CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox' scout and coach Loren Babe, active in baseball for nearly 40 years, died Tuesday of lung cancer in Omaha, Neb., at the age of 56.
Funeral services were pending for Babe, who was diagnosed as having cancer last April.
Babe, who had been a scout with the White Sox since 1981, was placed on the coaching staff last May to allow him to get enough time to get benefits from the Players Association plan, according to a club spokesman.
To make room for Babe, Charlie Lau was taken off the coaching roster. Ironically one month later, Lau was diagnosed as having cancerof the colon.
Babe signed his first pro playing contract in 1945 with the New York Yankees as an infielder. He appeared briefly in the majors in 1952 and 1953 before being traded to the Philadelphia A's.
Babe played in the minors until 1958. In 1961, he rejoined the Yankees and worked with that club until 1974, spending the 1967 season as a coach. In 1975 he joined the White Sox, serving as a triple-A manager in 1975 in Denver where current Manager Tony LaRussa was on the roster.
LaRussa has credited Babe with helping him get a start as a major league manager.
Babe was a coach with the White Sox in 1980 and served as a scout after that time.
