Ralph LaPointe

Raoul Robert LaPointe

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.
• School University of Vermont
• High School Winooski High School
• Debut April 15, 1947
• Final Game September 29, 1948
• Born January 8, 1922 in Winooski, VT USA
• Died September 13, 1967 in Burlington, VT USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Ralph LaPointe was an infielder eight seasons, one in college (1941), two in the Major Leagues (1947-1948) and six in the minors (1946-1954), returning for his last year in 1955 after a three-year absence. He was of French Canadian ancestry and had finished his sophomore year at the University of Vermont when he went into the Air Force in 1942. 

He was assigned to counterintelligence because of his facility with languages. When he was stationed at Frederick, MD in 1945 he tried out with the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Class B Interstate League and was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1946. In all, he served four years, from 1942 to 1945. He married Cathryn Maroney with whom he had three children.

He played in 143 games for the Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals in 1947 and 1948. He was named the Major League Rookie Shortstop of the Year by The Sporting News in 1947 and his .308 batting average was the highest for a rookie that year. He went back to school and later graduated from the University of Vermont and had a masters degree from the University of Connecticut. He coached baseball (1952-1967) and football for the University of Vermont.

LaPointe died at age 45 from cancer at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, VT after a long illness, survived by his wife and children, and is buried at St. Stephen's Cemetery in Winooski, VT.

Sources

Principal sources for Ralph LaPointe include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs {{{WW}}} (WW), old Baseball Registers {{{BR}}} (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN {{{DAG}}} (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) {{{MORE}}} and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Ralph LaPointe at the SABR Bio Project