished in eighth place, and he had a disappointing record of 9-13 with a 5.89 ERA. He had started 25 games and relieved in 14.

He never got going in 1965 and by the end of May, he had a 12.51 ERA. Shoulder trouble brought an end to his work with Boston and in July, his contract was sold to Toronto (International League). There he turned things around in Triple A, and was 10-3 with a 1.95 ERA with the Maple Leafs, and had won another two games in the playoffs before, in September, he was dealt to the Houston Astros. For his work with Toronto, he was named to the I.L. All-Star team.

Jack lost two starts for Houston and was part of a four-player trade to the Chicago White Sox. After seven relief appearances for the 1966 White Sox, he was given a start in the second game of the Memorial Day doubleheader against the visiting Red Sox. He threw the best game of his career, a one-hit shutout and four days later, he shut out the Senators.

While working toward his master’s degree, he coached Springfield College’s junior varsity basketball team during the winters of 1965-66 and 1966-67.

Jack switched teams again in 1967, and earned himself a World Championship ring. He began the season with a win for the White Sox, with an inning of relief work in April and was sent to the New York Mets for cash. But then the Mets dealt him to the St. Louis Cardinals in July. It was quite a rise for him going from a last-place team to the first-place team. 

In his time with the Cardinals, he was 3-4 with a 2.83 ERA. After winning the pennant, the Cardinals faced the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series. Bob Gibson won three games, including the final Game Seven and Jack had his ring and was voted a full share of the World Series earnings.

By the end of the month, he was back at Springfield College coaching JV basketball and wrapping up his Master’s degree.

When he reported to St. Petersburg for spring training 1968, he was said to be 20 pounds overweight and in April, he was cut from the Cardinals’ roster. After a complete-game win for the Tulsa Oilers in the early going, he was traded as part of a four-player deal with the Chicago Cubs. He pitched in 42 games for the Cubs, all in relief.

He opened the 1969 season pitching for Tacoma, but was traded on June 11 to the Montreal Expos. The Expos had him report to their affiliate in Vancouver. He pitched for the Expos as a non-roster invitee in spring training 1970, envisioned as a pitching instructor, who could help with their Buffalo affiliate, and wound up being hired to serve as a pitching coach in the team’s minor-league system.

In 1974, he became head baseball coach at Jacksonville University in Florida. It was a losing program, and an under-funded one, but by 1976 he had taken the Dolphins to within one game of the College World Series. In 1979, after five years at Jacksonville, he became Louisiana State University’s first fulltime baseball coach. They went all the way to the Southeastern Conference finals before succumbing to Florida. That October, he was one of four coaches for a college all-star baseball team that played in international competition in Havana. Jack served at LSU from 1979 through the 1983 season.

He then went into the insurance business, but by December, 1985 was named pitching coach for Beaumont, the San Diego Padres affiliate in the Texas League. He worked for a number of years as a roving pitching instructor and evaluator in the Padres’ minor-league system.

Jack had gotten a National League championship ring in 1984 while in the Padres system, he was pitching coach in 1986 for Las Vegas when they won the PCL championship, and in 1987 won one with Spokane.

In 1992, he became pitching coach of the Padres’ Charleston (South Carolina) Rainbows. In 1993, it was Visalia and in 1994, Asheville, where he worked through 1997, sandwiched around 1996 with New Haven. In 1999, he returned to Asheville again, a Colorado Rockies affiliate at the time. By the start of the twenty-first century, he was minor-league pitching consultant for the Padres.

Jack Lamabe died peacefully at his Baton Rouge home on December 21, 2007., at age 71.