Larry Ciaffone

Larry Ciaffone
Larry Ciaffone
	Outfielder/Pinch hitter
	Born: August 17, 1924; Brooklyn, New York
	Died: December 14, 1991 (aged 67); Brooklyn, New York
	Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
	April 17, 1951, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
	May 3, 1951, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Batting average	.000
At bats	5
Runs scored	0
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
	St. Louis Cardinals (1951);

Lawrence Thomas Ciaffone (August 17, 1924 – December 14, 1991), nicknamed "Symphony Larry", was an American professional baseball player whose ten-year playing career (1946–55), largely as an outfielder, catcher and first baseman, included a six-game trial with the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball during the opening weeks of the 1951 season. Ciaffone threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he attended Abraham Lincoln High School, where he was a teammate of and catcher for his cousin Frank Ciaffone, a star pitcher. Both signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers upon graduation but their baseball careers were delayed by military service in World War II. Larry entered the United States Army, and saw combat at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944–45. Frank enlisted in the United States Marines and fought in the Pacific Theater of Operations, participating in the Battle of Iwo Jima. During the course of the invasion of the Japanese stronghold, Frank Ciaffone, 19, was fatally wounded on March 3, 1945.^[1]

Returning from wartime service at the age of 22, Larry Ciaffone began his playing career in the Brooklyn farm system, but was drafted by the Cardinals after only one season at the Class B level. He progressed through the Cardinal system, and after batting .324 for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings in 1950,^[2] he made the Cardinals' early-season, 28-man roster in 1951. Ciaffone appeared in six games as a pinch hitter and substitute left fielder. He went hitless in five at bats with one base on balls, then returned to Rochester for the balance of the season.

References

External links

Career statistics from Baseball Reference
Retrosheet
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League statistics

This biographical article relating to an American baseball outfielder born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Frank Ciaffone, Baseball in Wartime website

[2] Minor league statistics from Baseball Reference

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