Based on a link provided by Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts, I also read an obit by MLB.com's Ken Gurnick, which included the following tidbit:

At one point, Labine retired future Hall of Famer Stan Musial 49 consecutive times.

Even though Tom Lasorda called Labine "one of the finest pitchers to ever play the game," I didn't think Gurnick's statement passed the smell test. As such, I checked Labine's pitching vs. batting record at Baseball-Reference.com. I scrolled down and learned that Musial was 1-for-13 with 4 BB vs. Labine. I clicked on Stan the Man's name and was directed to a more detailed page. I was reminded that the data only covered 1957-on (which is as far back as Retrosheet, the provider of this information, goes - at least at this point in time).

Given that Labine made his major-league debut in 1950, it was clear that the pitching vs. batting record was incomplete. I sent my friend Dave Smith, the creator of Retrosheet, an email with "Hyperbole?" in the subject title, asking if he could shed some light on this subject. Dave wrote back, "Hyperbole is way too polite a word. I first prepared this report in 1999 when I saw the story for the first time. Here are the numbers. I will contact the MLB site to explain how incorrect the claim is - he didn't even face him 49 times!"

Career results of Stan Musial vs Clem Labine:

AB   H  2B  3B  HR  BB  HP  SO  SF  RBI    AVG   OBP   SLG
42  10   1   1   1   6   0   2   0    3   .238  .333  .381

A little investigative work later and the fable was removed from Gurnick's article.

Update: As it turns out, there are a number of sites guilty of perpetuating this myth.

- Rich Lederer, 3/2/07, 8:00 p.m. PST

- Rich Lederer, 3/2/07, 9:50 p.m. PST

Los Angeles Angels

Player: Jered Weaver, RHP

What I said: "... hard to project as more than a No. 3 or 4 starter."

What happened: Weaver cruised through Triple-A, and won 11 games in 19 big league starts with a 2.56 ERA, which would have been good enough for the American League lead if he had enough innings. Following one of his early big league starts, a pro scout emailed me with simply, "If that's not a top of the rotation starter, I don't know what is." I was dead wrong, and provided his early-season arm troubles don't become a long-term concern, he'll probably rack up some genuine ERA titles down the road.

Grade: F

- Rich Lederer, 3/3/07, 9:15 a.m. PST